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Coalitions and Social Networks

Q: What factors play a role in building a coalition?

Know each other’s alternatives to not joining and make salient to potential members the costs of not joining Select coalition members with a reputation of honoring commitments Make your contacts early People are often loyal to whoever gets to them first Don’t get greedy : powerful parties sometimes ruin coalitions with their demands, driving weaker members into other coalitions

Q: How to maintain a powerful coalition?

Secure specific commitments Build interpersonal relationships beyond the currency of exchange in the coalition Provide ongoing communication and reassurance to maintain trust and commitment Speak with one voice - “ we ” not “I”

Q: 5.1 Research showed that 4 dimensions tended to be critical for a relationship to be effective, in terms of knowledge creation and use:

Knowledge: Knowing what someone knows -> essential for effective knowledge sharing and creation Access: Gaining timely access to that person's thinking Engagement: Creating viable knowledge through cognitive engagement Safety: Learning from a safe relationship -> safe and secure relationships improve knowledge creation by allowing room for creativity and learning.

19 important questions on Coalitions and Social Networks

Name the characteristics of a Coalition

- Often form one member at a time
- Formed independently of formal organizational structures
- a group of identifiable core members as well as a less reliable periphery
- Most are dependent on persuasion
- Issue oriented

Why do coalition form?

- Collect information before and during group discussion
- Go in listening - look for hidden agendas
- Do not assume you have enough knowledge
- Do not assume anyone is your ally/opponent until you have learned their interests

What factors play a role in building a coalition?

Know each other’s alternatives to not joining and make salient to potential members the costs of not joining
Select coalition members with a reputation of honoring commitments
Make your contacts early
People are often loyal to whoever gets to them first
Don’t get greedy: powerful parties sometimes ruin coalitions with their demands, driving weaker members into other coalitions

What factors will influence the process of a coalitions decision?

Breaks (e.g. who you talked first, how long you talked to everyone),order of voting

What makes a party powerful in a coalition?

- Power is the inverse of dependency
- What you may demand from joining depends on:

What resources you can add and their value
Your maximum expected reward in alternative relationships

- Think carefully about the distribution rule to be used in dividing spoils among parties.

Power interacts with justice norms (equity, need) to determine distribution

How to maintain a powerful coalition?

Secure specific commitments
Build interpersonal relationships beyond the currency of exchange in the coalition
Provide ongoing communication and reassurance to maintain trust and commitment
Speak with one voice - “we” not “I”

What is the name and author of the 5.1 article?

5.1 A bird's eye view: using social network analysis to improve knowledge creation and sharing - Cross, Parker, & Borgatti (2002)

5.1 Network analysis shows considerable promise for helping organizations handle a number of classic situations including:

Leader selection- Who is central in the trust and respect network?
Task force selection – How do we put together a team that is maximally connected throughout the organisation?
Mergers and acquisition- it’s not just two cultures merging, it’s two separate networks.

5. 1 What is the key feature of an SNA?

It displays the pattern of relationships and the ratline position of individuals (or groups) to each other.

5.1 Research showed that 4 dimensions tended to be critical for a relationship to be effective, in terms of knowledge creation and use:

Knowledge: Knowing what someone knows -> essential for effective knowledge sharing and creation

Access: Gaining timely access to that person's thinking

Engagement: Creating viable knowledge through cognitive engagement

Safety: Learning from a safe relationship -> safe and secure relationships improve knowledge creation by allowing room for creativity and learning.

5.1 What is multidimensionality of knowledge?

Analyzing the 4 aspects of relationships underlying effective information flow –knowledge, access, engagement and safety- offers precise technical and social ‘interventions’ to improve a network’s ability to share and create knowledge.

What is the name and the author of the 5.2 article?

5.2 The essence of strategic leadership: Managing human and social capital - Hitt & Duane (2002)

5.2 Of what is human capital a determinant?

Human capital may be a determinant of economic growth for nations as well as individual firms since it is of critical importance in contributing to higher income, life satisfaction and social cohesion. It represents skills, knowledge and abilities and it is reflected by ones education, experience and specific identifiable skills. It is often a firms most unique resource.

5.2 What does Internal social capital imply?

Internal social capital: relationships across all of an organizations work units. Strategic leaders must build effective relationships with those in the group and create a culture of trust. Trust engenders transactions to be completed more effectively, work teams to be more effective and human capital to be more readily exercise its creativity. It increases the likelihood that employees will fully commit to working towards achieving the firm’s vision and goals.

5.2 What does External social capital imply?

External social capital: relationships between strategic leader and those outside the organization whom they interact with to further the firm’s interests. It creates formal and informal alliances to gain access to complementary and needed resources. This access may affect a firm’s competitive advantage but also could contribute to its survival over time. For an alliance to be beneficial, both partners must benefit from the relationship and meet their goals.

5.2 There are 4 stages a strategic manager can use to manage the firms resources. Name them.

Evaluating resource stocks
Changing resource stocks
& 4. Configuring and leveraging resources

5.2 What does the stage of"evaluating resource stocks" imply?

This stage is important to identify strengths as well as deficiencies. The most effective strategic leaders evaluate the firms stocks of human capital and social capital taking actions to improve these resources when needed.

Intimate knowledge with employees is useful for evaluating the firm’s intangible capabilities. It is also important to evaluate the quality of the relationships and assess the probability of continuing access to the partners resources (semi-strong or strong form of trust is needed).

5.2 What does the stage of "changing resource stocks" imply?

This involves adding and deleting resources. Leaders must decide what new or different capabilities are needed and take actions to obtain them. This can require significant effort but more challenging is the decision to eliminate some human capital (like layoffs or downsizing). It is also important to change some human capital of the firm to prevent the loss of the ability to explore new advantages.

5.2 What does the stage of "Configuring and leveraging resources" imply?

Effective leaders should understand that they should try to bring individuals with complementary capabilities together. The most critical dimension of successful and sought-after strategic leadership - is providing the direction, influence, facilitation and empowerment such that group members realize their potential to create value for the firm.
Moreover, strong social capital reduces the need for and costs of monitoring. In effect, leaders must develop ‘’meta-capabilities’’ to coordinate and integrate partners in a relationship between the firms. This process is described as configuring and leveraging resources as effectuation.

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Coalitions and Social Networks

19 important questions on Coalitions and Social Networks

Name the characteristics of a Coalition

Why do coalition form?

What factors play a role in building a coalition?

What factors will influence the process of a coalitions decision?

What makes a party powerful in a coalition?

How to maintain a powerful coalition?

What is the name and author of the 5.1 article?

5.1 Network analysis shows considerable promise for helping organizations handle a number of classic situations including:

5. 1 What is the key feature of an SNA?

5.1 Research showed that 4 dimensions tended to be critical for a relationship to be effective, in terms of knowledge creation and use:

5.1 What is multidimensionality of knowledge?

What is the name and the author of the 5.2 article?

5.2 Of what is human capital a determinant?

5.2 What does Internal social capital imply?

5.2 What does External social capital imply?

5.2 There are 4 stages a strategic manager can use to manage the firms resources. Name them.

5.2 What does the stage of"evaluating resource stocks" imply?

5.2 What does the stage of "changing resource stocks" imply?

5.2 What does the stage of "Configuring and leveraging resources" imply?

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