The Society of OR

1. The Society of OR EURO Reykjavik July 2006 Michael Trick Tepper School,Carnegie Mellon

2. About this talk • Personal Perspective from • Time with INFORMS Online • President of INFORMS • Vice President of IFORS • Primarily a US perspective • Not a research talk!

3. Main Sources • Plus additional from social capital research

4. 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]

5. Social Capital • Value we get from interactions, even if no obvious learning (human capital) gets done • Economic Capital in bank account • Human Capital in head • Social Capital in structure of relationships (Portes) • Generally the result of ongoing, repeated interactions

6. Social Capital Information Exchange Illustration Information

7. Social Capital • Not a “fuzzy”, “feel-good” concept, but a measurable aspect of life with clear economic and social implications. • Careful studies show executives with larger networks advance faster • Those who volunteer time are healthier • Joining a society is “equivalent” to quitting smoking • As illustrated, cause and effect can be problematic

8. Types of Social Capital • Bonding: interactions that bind a group together • Bridging: interactions that work to combine groups • Both important but have different implications (for getting a good job, wide social networks are often better than close-knit families)

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

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

11. Decline of Social Capital 1970-1995

12. Further Sign? • INFORMS Membership

13. Decline of Social Capital • By almost any measure, the activities that lead to social capital are declining after having reached a peak in 1950-1970 period • Decrease is strongest in youngest cohorts (relative to involvement of others at that age)

14. Exceptions • Even possible exceptions are not encouraging • Some membership organizations have grown (Greenpeace and the like from 8/1000 to 37/1000). Membership is essentially fundraising • “Small group movement”: growth limited to “inner-directed” AA and other self-help

15. What about the internet? • No evidence in data yet • Lots more talking, little listening • Few examples of true social capital building (issues with lack of social cues) • Huge issue remains: how can we use these technological advances to create real communities (some more thoughts later)

16. 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

17. 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

18. Pressures of Time and Money • Those with heavy time demands are more likely to be active civically and professionally • Busy people spend less time reading books, sleeping, and (particularly) watching TV • Increasing financial anxiety during period, however decreases engagement

19. Pressures of Time and Money • Full time employment by women (attributable virtually entirely to financial pressures) decreases civic involvement (Porter: “Although the mothers of the current generation of American adults were usually not part of the paid labor force, they engaged in many socially productive functions. As their daughters have assumed a greater share of work outside the home, one might have expected their sons to assume a greater share of other social responsibilities but … that has not happened”)

20. Sprawl and mobility • Rural and small towns have been “hotbed” of activity: now decreasing • More time spent in commute gives less time for other activities. Speed is actually up, which causes formerly self-contained towns to become bedroom communities

21. 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

22. Trick’s TV situation: 5 TVs

23. TV Usage: “TV is my primary form of entertainment”

24. Causation? • Some interesting studies of 3 northern Canadian communities in the 1970s, one with no TV, one with one channel, and one with five. • Participation in community activities was sharply higher in “no TV” town

25. 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

26. Relevance to OR Professionals? • Clearly an important issue for society • Bowling Alone received widespread media coverage • Is there special relevance to OR/MS professionals? YES! (I think)

27. Communication with colleagues for Jobs New methods Support Ongoing information Communication externally for Funding Initiatives Professional Growth Importance of Social Capital

28. 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

29. Recognition of importance:OR Practitioners • Individual or small group consulting requires network (see Fred Murphy’s comments in Interfaces, 2005) Theurer: never take a long-term job since it destroys the network But this cannot be done alone!

30. Recognition of Importance:Conferences • INFORMS Conference participation has grown from a total of roughly 3000/year in two conferences to 3500 in just one. • This conference is 2.5 times the projected size

31. Recognition of Importance:Research • Harder to evaluate • Lots of awards/recognition for applications such as • HIV/AIDS • Policy input • Nontraditional application areas

32. Effect of Bowling Alone conclusions • Society membership is a poor measure of importance of an area. Don’t point to INFORMS membership numbers for support for the thesis that OR is weakening. • Instead, the reverse may be true: OR may be weakened by lack of emphasis on social capital issues (just as many aspects of social welfare are weak in states with little social capital).

33. Effect of Bowling Alone conclusions (cont.) • Societies may likely require more professional support to offset decreased volunteer effort. • Decreased opportunities for “bridging” social capital • “Mispricing” of social capital opportunities due to lack of experience.

34. Offsetting these effects First step in solving a problem is to recognize one exists. • Recognize social capital as a key component of our professional lives and increase supply

35. Offsetting Effects • Some evidence that “Golden Era” of social capital (30s-50s) was a response to needs • Perhaps we will see a similar counter-veiling force in response to current decrease • We can help things along!

36. Offsetting the Effects • Increase social capital activities • Structured lunch tables at conferences • Additional opportunities for members of our profession, particularly young ones • Create cohorts of “bonded” individuals within the larger community (viz. the “small group movement”). Dunbar’s number: 150 • Increase rewards and professional recognition for “social capital” activities • Hide social capital activities in other actions

37. Good Example! What kind of interactions will take place? It is not about the hiking!

38. Create Social Capital (bonding!) • Understand social capital issues in the communities we create (user groups, cross-functional teams, professional societies, etc.) • Do not overemphasize knowledge over interaction • Recognize individual reluctance • Create opportunities

39. Tell people what we do (bridging!) • 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)

40. Offsetting the Effects • Be leaders in exploiting new technology to create mixed online/live communities • Offset time/ sprawl effects • Move beyond the “individual” aspects of the web to discover social capital aspects

41. True interaction Illustration Web pages

42. New Technologies: New Opportunities? • “New” technology for web • Open source development • Wiki • Blogs • Crowdsourcing • Social Network Sites

43. Open Source Development • Creation of software or systems with broad access to the end products sources • Anyone can study, change and improve software • Group of those doing these form a community

44. Open Source Development • Social Capital involves • Goodwill • Mutual support • Shared language • Common beliefs • Sense of mutual obligation • Open Source creates communities • One very healthy one in OR: COIN-OR

45. www.coin-or.org

46. Key aspects relative to social capital: COIN-OR • Ongoing interactions across a variety of software packages • Differing goals/objectives/interests/skills • Support infrastructure (including support of an INFORMS subdivision) like email lists, wiki, foundation support, etc. • Periodic meetings face-to-face • Great example of a community with associated social capital effects

47. Wiki • Website that allows users to add, remove, edit most content easily • Open source approach to content creation

48. www.wikipedia.org

49. Social Capital • Wikis generally create a community of creators/users (with little distinction) • Able to cross boundaries easily • Spawn conferences, etc • Great opportunity in OR: Create an OR wikipedia

50. Blogs • A weblog or blog is a website with regular entries are made and presented in reverse chronological order • Generally commentaries by one or a few people on a particular subject