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Seeing Workplaces from a Social Network Analysis (SNA) Approach

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The aim of this chapter is to introduce Social Network Analysis (SNA) in the context of work organisations. The examples and terms are expected to show how SNA contributes to workplace learning research by helping us understand what happens, under the surface of the workplaces, in the formal or hidden informal structures. A social network is defined as a set of interacting social entities, such as individuals or groups, and the relationships among them. From a methodological point of view, this chapter targets basic-level concepts and quantitative analysis, not a qualitative approach or the newest or most advanced techniques. The framework focuses on terms of cohesion, structural equivalence, and personal (egocentric) networks. The emphasis is on the cohesion approach, which refers to measures of connectedness and togetherness within a network. Often, it means emphasising the number of relationships among colleagues and how these relationships are distributed to create structures and borders within workplaces. Some empirical examples from a work organisation are presented at the community, organisational, and individual levels.KeywordsWorkplace learningWork organisationsSocial network analysis

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... We used the name generator technique, which provided a checklist of staff members' names. Respondents were directed to select those from whom they seek advice (Palonen, 2022). Participants reported advice-seeking frequency on a scale with 5 indicating "weekly" and 1 signifying "not at all". ...
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Similarity breeds connection. This principle - the homophily principle - structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, advice, support, information transfer, exchange, comembership, and other types of relationship. The result is that people's personal networks are homogeneous with regard to many sociodemographic, behavioral, and intrapersonal characteristics. Homophily limits people's social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience. Homophily in race and ethnicity creates the strongest divides in our personal environments, with age, religion, education, occupation, and gender following in roughly that order. Geographic propinquity, families, organizations, and isomorphic positions in social systems all create contexts in which homophilous relations form. Ties between nonsimilar individuals also dissolve at a higher rate, which sets the stage for the formation of niches (localized positions) within social space. We argue for more research on: (a) the basic ecological processes that link organizations, associations, cultural communities, social movements, and many other social forms; (b) the impact of multiplex ties on the patterns of homophily; and (c) the dynamics of network change over time through which networks and other social entities co-evolve.
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This article investigates, for leadership research, the implications of new directions in social network theory that emphasize networks as both cognitive structures in the minds of organizational members and opportunity structures that facilitate and constrain action. We introduce the four core ideas at the heart of the network research program: the importance of relations, actors' embeddedness, the social utility of connections, and the structural patterning of social life. Then we present a theoretical model of how network cognitions in the minds of leaders affect three types of networks: the direct ties surrounding leaders, the pattern of direct and indirect ties within which leaders are embedded in the whole organization and the interorganizational linkages formed by leaders as representatives of organizations. We suggest that these patterns of ties can contribute to leader effectiveness.
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We use survey network and personality profile data to explore the idea that personality varies systematically with structural holes. We draw two conclusions from the analysis: (1) Personality does vary with structural holes. The association is concentrated in a few items, but those few personality items describe three-fourths of the variance in network constraint. (2) The association is consistent with the structural hole argument. People in the least constrained networks claim the personality of an entrepreneurial outsider (versus conforming and obedient insider), in search of authority (versus security), thriving on advocacy and change (versus stability). We summarize with a network entrepreneur personality index that defines a surprisingly accurate probability of the respondent having an entrepreneurial network. We conclude with cautionary evidence from a survey of corporate staff in a large financial organization. Where the personality index is associated with entrepreneurial networks (lower ranks), neither the index nor the networks are associated with manager performance. Where manager performance is significantly linked with entrepreneurial networks (more senior ranks), the personality index is not associated with network structure, and performance is not higher for managers with more entrepreneurial personalities. The personality data are an interesting correlate, but no substitute for sociometric data.
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This paper combines the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowledge to explain the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits in a multiunit organization. I use a network study of 120 new-product development projects undertaken by 41 divisions in a large electronics company to examine the task of developing new products in the least amount of time. Findings show that weak interunit ties help a project team search for useful knowledge in other subunits but impede the transfer of complex knowledge, which tends to require a strong tie between the two parties to a transfer. Having weak interunit ties speeds up projects when knowledge is not complex but slows them down when the knowledge to be transferred is highly complex. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on social networks and product innovation.
The social cognition of social structure: Examining the learning of relations
  • G A Janicik
  • GA Janicik
Applied network analysis: A methodological introduction
  • E O Laumann
  • P V Marsden
  • D Prensky
  • EO Laumann