The Community of OR INFORMS Combined Colloquia November, 2005 Michael Trick Tepper School,Carnegie Mellon

Social Capital (from Bowling Alone) Value we get from interactions, even if no obvious learning (human capital) gets done Results are often hard to recognize, but a career without social capital is sterile and ineffective

Definition Social Capital : measures of the value of social networks. Those tangible substances that count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse [Hanifan, 1916]

Why is Social Capital Important/Useful? “Lubricant” that makes interactions go (like money in economic transactions) Leads to Trust Reciprocity Cooperation Institutional Effectiveness

Examples of activities Working for Political Party Serving as officer in a club Church Attendence Membership in professional organization Entertainment at home Bowled in a League

Decline of Social Capital Worked for political party 7%2.8% Served as officer in club10%6% Attended Church42%36% Member of Institute of Architects 41%28% Entertained at home149 Bowled in a league69/ / 1000

Further Sign? INFORMS Membership Total13,10011,75211,05810,49910,53210,20810,53610,437 Student Retired

Decline of Social Capital By almost any measure, the activities that lead to social capital are declining after having reached a peak in period Decrease is strongest in youngest cohorts (relative to involvement of others at that age)

Effects of this decline Society is measurably more doubtful of others (people don’t trust each other as much) People break “little laws more” (at a set of stop signs in NY, stopping went from 38% in 1978 to 1%) Charitable giving has decreased Many more signs of breakdown

Why? Many suspects No one reason Careful study does remove some possibilities: hard to blame internet when the decline from 1970 is steady Pressures of time, money, sprawl at work. Key issues are television usage and generational shifts

Television and technology There are now 2.4 TV sets per household, and the average household watches TV 7.5 hours/day Isolated and isolating activity that correlates most strongly with other measures of social disengagement

Trick’s TV situation: 5 TVs

TV Usage: “TV is my primary form of entertainment” Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Volunteered Letters written1218 Club meetings59 Worked on community project 1.53 Gave finger to another driver 31.4

Generational Shifts Two ways these changes could come about: uniform across all ages or replacement of “civic generation” with a less civic generation Data is clearly in favor of the latter. Matches with TV results

Implications: Unique for OR By our nature, we are Alone in our organization, or part of a small group Dependent on outside interactions to generate projects, ideas, creative research directions It is arguable that OR professionals are more dependent on social capital than many other professions

Effect on Young Professionals Tempting to view time spent not in research as “wasted time” Wrong! In addition to the importance of finding balance in your life, social capital can result in unexpected successes Half of my vita is due to hallway conversations with colleagues in economics, finance, and other areas I am better in the classroom due to what I learn from colleagues

Types of Social Capital Two main types Bonding: forming “in-groups” (not a pejorative). This colloquium is a great opportunity Bridging: interacting with other groups. Bridging people tend to be very central and successful in organizations Do both!

Advertisement INFORMS can help Meet those in your field and those in related fields Outreach campaign such as “The Science of Better” Be active and involved Attend meetings, follow up interactions Volunteer

Message 2: Be part of the Community and Improve the Field Not just by having a nice new theorem Tell people about what we do! OR is exciting

Tell people what we do The more people know about OR, the more Students Funding Projects Success

Tell people what we do Doesn’t have to be own work Have 3 or 4 good stories, and tell them as often as you can Great opportunity at this colloquium to collect stories Don’t be shy, modest, analytical (all those things OR people normally are)

Message 3: But not too much community: Don’t listen to others (even me!) More exactly, listen, evaluate, and accept/reject Many different paths in this career: tendency to suggest “just do what I did!”

Example My first web page was in 1994, when there were 800 web servers One of which was

Bottom line Don’t forget the most important take- away from this colloquium The People you have met!

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