The UVA’s Network Roundtable’s semi-annual meeting (held Sptember 8-9, at the Hyatt Dulles for the first time) was, as always, a rich couple of days for learning how companies are applying the tools of social/organizational network analysis. Led by Rob Cross (who was my ONA teacher), this 80+ member consortium has worked with Rob to fulfill a vision that he has of a relational view of the workplace. The first three years of the Roundtable focused on method: getting the survey tool right, practicing and honing the methodology, developing a research program, building the member base.

An ONA (organizational network analysis) provides a visual map of how people in an organization (or collection of organizations) relate to each other along a specific set of dimensions (frequency of communication, liklihood to seek out for problem-solving, source of innovative ideas, and so on). The map is accompanied by a set of data that provide more detailed types of analysis.

The focus now shifts, as Rob says, to the “now what?” that occurs after a map is presented. What are the most effective interventions for specific types of patterns? What else can you do with the data? Zeke Wolfberg at the DIA has used network data to pair people in a “smart mentoring” program (I wrote this up in an article I co-authored with Zeke a few years ago). The Roundtable will soon be producing a field guide containing cases of practical interventions that use network data.

Rob’s research program model (similar to that of the Institute for Knowledge Management, which supported Rob’s early research) is to sketch out some broad research areas and let consortium members guide the research by working with the Rob and his research team as they work to solve real-time problems in their workplaces. One new research area (that I am most interested in) is in the area of technology — social tools and applications. You only need to read a little of The AppGap to know that there is still a lot we don’t know about social software. But to put social software in the context of understanding social networks means asking questions like:

• Are people who use social tools (blogs, wikis, collaboration platforms with status updates, and so on) more productive?
• Are they more productive than they were before they started using these tools?
• Or is it that people who were already high performers have been early adopters of the tools?
• How can existing social networks be leveraged for change management in bringing new tools into the workplace?
• Can we know enough about the structure of networks and quality of relationships from email mining or are we stuck with surveys?

I spent a morning session with consortium members represent manufacturing, business consulting, and financial services companies and the DoD and global nonprofits.  This research area is being led by Peter Gray. The most energy in the discussion was around the issues of adoption, the best places to start building internal networks (communities of practice), and how to work around problems with people using both internal and external social platforms. Lots of meat for research, not all necessarily specific to the domain of interest of the Network Roundtable, but there are a lot of committed and enthusiastic folks rolling up their sleeves on these topics.