Articles

Social Network Analysis

Social network analysis is increasingly used to measure the degree of connectedness and collaboration of employee relationships the workplace. Social network analysis reviews the diversity and dispersal of connection among employees in a business. Social network maps are based upon those individuals that employees themselves say they have a relationship with and the greatest levels of communication.

How is social network analysis done?

Employees are broken down into work groups within their functional departments and their work sites. Each employee is asked to identify the top five individuals with whom they interact. The dispersion and diversity of these individuals in relation to the polled person is rated. The dispersion and diversity of the social network of each work group, work site and functional groups. These relationships may be emotionally based or close working relationships regardless of the emotional ties involved. However, the social network will ask for the list of those individuals with whom the employees has the closest working relationship or the greatest levels of communication.


How is it measured?

Dispersion is measured by the geographic distance of those with whom employees interact. Employees who only work with employees at their same site have a low degree of dispersion in their social network. Diversity is measured by the degree of separation in functional groups between the two employees. Employees who only work within their own work group have low diversity in their social network. The social network analysis will reveal which groups are insular, which groups work across functional divisions and which groups are connected across geographic boundaries.

Red Flags

If employees describe their closest employees as their primary contacts but only give them low ratings, this is a sign that this employee is either burning out or suffering a high degree of conflict. An employee who works in a group but has low levels of communication within their group and high degrees of connection and communication outside their group could be a sign of alienation.

Ratings are taken several months, quarters or years later. Groups with more connections outside their group and outside their work site have a higher degree of collaboration. By taking a large sample across the organization over time, highly personal ratings of levels of communication and emotional relationships are turned into a numeric, factual analysis.