2. Class Agenda
• Lecture: Social Networks
• Article: The Company Behind the Charts
• Article: How to Build Your Networks
• Takeaways
• Next Time
• Midterm Exam Debrief
3. Next Time
Week 10 (11/14): Influence and Information (rescheduled from Week 5)
For lecture:
– Managing Your Boss
– Week 5 Study Guide
For recitation: Round 1 of Organizational Change Simulation
– Read Player’s Guide (Canvas/Student Resources/Simulation)
– Run Technology Test / Laptop Requirements (same folder)
Strategy and Competition: recordings on Canvas (original Week 10)
– Article: Five Competitive Forces
– Article: Analyzing the External Environment
4. Social Networks Defined
• A set of actors and the relationships or ties among them
– Actors also called nodes represent any discrete entity in the network,
such as a person or units (this means you!)
– Ties represent the linkages between actors, which are formed by
some type of connection, relationship, or interaction occurring
between actors
– Structure refers to patterns of relationships or interactions among
units or individuals
5. Collecting Social Network Data
Between any set of actors:
– Individuals (aka “nodes’)
– Groups
– Organizations
Ask people to:
– List names of others
Questions about any relationship (or “tie”):
– Who do you consider to be a friend?
– Who do you go to for advice?
– Who do you talk to frequently?
– Who do you trust?
– Who do you talk about behind their backs?
6. Network Formation
• Physical and temporal proximity (proximity principle)
• Workflow and hierarchy
• Actor similarity (homophily) aka self-similarity
principle
• Personality (self-monitoring)
7.
8. Assessing Your Network
Broker:
• Definition: A person who is the connector between tow other
disconnected people. In a network map, this would be visually
depicted as two ties – one from Person A to B and one from
Person B to C. Thus, brokerage exists at the actor/triad level.
• Examples: (1) In my house (i.e., the network), I am a broker
between two students who live on different floors. (2) Further, we
know that people can “broker” a relationship by introducing
disconnected others. (3) Paul Revere from the article.
• Implications: Influential member of a network who has power in
transmitting information between disparate parties.
9. Bow tie:
• Definition: Where one person connects two disconnected “clusters”
or a set of people (in a group, team, department, or division). Thus,
bowtie reflects a property of one’s network structure.
• Example: My house (i.e., the network) has a bowtie structure
because the 2nd and 3rd floors are connected through me, as the
“knot” at the center of the network.
• Implications: Slow and rigid processes if person remains;
connections between isolated groups collapse if person leaves. A
person at the center of the bowtie has both power and higher
levels of stress...
10. Centrality:
• Definition: Degree centrality refers to the number of ties a node has
to other nodes. As such, centrality measures how many
connections exist between nodes – that is, how popular are you?
• Centrality reflects an overall assessment of an actor’s position in
his/her network, as follows:
– In-degree
– Out-degree
– Closeness
– Between-ness
12. Centrality: In and Out Degree
• Definitions: In-degree centrality refers to
incoming ties to an actor, as reported by
others. Out-degree centrality refers to
outgoing ties from an actor, as reported by
one’s self (so a less objective measure).
• Examples?
• Implications: In-degree centrality: because
others seek ties to you, this is a measure of
your importance (Adamic, 2013). Out-
degree centrality: because you have
numerous ties to others, you can quickly
disperse information.
Y
X
X
Y
13. Centrality: Closeness
• Definition: Number of links it takes to reach everyone else in the
network to whom you are not directly connected
• Examples: Measure for the Kevin Bacon game:
http://oracleofbacon.org/. Also think about if Management 101 as a
class was the network, how quickly could you reach all members
across the three lectures? Days? No social media or electronics?
• Implications: Reflects efficiency
14. Centrality: Between-ness
• Definition: Extent to which actor falls between any other two actors
in the network. A measure of the degree to which a node serves as
a bridge. If a person engages in a lot of brokerage, by extension,
their between-ness will naturally be high.
• Examples:
• Implications: Reflects power
15.
16. Impact of Networks
• Networks provide opportunities and
constraints – patterned relationships among
multiple actors affect behaviors, attitudes,
cognitions, etc.
• We can use social network analysis to
effectively manage teams, identify leaders,
and promote effective information sharing
transfer in organizational settings
• Gallup engagement survey question is “Do
you have a best friend at work?” Because
friendship is one of the strongest drivers of
productivity, commitment, and retention
17. Impact (cont’d)
• Job Satisfaction and Commitment
• Individual Performance
• Group Performance
• Citizenship Behavior
• Power
• Leadership
• Getting Ahead
20. Research Findings (Casciaro & Lobo)
Who Would You Pick?
When people need help completing complex projects, they are
likely to select colleagues who are: (question of competence
versus likeability)
1. Competent jerk
2. Loveable star
3. Incompetent jerk
4. Loveable fool
21.
22. Takeaways
• Managers are well-served to understand the power of
informal relationships in organizations and to leverage
this
• Understand the ways networks form and use this
information to try to improve your relationships with
others
• Different terms exist to describe network positions,
each with their own implications for management
• Aim to awaken dormant ties + cultivate weak ties --
rather than only relying on strong ties which reflect
similarity to you
