Social Networks at Work


Book Description

Social Networks at Work provides the latest thinking, from top-notch experts, on social networks as they apply to industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology. Each chapter provides an in-depth review along with discussions of future research and managerial implications of the social network perspective. Altogether, the volume illustrates the importance of adding a social capital perspective to the traditional human capital focus of I/O psychology. The volume is organized into two groups of chapters: the first seven chapters focus on specific network concepts (such as centrality, affect, negative ties, multiplexity, cognition, and structural holes) applied across a variety of topics. The remaining eight chapters focus on common I/O topics (such as personality, creativity, turnover, careers, person–environment fit, employment, teams, and leadership) and examine each from a network perspective, applying a variety of network concepts to the topic. This volume is suited for students and academics interested in applying a social network perspective to their work, as well as for practicing managers. Each topic area provides a useful review and guide for future research, as well as implications for managerial action.




Networks that Work


Book Description




The Hidden Power of Social Networks


Book Description

A powerful, visual framework helps managers discover how employees really communicate and collaborate to get work done - and helps them identify ways they can influence these social networks to improve performance and innovation. In The Hidden Power of Social Networks, Cross and Parker, experts in "social network analysis"—a technique that visually maps relationships between people in large, distributed groups - apply this powerful tool to management for the first time. Based on their in-depth study of sixty informal employee networks in well-known companies around the world, Cross and Parker show managers how to conduct a social network analysis of their organization.




How Networks Work


Book Description

Ever wonder how your office computer network works? Or how the Ethernet card inside your computer connects you to that network or to the Internet? "How Networks Work" will give you a thorough, detailed explanation of the inner-workings of network systems without getting you caught up in network jargon. Learn the basic principles of networking and how those principles work inside pieces of network equipment. Complete with illustrations to show how things work together, this latest edition also includes information on the newest technologies, including VoIP, wireless networks, broadband and more.




The Power of Networks


Book Description

An accessible illustrated introducton to the networks we use every day, from Facebook and Google to WiFi and the Internet What makes WiFi faster at home than at a coffee shop? How does Google order search results? Is it really true that everyone on Facebook is connected by six steps or less? The Power of Networks answers questions like these for the first time in a way that all of us can understand. Using simple language, analogies, stories, hundreds of illustrations, and no more math than simple addition and multiplication, Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang provide a smart and accessible introduction to the handful of big ideas that drive the computer networks we use every day. The Power of Networks unifies these ideas through six fundamental principles of networking. These principles explain the difficulties in sharing network resources efficiently, how crowds can be wise or not so wise depending on the nature of their connections, why there are many layers in a network, and more. Along the way, the authors also talk with and share the special insights of renowned experts such as Google’s Eric Schmidt, former Verizon Wireless CEO Dennis Strigl, and “fathers of the Internet” Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn.




Impact Networks


Book Description

This practical guide shows how to facilitate collaboration among diverse individuals and organizations to navigate complexity and create change in our interconnected world. The social and environmental challenges we face today are not only complex, they are also systemic and structural and have no obvious solutions. They require diverse combinations of people, organizations, and sectors to coordinate actions and work together even when the way forward is unclear. Even so, collaborative efforts often fail because they attempt to navigate complexity with traditional strategic plans, created by hierarchies that ignore the way people naturally connect. By embracing a living-systems approach to organizing, impact networks bring people together to build relationships across boundaries; leverage the existing work, skills, and motivations of the group; and make progress amid unpredictable and ever-changing conditions. As a powerful and flexible organizing system that can span regions, organizations, and silos of all kinds, impact networks underlie some of the most impressive and large-scale efforts to create change across the globe. David Ehrlichman draws on his experience as a network builder; interviews with dozens of network leaders; and insights from the fields of network science, community building, and systems thinking to provide a clear process for creating and developing impact networks. Given the increasing complexity of our society and the issues we face, our ability to form, grow, and work through networks has never been more essential.




Networks for Social Impact


Book Description

A broad review of how nonprofits, businesses, and governments work together to tackle social problems Networks for Social Impact takes a systems approach to explain how and when networks make a social impact. Michelle Shumate and Katherine R. Cooper argue that network design and management is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, they show that the type of social issue, the mechanism for social impact, environment, and resources available each determine appropriate choices. Drawing on research from public administration, psychology, business, network science, social work, and communication, this book synthesizes what we know about how to best design and manage networks. It includes illustrations from thirty original case studies which describe groups of organizations addressing issues such as gender-based violence, educational outcomes, senior care, veterans' services, mental health and wellness, and climate change. Additionally, the volume examines critical issues that leaders address in creating and managing networks, including social issue analysis, network governance, securing and managing funding, dealing with power and conflict, using data effectively, and managing change. Each chapter includes tools for network leaders to use to handle these issues. This book is neither an overly idealistic, pro-collaboration account of the benefits of network approaches, nor is it a critical view of these efforts. Instead, this clear and concise volume highlights the opportunities and challenges of networks.




Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks


Book Description

&Quot;Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks clarifies this complex task by outlining a top-down, step-by-step process for constructing a WAN or internetwork that is effective for your organization. This book will guide you through the steps of determining requirements, designing the network structure, choosing appropriate technologies, and evaluating results. The author's practical approach distills exactly what you need to know about networking theory and technological background in order to accomplish a given task."--BOOK JACKET.




Internetworking and Computing Over Satellite Networks


Book Description

The emphasis of this text is on data networking, internetworking and distributed computing issues. The material surveys recent work in the area of satellite networks, introduces certain state-of-the-art technologies, and presents recent research results in these areas.




Culture in Networks


Book Description

Today, interest in networks is growing by leaps and bounds, in both scientific discourse and popular culture. Networks are thought to be everywhere – from the architecture of our brains to global transportation systems. And networks are especially ubiquitous in the social world: they provide us with social support, account for the emergence of new trends and markets, and foster social protest, among other functions. Besides, who among us is not familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or, for that matter, World of Warcraft, among the myriad emerging forms of network-based virtual social interaction? It is common to think of networks simply in structural terms – the architecture of connections among objects, or the circuitry of a system. But social networks in particular are thoroughly interwoven with cultural things, in the form of tastes, norms, cultural products, styles of communication, and much more. What exactly flows through the circuitry of social networks? How are people's identities and cultural practices shaped by network structures? And, conversely, how do people's identities, their beliefs about the social world, and the kinds of messages they send affect the network structures they create? This book is designed to help readers think about how and when culture and social networks systematically penetrate one another, helping to shape each other in significant ways.