Social Networking, Six Degrees

The articles I read were the “Six Myths about Informal Networks” (Cross, Nohria & Parker) and “IT Conversations” (Stephenson).

The first article highlights the importance of informal or social networks in the work place. The writers emphasize that it is crucial for managers to realize that when people work collaboratively and use their networks, they perform better at their jobs. Yet an emphasis on individual performance sometimes goes against the benefits of synergy within a group.

It was interesting to see how network diagrams could be drawn on how decisions or information is disseminated between different people in a group or organization and who depended on who for information. From the diagrams you could also discover if bottle-necks exist which may reduce efficiency or may increase control of the work performance. For example, one individual who has too much decision-making power and exclusive access to information can cause major inefficiencies. Therefore, as the article was alluring to, empowering workers by making resources more available and letting them make their own decisions, can improve productivity.

The other article I read which was written by Karen Stephenson, is also about human social networks. I found it very interesting to learn from both articles, that the study of human networks can be applied to solve problems in the corporate world, the medical field, to hunting down terrorists by understanding the terrorist network.

A major issue touched on by Karen Stephenson is that of trust-based networks as oppose to hierarchal or authoritative networks. I can imagine that a network based upon “trust” is more long-lasting and sustainable simply because stronger bonds will be made and there may be more open lines of communication. On an organizational level, I understand that a lot of turnover is due to interpersonal reasons. As many human resource managers may tell you, this is highly the case. Compensation may not be the only factor in job satisfaction, and similarly from what I understand from Stephenson’s discussion about trust, the social aspect plays a great factor in human social networks.