Informal Organizational Networks Research Articles

Identification of User Roles in Enterprise Social Networks: Method Development and Application

The importance of gaining insights into informal organizational structures for management purposes is acknowledged by both research and practice. However, “traditional” approaches to analyzing informal organizational social networks involve significant manual effort and do not scale for larger datasets. Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) have emerged as important tools for informal employee interactions, such as for problem-solving and information sharing. While the analysis of ESN back end data might provide insights into the informal fabric of organizations, and in particular employees’ roles in such networks, there is a lack of systematic approaches for carrying out ESN analytics, such as for user role identification. Following a design science research process, a process-based method to identify user roles from ESN data was developed and evaluated. The method’s efficacy is demonstrated through an in-depth application in a case study of Australian professional services firm Deloitte. In doing so the paper shows how ESN data can be utilized to derive metrics that characterize participation behavior, message content, and structural network positions of ESN users.

A Critical Analysis of the Applications and Limitations of Organizational Network Analysis in the Workplace to Drive Organizational Change

Research has repeatedly suggested that under a third of change management endeavors achieve their intended objectives. Large IT projects typically run 45% over budget and 7% over time, while delivering 56% less value than predicted (Bloch, Blumberg and Laartz, 2012). Considering that, by the end of 2019, digital transformation and change spending will reach $1.7 trillion worldwide (IDC, 2019), the recurrent leitmotif of change management requiring change has never been more relevant. As a recognized discipline, change management has been in existence for over half a century, yet this evidence suggests a consistent failure of change interventions to achieve desired value outcomes. Over the past decade, HR professionals have dedicated much effort to optimizing change transformation with a focus on leadership influence. Much has been said about leaders who drive change from the top and the power of leaders as normative social influences of change is well-documented with multi-disciplinary underpinnings (Forsyth, 2015). However new research raises questions about whether leadership-dominated change strategies are as effective as currently believed (Arena and Uhl-Bien, 2016). Too often leaders employ formal structures and hierarchies as misguided maps to guide change interventions. Bloated, outdated organizational charts however can mask how work actually gets done. Data analysis shows many natural leaders carrying high influence are hidden within the ranks and organizations are starting to place a higher premium on social capital to drive change. By engaging influencers in informal networks, an opportunity exists to unlock a new archetype of previously hidden, social leader to emit change. As a result, HR professionals and organizational leadership tasked with instilling change are considering data-driven approaches to social change. Research on informal organizational networks has led to the development of Organizational Network Analysis (ONA), an approach that enables networks of relationships that run through organizations to be mapped. These networks are often not part of the formal structure but grow out of the many interactions that occur daily within the organizational system and between members of the system and those outside it. Although not novel, ONA has moved from a predominantly academic concentration to an organizational analytic approach and emerging change paradigm. It has given rise to organizational custodians, analysis software and specialist vendors, all in a bid to thaw the frozen middle and tap into social influence. In this volatile era of unpredictability, pioneering organizations are using the power of their networks to understand how change really happens and activate it through this untapped magic middle. ONA, when performed with rigor and insight to progress from analysis to application, can accelerate change for both organizations and influencers. However, ONA is not an independent elixir for all change. Caution exists with regard to its translation to action, data privacy and measurement mechanisms. This paper explores how ONA may yield greater change outcomes for organizations, yet pays regard to its limitations for workplace application. I conclude with an invitation for future ONA research, to continue to propel academic analysis and organizational application in the network sciences.

Harvesting Value from Brokerage: Individual Strategic Orientation, Structural Holes, and Performance

In this paper, we explore the mechanisms underpinning returns to brokerage positions by considering the role of individuals’ strategic orientation toward brokering. We conceptualize individuals’ strategic orientations in terms of arbitraging versus collaborating behaviors enacted when occupying a brokerage position. Leveraging a novel data set collected in a global consumer product company, we theorize and find evidence for the fact that arbitraging and collaborating orientations have differential effects on the relationship between brokerage and performance, significantly impacting on individuals’ ability to extract value from brokerage. We discuss the implications of these findings for the structural analysis of informal networks in organizations.

Corruption in Indonesia’s Emerging Democracy

Much has been studied by political scientists about practices of corruption and their implications for development. They have provided useful analysis on the causes and impacts of corruption. In contrast, sociologists seem to have glossed over issues of corruption. This article aims to contribute to the sociology of organization by reconstructing a theoretical framework of organizational institutionalism through understanding corruption in an emerging democracy. Using cases of corruption in Indonesia, this article intends to enrich previous perspectives on social construction and contestation of corruption occurring in democratizing polities. It explores the extent to which reform in formal governance has taken into account informal arrangements to eradicate corruption. Secondary data and focused group discussions have been used to collect data. The findings inform that informal organizational networks of corruption emerge and develop within formal organizational relationships. On the other hand, informal norms and networks also exist that potentially facilitate anticorruption initiatives. This article recommends that the Corruption Eradication Commission, as the main anticorruption body, improves its understanding of the connections among public organizations, and between public organizations and societal organizations. This will enable public leaders to adopt a combination of the principles of Western and formal governance and existing informal arrangements to combat corruption. The sociology of organization will benefit from adopting the concept of informal organizational networks of corruption to illuminate the “dark corners” of formal organizational relationships.

A Knowledge Management Approach to the Loosely Coupled Systems

The purpose of the research is to explore characteristics and design the concept of the knowledge management system that would be able to operate in a loosely coupled system. We used a literature review to determine characteristics of the conceptual design that would fit into the unstable organizational environment. Based on the theoretical insights, we designed the open framework that is capable of adjustments, multilevel designing, it allows integration of statistical methods and supports conversion into the web ontology language. We applied developed concept to a loosely coupled system test case, to achieve better understanding of its capabilities. The solution is appropriate for implementation to analyze knowledge network and process architecture relations in different informal organizational networks, as well as during events where spontaneous cooperation among different types of organizations and individuals is necessary, such as massive natural disasters and other simila events.

Psychological Contracts and Informal Networks in Organizations: The Effects of Social Status and Local Ties

AbstractInformal social networks in organizations shape how employees understand their employment relationship. Networks can aid or undercut HR efforts to promote psychological contracts that benefit both employees and the employer. Data collected from 96 university faculty members demonstrate that network influence from both social status in the organization's larger informal structure and local ties with socially proximate colleagues shape psychological contract beliefs. Specific effects, however, vary by type of contract term. When contract terms involve resources employees compete for (e.g., opportunities for career advancement), effects are found for social status, such that those who are better positioned in the advice network hold more positive beliefs regarding the extent of the employer commitment. When contract terms involve noncompetitive resources broadly available to all employees (e.g., concern for employee well‐being), network effects reveal comparable beliefs between those who share a direct friendship tie (cohesion) or the same friends in common with other faculty members (structural equivalence). Implications for research and HR practice are discussed.

The network dimensions of intra-organizational social capital

AbstractThe article provides the results of research carried out within the organizational social capital theory and the network theory of organizations. The research contributes to these theories by identifying, through an analysis of the literature, 10 informal network sources of intra-organizational social capital. A model for representing and measuring intra-organizational social capital based on the 10 informal organizational networks identified and on three different conceptual perspectives (structural, relational and cognitive) is subsequently proposed. The model is validated through an empirical study conducted within five divisions of a knowledge-intensive company. The research results suggest that among the 10 informal relationships studied, the accessibility of individuals primarily predicts the emergence of more informal relationships, which are the real source of intra-organizational social capital through resource exchange and combination. Furthermore a continuous working cooperation and the willingness of colleagues to make themselves available for cooperation also create a shared organizational culture in terms of language, norms and values and maintain a stable working information flow within organizations.

Formal versus Informal Organizational Networks: Conflicts and Trade-Offs in Goal Attainment Propensities

Axelrod's seminal work describes circumstances in which the goals of the formal organization's military network become derailed by powerful informal networks built up amongst soldiers during the First World War. This paper considers payoffs of both informal soldiers' network and that of the formal military bureaucracy. The paper aims to analyze specific factors and circumstances that allow informal networks to dominate formal goals using a model that incorporates analyses regarding: calculated pay-offs, division and homogeneity of labor, powers of sanction, strength of norms and goals, and duration of existence. These aspects are considered in terms of bureaucracy and adhocracy and types of subversive group activity. Various testable propositions r egarding informal and formal goals' dominance are considered in the discussion of the model.

The task redefinition process: Exploring the micro-foundations of knowledge sharing in organizations

Previous research reveals the importance of sharing knowledge through both formal mechanisms and informal organizational networks for coordination, performance, and innovation in organizations. However, little research to date has examined the way that individuals in organizations engage with each of these mechanisms or the possible interactions between them. The present research adopts an inductive, qualitative approach to exploring the way that project members in an international engineering consulting firm use knowledge sharing mechanisms and the implications for knowledge sharing in the organization. Our findings reveal that engineers have two orientations towards knowledge sharing; specifically, they push information out through formal mechanisms, and pull information in through informal mechanisms. Moreover, the sequence through which they engage with the two mechanisms influences knowledge sharing success. In particular, we found that a Pull-to-Push sequence enabled engineers to engage in a process...

Outlining the benefits of Strategic Networking

Social Networks have attracted enormous interest in the scientific community in recent years. The characteristics, components and impacts of social networks have been studied through different kinds of aspects, such as sociological, geographical, ethnological, political and economical. In economics social network studies have been performed on intra- and inter-organizational levels, though rarely simultaneously. Furthermore the strategic aspects of fostering and controlling informal organizational networks as well as the outcomes of these managerial attempts on the network characteristics and the performance of the organization have not been sufficiently studied yet. However, the need to develop, foster and manage networks efficiently is given for preventing negative effects and provoking positive ones. Therefore this study contributes to scientific theory and practical business development by exploring the influence of Strategic Networking in inter- as well as intra-organizational business-fields. For study the author develops and defines Strategic Networking as the strategic and target-oriented analysis, development, fostering and control of (inter- as well as intra-organizational) networks on the basis of trust, with the intention to reach certain (organizational) goals and tests its applicability and effects in an extensive survey on three levels: intra-, inter-organizational and regional networks (cluster). The survey showed that Strategic Networking goes in line with favourable network characteristics as well as the success of a firm in terms of financial and non-financial performance measures.

A socio‐cognitive interpretation of the potential effects of downsizing on software quality performance

AbstractOrganizational downsizing research indicates that downsizing does not always realize its strategic intent and may, in fact, have a detrimental impact on organizational performance. In this paper, we extend the notion that downsizing negatively impacts performance and argue that organizational downsizing can potentially be detrimental to software quality performance. Using social cognitive theory (SCT), we primarily interpret the negative impacts of downsizing on software quality performance by arguing that downsizing results in a realignment of social networks (environmental factors), thereby affecting the self‐efficacy and outcome expectations of a software professional (personal factors), which, in turn, affect software quality performance (outcome of behaviour undertaken). We synthesize relevant literature from the software quality, SCT and downsizing research streams and develop a conceptual model. Two major impacts of downsizing are hypothesized in the conceptual model. First, downsizing destroys formal and informal social networks in organizations, which, in turn, negatively impacts software developers' self‐efficacy and outcome expectations through their antecedents, with consequent negative impacts on software development process efficiency and software product quality, the two major components of software quality performance. Second, downsizing negatively affects antecedents of software development process efficiency, namely top management leadership, management infrastructure sophistication, process management efficacy and stakeholder participation with consequent negative impacts on software quality performance. This theoretically grounded discourse can help demonstrate how organizational downsizing can potentially impact software quality performance through key intervening constructs. We also discuss how downsizing and other intervening constructs can be managed to mitigate the negative impacts of downsizing on software quality performance.

A Social Network Perspective on LMX Relationships: Accounting for the Instrumental Value of Leader and Follower Networks

In a field study of 114 participants, the authors tested components of leader—member exchange (LMX) theory within the context of informal organizational networks, finding support for instrumental components within quality LMX relationships. Similarity to leader competence and personality was relevant to follower-rated LMX. In addition, leader centrality moderated the relationship between interaction frequency and follower-rated LMX. Leader-rated LMX quality was related to personality and competence similarity to followers, but only when followers' advice centrality was high. Outside workgroup centrality positively moderated relationships between inside workgroup centrality and LMX quality. Overall, the instrumental value to LMX quality was emphasized more for leaders than for followers.

Redes sociais informais e compartilhamento de significados sobre mudança organizacional

O objetivo central do presente estudo consistiu em explorar o compartilhamento de signifi cados atribuídos à mudança organizacional no interior de redes informais intra-organizacionais. O estudo foi conduzido em um setor de uma empresa petroquímica de grande porte no Pólo Petroquímico de Camaçari (BA), que passara pelo processo de privatização. Foram aplicados questionários a uma amostra de 52 trabalhadores que levantavam as relações de amizade, confiança e informação constituintes das suas re-des informais. Itens abertos levantaram cognições sobre o processo de mudança em curso na empresa. As redes foram identificadas utilizando-se os softwares Ucinet e Net Draw, caracterizando-se suas dimensões macro e microestruturais. Os dados sobre as percepções da mudança foram analisados qualitativamente, criando-se categorias descritivas. Os resultados revelam uma visão predominantemente positiva da mudança e níveis reduzidos de densidade e coesão das redes informais. No único clique identifi cado, observou-se maior compartilhamento do significado atribuído à mudança. Além de mostrar as relações investigadas, o estudo fornece uma estratégia metodológica que pode se revelar heurística para novas pesquisas embasadas em uma perspectiva cognitivista.

Intimate Work

Although the job and career functions of workers' networks have been well documented, there is little understanding of the social support that workers provide to their network members. This article addresses this gap by developing a typology of social support that workers provide to their network members. Drawing on interview data from 40 employees, the author identifies six types of social support that vary in terms of their intimacy, emotional energy expended, nonemotional resources required, frequency of expression, and function. The author concludes by discussing the implications of this typology for our understanding of workplace intimacy and the benefits of informal networks in work organizations.

Like wolves in a pack: Predatory alliances of bullies in nursing

ABSTRACTThe findings from the first, qualitative stage of a larger sequential mixed method study of bullying in the Australian nursing workplace are reported. Interviews with twenty-six nurses, recruited from two health care organizations, were analysed using the constant comparative method. Participants described informal organizational networks as the mechanism through which predatory, cooperative, and planned group bullying acts were promulgated. These predatory alliances enabled the co-option of legitimate organizational systems, the concealment of bullying, and the protection and promotion of perpetrators. By identifying the manner in which workplace bullying can be embedded within informal organizational networks, this research has important implications for further research in this field.

Like wolves in a pack: Predatory alliances of bullies in nursing

ABSTRACTThe findings from the first, qualitative stage of a larger sequential mixed method study of bullying in the Australian nursing workplace are reported. Interviews with twenty-six nurses, recruited from two health care organizations, were analysed using the constant comparative method. Participants described informal organizational networks as the mechanism through which predatory, cooperative, and planned group bullying acts were promulgated. These predatory alliances enabled the co-option of legitimate organizational systems, the concealment of bullying, and the protection and promotion of perpetrators. By identifying the manner in which workplace bullying can be embedded within informal organizational networks, this research has important implications for further research in this field.

The Advice and Influence Networks of Transformational Leaders.

Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations.

Organizational Restructuring and the Achievement of an Equal Opportunity Culture

The Opportunity 2000 Campaign has recognized that equal opportunity policy change has to be accompanied by a process of culture change in organizations. However, sustaining commitment to an equal opportunity culture may be a difficult task in times of rapid and varied organizational change. In particular, the volume and scope of ‘restructuring’ that follow mergers, acquisitions, divestment, the introduction of internal markets, and other changes in business strategy often lead to ‘downsizing’, ‘delayering’, and outsourcing of business functions. This can have very variable outcomes for the careers of women managers. For them the experience of organizational restructuring is akin to participation in a lottery in which they are occasionally winners, but usually losers. This is the main finding from in‐depth case studies of three large organizations in the public sector, pharmaceuticals, and financial services, which have all experienced some form of ‘restructuring’ over the last five years. The main conclusion of this research is that unless restructuring involves an expansion of managerial positions it is likely to disadvantage women managers. The reasons for this are that it leads to job losses in functions where women are concentrated; highlights the disadvantages of poor line manager support; reinforces exclusion from the valuable informal organizational networks that provide access to career development opportunities; and renders formal equal opportunity policy monitoring ineffective. These findings have considerable implications for organizational and national policy initiatives to achieve an equal opportunity business culture.

Winning the lottery? Organizational restructuring and women′s managerial career development

Despite the growing amount of literature on women′s career life histories and individual career paths, analysis of the different and changing organizational contexts in which women pursue their careers is sparse. Uses an in‐depth case study of Public Sector Utility to examine how the restructuring of a public sector bureaucracy over a five‐year period affected the careers of women managers. Finds that although restructuring at PSU has opened up opportunities for women through an increase in the number of managerial jobs and through changes in the objective requirements of managerial work, a number of factors operated to keep glass ceilings in place: the concentration of women in the “velvet ghetto” of human resources, or their isolation in the cul‐de‐sac of other professional specialisms; the increased significance of informal organizational processes and networks as a means to career progress in a time of uncertainty; poor line manager support for access to work‐related career development opportunities s...

Dimensions of informal social network structure: Toward a contingency theory of informal relations in organizations

A method for inductively characterizing the dimensions of informal structure in organizations is developed and applied. Results are presented which suggest close parallels between contingency theories of formal organization and the informal structure case. These results are interpreted in light of the informational and other characteristics of informal networks in organizations.