When Sally Helgesen studied successful organisations run by women, she found a management style she believes now vital to any company's success.

The management style, which she called a "web of inclusion'', is more appropriate for a company seeking to "operate leaner'' and for one wanting to "adapt to changing technology'', she added.

"I don't think its an accident that this structure was uncovered in a women's organisation,'' she said. "Women are more comfortable leading from the centre of an organisation and often uncomfortable with staid hierarchy and a chain of command of communication.'' Ms Helgesen spoke on Friday at the Organisation of Women in International Trade's (OWIT) annual conference, held for the first time in Bermuda. Her topic was `The Web of Inclusion: Building Organisational Strength from Grass Roots'. OWIT was formed in the US to enhance the status and interests of women in international business and encourage exchanges of views on foreign commerce.

Ms Helgesen's most recent book, `The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture to Building Great Organisations', explores how innovative companies utilise the strengths of people at all levels. Her first book, `The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership', focused on successful women managers.

"In the `Female Advantage', I decided to study some of the best run organisations headed by women,'' she said.

Among the successful organisations she studied were children's television show Nickelodeon, the Miami Herald and Boston's Beth Israel Hospital.

"I felt I needed a name to define the characteristic in these organisations where the primary thing was inclusion, hence the "web of inclusion'', she said.

Through this style, the successful companies tended, to a varying degree, to de-emphasis job descriptions as well as evolve jobs to reflect employee talents or interests. They redistributed power by creating new lines of communication, promoted front-line decision making and grassroots leadership, she said.

Another characteristic was that they had a strong value for, and reorganisation of, non-positional power, she said.

"I've been places where managers had power they shouldn't have had.'' She also found that the successful organisations were relatively stable -- they did not have a high staff turnover. They also had sophisticated computer software.

"Finally, the organisations I studied were skilled in partnering with other organisations and at the same time retaining their own identity.'' As well as an author, Ms Helgesen has been a contributing editor at Harper's.

A resident of New York, she started her career as a journalist.