Week 9: Social Networks (11/7) Professor Payal Sharma MANAGEMENT 101 Week 9: Social Networks (11/7) Professor Payal Sharma

Class Agenda Lecture: Social Networks Article: The Company Behind the Charts Article: How to Build Your Networks Takeaways Next Time Midterm Exam Debrief

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

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

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?

Network Formation Physical and temporal proximity (proximity principle) Workflow and hierarchy Actor similarity (homophily) aka self-similarity principle Personality (self-monitoring)

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.

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...

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

Team Leadership Implications

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. X Y X Y

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

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

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

Impact (cont’d) Power Leadership Getting Ahead Job Satisfaction and Commitment Individual Performance Group Performance Citizenship Behavior Power Leadership Getting Ahead

Types of Ties Strong Weak Dormant

Research Findings (Sharma)

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) Competent jerk Loveable star Incompetent jerk Loveable fool

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