Download What is Knowledge Mangement?

Three Key Network Concepts
Nodes: things to be connected
e.g., people
Links: relationships or flows
Communicates with
Trusts
Clique: subset of nodes in the network
that are highly linked
Social Networks
Who communicates with whom?
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Example: How can I get in touch with person
X?
Social Network Map
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Nodes represent people. Links represent who communicates
with whom.
Steps to Identify Social
Networks
First, decide what communication links to map,
such as individual, work team, department, etc.
e.g., if you want maps of interdepartmental links,
people must report links from the point of view of the
department
Second, survey people about who they...
talk to regularly
go to for help or advice
would recruit to support a proposal that could be
unpopular
would trust to keep something confidential
Third, cross check the replies to the survey
e.g., when Johnson says he talks to Hecht each
day--does she agree that he talks to her that
frequently?
To create a consensus map, ignore links that
are not reported by both persons
To look for specific areas where there might
be problems, pay attention to links that are
not reported by both persons
e.g., a supervisor reports communicating
frequently with subordinates but they report only
sporadic communications with him
To identify internal communication problems,
examine the differences in who people report
communicating with.
Are there natural differences in peoples’ perceptions
of communication based on division of labor or
differential access to restricted information?
Is there inadequate information sharing?
Do communication differences point to a structural
problem in the organization?
Are unusual patterns a means for coping with a
personnel problem?
Fourth, analyze the data via computer programs
that translate the survey data into graphical
network maps.
Fifth, examine the maps for patterns that hold
important information, e.g.,
Departments that don’t have many communication
links to other departments, when they should
Departments that have many external links but don’t
communicate within the department
Structural Holes: places in the map where you would
expect to find links, but there are none
Isolated Department
Externally Oriented
Department
Bottleneck and
Gatekeeper
Structural Hole
between Two Cliques
Using Network Maps
When you find unusual patterns, look for reasons
grounded in:
work design
workflow
organization design
personnel
procedures
reward systems
strategic understanding
differences in subcultures
Some unusual patterns may not be dysfunctional
Action Steps
Feedback the consensus maps to the people in
the organization. Ask for their assistance in
identifying and removing communication
problems. After an interval, map the networks
again to see what changes and improvements
have been made. Repeat as necessary.