Hub and Spoke Structure

A 1980s buddy comedy about a pair of mismatched cops (Edmund Hub and Arnold "Turk" Spoke) forced to work together to infiltrate an international ring of building material smugglers.

Also, the term applies to common form of business organization.

Picture the wheel of a bike: lots of little connectors coming off the spinning center and holding the wider tire in place. That setup represents the graphic representation of the hub and spoke structure.

Now overlay a business organization over your mental picture of the bike wheel. See a bunch of work groups operating along the tire, feeding money and information along the connectors to the center.

The system involves smaller satellite organizations, which work independently of each other, but all connect to the same central organization. It gives the small work groups some autonomy, but still allows the overall collective to pool resources. It also maintains a central planning apparatus at the center.