Social Networks

Are Followers More than Physical Beings?
Our followers are part of a global uncertainty and search for meaning which is translating back into their organizational performance. In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner state, “from heightening uncertainty across the world to an intense search for meaning, our connections as people and as leaders are part of this context.” According to Kouzes and Posner the “content” of leadership has not changed but the “context” has. They mention the heightened uncertainty and search for meaning within this changing context is evident in the rapid pace of our new economy which includes; globalization, continuous connectivity, knowledge capital, instant gratification and access, and a new social contract.
by Richard M. Pfohl

Bandwidth & Echo: Trust, Information and Gossip in Social Networks
There are two schools of thought on how network structures create the competitive advantage known as social capital. One school focuses on the advantages of closure. A network is closed to the extent that people in it are connected by strong relationships.
by Ronald S. Burt

Building Better Organizational Networks
The old maxim that "structure follows strategy" may not be true - effective network structures can be independently designed.
by Mick Yates

Building Partnerships Inside and Outside the Organization
Much has been written on how leaders can build partnerships. This chapter will build upon our research and focus on why the leader of the future will need to be a builder of partnerships.
by Marshall Goldsmith

Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving
Communities are built on connections. Better connections usually provide better opportunities. But, what are better connections, and how do they lead to more effective and productive communities?
by Valdis Krebs & June Holley

Communities of Practice and Complexity : Conversation and Culture
This article draws upon an extraordinary theoretical basis to re-present and, hopefully, strengthen the concept of communities of practice and its application to organisation development.
by Peter Bond

Communities of Practice, a Brief Introduction
This article examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning
by Etienne Wenger

Creativity and Improvisation in Jazz and Organizations: Implications for Organizational Learning
This paper outlines seven characteristics (including communities of practice) that allow jazz bands to improvise coherently and maximize social innovation in a coordinated fashion
by Frank J. Barrett

Decentralized Intelligence
What Toyota can teach the 9/11 commission about intelligence gathering
by Duncan Watts

Evolving Adaptive Organizations
How can an organisation move away from centrally coordinated hierarchies toward a variety of more flexible structures? Looks at how an organization can be enhanced by recognising, visualising and optimising these structural networks and uses the Watts and Strogatz models of small-world networks.
by James Park

Functional, Project and Matrix Structures
In this two-part article Charles reviews three well known major organizational structures: Functional Structure, Product or Project Structure and Matrix Structure
by Charles Albano

How Socio-technical Systems Reinforce Organizational Values
The values of the organization provide a guide for the social and technical systems in achieving their part of the organization's mission. In Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner state, “values cannot be forced, they must be forged.” According to Eric Trist, a social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting with each other and with the outside world whereas a technical system is the infrastructure, processes and procedures of the organization. The socio-technical system is the integration of these systems where values are forged in the organization’s daily decision making process.
by Richard M. Pfohl

How we can make Networks more Useful
We all use Networks to communicate instructions, ideas and to share knowledge. We have Networks of friends, career advisors, co-workers, clubs, teaching mentors etc. But, whilst, we all spend hours on web 2.0 sites, one wonders what we get as a result?
by Mick Yates

Influentials, Networks, and Public Opinion Formation
A central idea in marketing and diffusion research is that influentials — a minority of individuals who influence an exceptional number of their peers — are important to the formation of public opinion. Here we examine this idea, which we call the “influentials hypothesis,” using a series of computer simulations of interpersonal influence processes. Under most conditions that we consider, we find that large cascades of influence are driven not by influentials, but by a critical mass of easily influenced individuals. Although our results do not exclude the possibility that influentials can be important, they suggest that the influentials hypothesis requires more careful specification and testing than it has received.
by Duncan Watts & Peter Dodds

Introduction to Social Network Analysis
Just what is Social Network Analysis and how does it work?
by Valdis Krebs

Karen Stephenson's Quantum Theory of Trust
To Karen Stephenson, a maverick yet influential social network theorist, the association between trust and learning is an instrument of vast, if frequently untapped, organizational power.
by Art Kleiner

KM and the Social Network
An organisation’s ability to realise its full operational potential is dependent on the strength of the relationships between its employees. Patti Anklam explains how social-network analysis can be used to collate and analyse the patterns of relationships that exist in an enterprise, and outlines the potential benefits the methodology can bring to a corporate knowledge-management programme.
by Patti Anklam

Knowledge Management: The Collaboration Thread
Knowledge management is a thick web of themes from a variety of professional disciplines, but what is it all about?
by Patti Anklam

Knowledge Networks : Mapping and Measuring Knowledge Creation, Re-use and Flow
No one doubts that better management of knowledge within the firm will lead to improved innovation and competitive advantage. Everyone agrees on the goal - better utilization of internal and external knowledge. It is the approach to this goal that is hotly debated.
by Valdis Krebs

Managing the Connected Organization
If knowledge is power, what is connected knowledge?
by Valdis Krebs

Outbreak
In epidemics, is fear a good thing?
by Duncan Watts

Personal Networks and Leadership Development
A powerful way to improve executive effectiveness or promote connectivity in an organization is to work through each employee's personal network. Read on to find out more.
by Robert Cross

Project Management and The Matrix
The Matrix organizational structure is complex in and of itself. It has been argued that its very complexity makes for a greater degree of flexibility and adaptiveness than that afforded by the more traditional 'Functional' and 'Product' structures. Complexity has been viewed as the price paid to reap valued benefits
by Charles Albano

Simma & Kate's Strategies for Cross-Generational Relationship Building
Here we highlight what we think are the best ways to push past generational barriers and build strong intergenerational relationships. We've divided the strategies into mindset tips (how to approach cross-generational differences) and practical tips (the small things you can do during a conversation to improve your communication).
by Simma Lieberman & Kate Berardo

Six Degrees of Interconnection
Just what is this exciting phenomenon?
by Duncan Watts

Space - The Final Frontier
This article is an argument for how our institutions and organizations are bridging the digital divide by leveraging hominid hardwiring – not the DNA we familiarly know, but another kind of cultural blueprint.
by Karen Stephenson

Storytelling Organizations
I want to introduce you to the game playing among storytelling organizations. The idea is to theorize organizations as storytelling systems where stories are the currency of exchange within and between them.
by David Boje

Structural Holes and Collaborative Innovation
What does it take to lead a successful company? Corporate executives today face a growing array of challenges fed by revolutions in technology and globalization. It’s enough to make an executive wonder if leading a successful company is more than a one person job.
by Bruce Hoppe

Surviving on the Savannahs of the New Economy
Surviving the savannahs of the New Economy may be just as treacherous as leaping from tree to tree in the jungles of old economy corporate takeovers. But it was on the savannahs that our ancestors evolved, so perhaps we can learn a few lessons.
by Karen Stephenson

The Extinction of Species and Why It Matters More Than You Think
It's a small world: take anybody else on earth, and you are probably linked through six acquaintances. What's scary is that a similar rule applies to natural life
by Mark Buchanan

The Extraordinary Potential of Knowledge Management
Storytelling has existed for centuries as a way of sharing knowledge and developing a sense of community. Here, Seth Weaver Kahan details his own story in an attempt to demonstrate the power of the technique, and to explore the greater contribution knowledge management might make beyond the world of business.
by Seth Kahan

The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes
Social structure, especially in the form of social networks, affects economic outcomes for three main reasons.
by Mark Granovetter

The Right – And Wrong –Ways To Give & Receive Feedback
Giving feedback to employees – and receiving feedback yourself – is one of the most misunderstood and poorly executed human resource processes, according to ClearRock, an outplacement and executive coaching firm headquartered in Boston.
by ClearRock

The Science of Inequality
You always knew that the rich got richer through no merit of their own, didn't you? Now, with the aid of computers, scientists think they have proved it
by Mark Buchanan

Towards a Theory of Government
Reciprocity is key to the power of networks, the alchemy of mutual give and take over time turning to a golden trust . . .
by Karen Stephenson

Visualizing Social Groups
Jacob Moreno introduced the idea of using visual images to reveal important features of social patterning.
by Linton Freeman

Want to Manage Tacit Knowledge?
Communities of practice offer a versatile solution
by Shawn Callahan

What Knowledge Tears Apart, Networks Make Whole
Every organization has a wealth of knowledge stored in the memories and intuitions of its employees. This tacit knowledge is shared through formal and non-formal networks which bond and motivate people within the organization. Karen Stephenson goes at the importance of trust in the creation of such networks and explains why managers must harness the power of networks to efficiently guide innovation and change.
by Karen Stephenson

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