Understanding the formal and informal communication networks in your organisation is crucial to managing successfully.

The ARRC works with organisations and people across a number of different disciplines.  Recently we have been developing a partnership with Graham Durant-Law, who specialised in social network analysis.  This is a fascinating area of work, and we are finding that when this analytical tool is combined with qualitative evaluation techniques, an in-depth and much more insightful understanding is gained about how relationships and networks in an organisation are helping or hindering the achievement of goals.  Graham has provided us with an introduction to social network analysis that we hope you find interesting….

With businesses increasingly operating with an evolving and interconnected series of networks, the need for analytical techniques to understand these relationships is growing. Social network analysis views relationships in terms of network theory, with each network made up of individuals or organisations and their interdependency. The resulting structures are often very complicated, but when analysed can reveal knowledge flows, relationships and social capital in an organisation, as shown in the map below.