When we as consultants do interventions for organizations, as part of the initial diagnosis, considerable amount of time is spent by the executives, in explaining their organizational charts to help us understand ‘how work gets done’ there.
Beyond the organization chart The organization charts and designations are what we call the formal organization that’s visible from the exterior. Over the years, we have learnt that much of the real work of companies happens despite this formal structure. Often what needs attention is the informal organization or the hidden organization, the networks of relationships that employees form across functions and divisions to accomplish tasks faster. These informal networks can cut through formal reporting procedures to get work done or to stop work getting done.
These informal networks can sabotage companies’ best laid plans by blocking communication and fomenting opposition to change. They become the energy sappers, for whom a problem shared is a problem doubled. Such network of people can act as sponges in de-energizing the others.
Managers fail to understand that, success depends less on reporting structure and more on these informal web of contacts. Many a time these managers know only people who are closest to them. But a study of their informal networks would reveal how much knowledge and information flows through them and how little through the formal networks. Learning to identify and map these social links can help managers harness the real power in their companies and understand the dynamics of informal networks. Highly adaptive, informal networks move diagonally and elliptically, skipping the entire functions to get work done.
Social Network Analysis(SNA) can be defined as "the mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organizations, computers, or other information- or knowledge-processing entities."One fascinating (and deceptively simple) example of the importance of network to our understanding of the world is the ‘small-world phenomenon’: the claim that anyone on the planet can connect themselves to anyone else in only 'six degrees of separation'. This phenomenon passed a critical test in the late 1960’s in the form of an ingenious experiment, conducted by the social psychologist Stanley Mailgram.
Milgram gave letters to about 300 people in Boston and Omaha with instructions to deliver the letters to a single 'target' person (a Boston stockbroker). But the letters came with a condition: they could only be sent to someone who was a personal friend of the current holder, preferably someone closer to the target. These subsequent recipients got the same instructions, thus converting the letters into message chains: devices for probing the social fabric of the United States in search of one particular person. Incredibly more than 60 of the letters did actually reach the target, and the average length of the message chains was about six. Milgram’s conclusion was that individuals who according to our ordinary notions of physical and social space, should be impossibly distant, are in fact not much further than our closest associates.
A social network analysis examines the structure of social relationships in a group to uncover the informal connections between people. It reveals where collaboration is breaking down, where talent and expertise could be better used, where decisions are getting bogged down or where opportunities for innovation are being lost. In a consulting setting, these relationships are often ones of communication, awareness, trust, and decision-making.
Some of the business applications of SNA can be
• Knowledge Management and Collaboration. SNAs can help locate expertise, seed new communities of practice, develop cross-functional knowledge-sharing, and improve strategic decision-making across leadership teams.
• Team-building. SNAs can contribute to the creation of innovative teams and facilitate post-merger integration. SNAs can reveal, for example, which individuals are most likely to be exposed to new ideas.
• Human Resources. SNAs can identify and monitor the effects of workforce diversity, on-boarding and retention, and leadership development. For instance, an SNA can reveal whether or not mentors are creating relationships between mentees and other employees.
• Sales and Marketing. SNAs can help track the adoption of new products, technologies, and ideas. They can also suggest communication strategies.
• Strategy. SNAs can support industry ecosystem analysis as well as partnerships and alliances. They can pinpoint which firms are linked to critical industry players.
Formal Structure & Informal Structure
Written by The Editorial Team.
