3 Jun 04 @ 11:13 am
Social Networks
Encourage Employee Socializing addresses not the company holiday party but optimizing the flow of information among employees:
When Cross and Parker, who are both affiliated with IBM’s Knowledge and Organizational Performance Forum, studied the social networks at more than 60 organizations, they saw certain patterns of interaction. Four types of employees are particularly important in social networks.
- Central connectors are the few people in every group whom everybody turns to. They are the decision-makers, the experts. However, when the demands of the job grow bigger than a central connector can handle, this person may inadvertently slow down others by not responding quickly enough.
- Boundary spanners are people who link two or more groups of employees who are separated by location, hierarchy or function (for instance, IT and marketing). This role is important when different expertise needs to be shared—for instance, when coordinating the design, manufacture and marketing of a new product.
- Information brokers serve as conduits. Remove them and communication inside the group is greatly diminished.
- Peripheral people are the outsiders. Sometimes these people are underutilized and sometimes their professional or social skills are lacking. Occasionally, though, they are peripheral by design, as in the case of research scientists whose time is best spent in the lab.
Naturally, those categories resemble Malcolm Gladwell’s Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.
posted in category(s): Points of Interest
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