Linkage Maps are flow diagrams which track the flow of information, materials, and people into, trough, and out of an business. Linkage Maps evolved from W. Edwards Deming's diagram of a business as a system.
Deming's Business as a System process diagram, 1951.
Linkage Maps have representations of Driver Level processes (strategic and implementation processes), Mainstay Level processes (the work that creates and delivers goods and services), and Support Level processes (support the Driver processes as well as the Driver processes).
Associates in Process Improvement formalized Dr. Deming's teachings in to Quality as a Business Strategy (QBS), an invaluable approach to understanding a business and improving it.
(It does not go so far as Ackoff's Idealized Design.)
The diagram below captures only the highest level components of a Linkage Map.
.