Managing Your Social Capital Priscilla Arling University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management – AWCTC March 2005

Agenda  Getting knowledge work done  What is Social Capital?  What impact does it have on my job?  What role does technology play?  Action items

Knowledge Work  Knowledge  What, where, when, how, why  Who  Networks of relationships Coworkers Bosses People in other departments People in other companies Friends

Our wide variety of networks  Not just Who, but Why the network exists  Types of networks Kinship Friendship Work flow Work advice Knowledge

Benefits of relationships  Access to Information  Shared understanding  Trust  Obligations  Norms of reciprocity

Social Capital  Connections between individuals  Value of those connections  Can have individuals each who are highly Trustworthy, knowledgeable, have understanding  Social capital exists only when those resources are not isolated

Activity  Think about your own social capital What networks do you have? What value do you received due to having in those networks? Can you think of any social capital that you have that may have negative consequences or connotations?

Analyzing Social Capital  Social Network Analysis Way to diagram and quantify social capital Simple diagrams Intuitive assessment Mathematical assessment

Social Networks Tom Lin Beth Joe Smita Harry

Social Networks Jon Sue Centrality, range Yan Cohesion Structural Hole

Social Networks and Work  Mark Granovetter  Weak ties  Getting a Job (1974)  Ronald Burt  Structural Holes (1992) Competition for jobs Early promotion Fast promotion

Getting a Job - Granovetter  Study of how 282 men found their jobs  Networking is the key link between job contacts and social structures  Casual acquaintances (weak ties) more important than close friends (strong ties)  Results  We all need to extend our social circles  Some circles contain info we lack in our own circles

Promotion - Ronald Burt  Studied 3,303 managers in a single firm  Fast promotion - time in job category  Early promotion - age  Spanning structural holes Important More important for some than others

Promotions - Results  Spanning networks more important for People on frontier –New job categories –Physically not co-located with others  Effect was stronger for women than men

Early Promotion - Results  Results differ between High ranking men Women and entry level men  High ranking men Dense, constrained networks delayed promotion Competition  Women and entry level Constrained networks improved early promotion Being known, having key contacts

Activity  Personal examples of networking and jobs  Yourself, friend, relative  How did they get their job?  Did networking play a role in their promotion  What was the company or group like? Large/small Dense/sparse Highly communicative/not

Technology and Social Networks  Relationships are built on communication  Knowledge work today  Not co-located with co-workers  Much of our communication is done electronically rather than face-to-face Telephone Video conferencing Instant messaging

Effects of Electronic Communication  Electronic vs. face-to-face communication  Synchronous - at same time Phone, video (depending upon speed)  Asynchronous - one at a time , chat  Reduced cues Nonverbal cues, intonation, contextual

Effects of Electronic Communication  Research on Electronic Communication De-personalized, fewer restrictions on behavior Missing context, message can be misinterpreted Quality of relationship can be affected When mode of communication is altered, more effort is required to maintain relationship

Effects of Not Being Co-located  Reduces opportunities for informal contact  Groups using only electronic communication had lower amount of total communication

Benefits of Electronic Communication  Increases participation  Increases access to information  Increases lateral communication  Increases idea generation

Research Study  Study electronic vs. face-to-face networks  In conjunction with distributed teams  Two types of networks Workflow Advice  How does your position in the social capital structure influence your access to resources, performance and job satisfaction?

Preliminary Results  Distance affects your position in the Network  Your position in the network influences your relational social capital (trust, access to info) but in general, NOT your performance  Your relational social capital influences your performance and job satisfaction  Distance alone does not affect your relational social capital

Preliminary Results  As distance increases  Frequency of both Face-to-face and electronic communication drops  Prominence in both structures drop, but more so in Face-to-face structures  More likely to use one person as your link to others  Distance directly influences position in structure,  BUT NOT trust, access to information, knowledge  And NOT job performance and satisfaction

Preliminary Results  Frequency of communication alone does not affect relational social capital  Emotional closeness with others must be considered as well  Being central in the Work Flow increases relational social capital

Preliminary Results  Gender specific  Influences for Women but not Men Distance influenced Electronic Prominence Distance influenced how tightly knit women’s structures are Being in a tightly knit group improved job satisfaction In general electronic networks influence women outcomes more than men’s

Preliminary Results  Gender specific  Influences for Men, not Women Having novel electronic links to others is linked to performance Being central in the work flow is linked to performance Distance IMPROVED job satisfaction for men

Immediate Action Items  Maintain diverse social networks  Include both strong and weak ties  Maintain links with upper management Both in your group Outside your group

Immediate Action Items  Mix electronic and face-to-face communication  Be aware of limitations of electronic communication Misconstrued messages Lack of context and cues Proactively seek to support electronic-only relationships Go beyond frequency – make an emotional connection