Social Network Analysis (SNA)
From Learning and training wiki
 SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS (SNA) |
| The mapping, measuring and comparison of relationships within and between individuals, groups, organizations, and systems in order to model the real-world interactions at the heart of knowledge organization and learning processes. While an organizational chart shows formal relationships of function and responsibility, SNA illustrates informal relationships: "who know whom" and "who shares with whom". SNA is used to examine how the interactions occur within an organization, allowing leaders to visualize and understand the diverse relationships that either facilitate of impede knowledge sharing. After social relationships and knowledge flows become visible, they can be evaluated, compared and measured. The results of SNA can be applied at the level of individuals, departments or organizations to:
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| Applications | Content |
|---|---|
| Supporting partnership and alliances | Executives are increasingly employing cross-organizational initiatives such as alliances or other forms of strategic partnerships to leverage their organization's unique capabilities. Social network can illuminate the effectiveness of such initiatives in terms of information flow, knowledge transfer, and decision making. |
| Assessing strategy execution | Core competencies or capabilities in knowledge-intensive work are usually a product of collaboration accross functional or divisional boundaries. Social network analysis allows executives to determine whether the appropriate cross-functional or departmental collaborations are occuring to support strategic objectives. |
| Improving strategic decision making in top leadership networks | A core function of top executive teams is to acquire information, make sound decisions, and convey those decisions effectively to broader organization. Social network analysis, when done with both the top leadership team and the next layer down, can provide valuable diagnostic information to leadership. Not only can it help assess connections within a top leardership team, but it can also reveal how information is entering and leaving this group. |
| Integrating networks across core processes | Informal networks across core processes are often fragmented by functional boundaries. Both cognitive and organizational barriers often keep groups from effectively integrating unique expertise, which can damage quality, efficiency, and innovation. As the process map did for reengineering, social network analysis provides a diagnostic assessment of information and knowledge flow both within and across functions critical to a core process. |
| Promoting innovation | Most innovation of importance is a collaborative endeavor. Whether concerned with new-product development or process improvement initiatives, social network analysis can be particularly insightful in assessing both how a team is integrating its expertise and the effectiveness with which it is drawing on the expertise of others within the organization. |
| Ensuring integration post-merger or large-scale change | Particularly in knowledge-intensive settings, large-scale change is fundamentally an issue of network integration. Social network analysis, done before a change initiative, can help inform the change process as well as identify central people within the network whom a sponsor mitht want to engage in design because of their ability to convey information ot others. Social netwok analysis can also be done as follow-up six to nine months after implementation. Quite often these assessments reveal significant issues that leaders need to address for the initiative to be successful. |
| Developing communities of practice | Communities of practice are usually not formally recognized within an organization but can be critical to an organization's ability to leverage expertise distributed by virtue of physical location or organizational design. Social network analysis can be used to uncover the key members of the community as well as assess overall health in terms of connectivity. |
REFERENCES
- ↑ The Hidden Power of Social Networks, Rob Cross, Andrew Parker, 2004
- ↑ Tools for Knowledge and Learning - A Guide for Development and Humanitarian Organisations, Ben Ramalingam, 2006. www.webopedia.com, www.answers.com, www.odi.org.uk, (25 July 2008)