Who Talks To Whom? Analysing Networks Laura Blake 2008.

1. Who Talks To Whom?Analysing NetworksLaura Blake 2008.

2. I am the Director of Communications for the: National Primary Care Research and Development Centre (Universities of Manchester and York) www.npcrdc.ac.uk NIHR School for Primary Care Research (Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester & Oxford) www.nspcr.ac.uk

3. A Snapshot of the NHS in England

4. Key Facts • Set up in 1948 - the largest organisation in Europe • Restructuring → more organisations • More organisations → more PR staff • Networks set up to move information up, down and across all NHS organisations

5. How the Networks are Supposed to Work National - Department of Health (DH) Information and orders passed down and information passed back up Regional NHS organisation - Strategic Health Authority (SHA) Information and orders passed down and information passed back up via a ‘network’ Local NHS organisations e.g. PCT, Trust Everyone linked to everyone else at the click of a button

6. Plans and Assumptions • Assumed that if we sent information to network co-ordinators everyone would get it at the same time • Planned to send information in this way to clinicians and managers – cost effective?

7. My Research Used Social Network Analysis to find out: • Does the network actually work? • Is it a cost-effective way to disseminate?

8. Why Use Social Network Analysis? Being successful, whether as individuals or as organisations is about building good relationships not merely creating lots of connections It provides tools which enable us to see: What is really happening - who is actually talking to whom

9. People Matter Most people get information they need from other people. Successful communication strategies: • measure how information is moving through and between organisations; • ensure that the right people are in contact with one another; • Ensure that people know “who knows what”.

10. What Do We Need To Know About Our Networks To understand networks and their members we need to find out: • Who is supposed to be in the network? • Where people are in the network? • What they do in the network? • who are the connectors, leaders, isolates? • What sub-groups are they in? • where are the cliques and who is in them? • who is in the core of the network? • who is on the periphery?

11. My Research Questionnaire asked everyone in the network: • Who they gave information to • Who they received information from Interviews were also undertaken Results were interesting!

12. How These Networks Actually Work Giving Information Receiving Information Confirmed Relationships

13. Key Results • Information didn’t flow through the network • Few people played a key role • Many were isolated • Although information was sent it was not ‘received’ by many • There were lots of informal groups – why are these important?

14. Although managers may be able to diagram accurately the links of the five or six people closest to them, their assumptions about employees outside their immediate circle are usually off the mark.” Krackhardt & Hansen (1993:104)

15. Why Are Informal Groups Important? • Work is increasingly accomplished collaboratively through informal groups rather than relationships established by position within formal structures. • Often invisible or at least only partially understood by managers. • Increasingly important contributors to employee job satisfaction & performance.

16. Social Network Analysis Is Useful Networks are everywhere - effective way to identify and assess: • If the formal network is effective • Whether any sub-groups exist • Identify key people and use them to disseminate information • Pinpoint breakdowns in networks and fix them

17. Social Network Analysis Is Useful • Manage organisational change • Move knowledge effectively • Spot hidden knowledge to enable innovation • Engage wider audiences externally & internally • Personal networking for own development • Promote collaboration within strategically important groups • Identify key academics - find out if & how they are collaborating across departmental boundaries • There are many more examples!

18. Remember • Interviews are important as they add more information. • Important to analyse confirmed relationships

19. Social network analysis does not require a PhD ……… Any intelligent person, under the right guidance, and with the proper tools, can apply the methodology to an appropriate problem and gain enormous insight into what was previously hidden. Valdis Krebs 2008

20. Word Of Caution Social Network Analysis • Is powerful • The data is extremely sensitive • There is a real chance for conflict & managing this requires skill. • Depends on people disclosing their relationships

21. Useful Resources • Introduction to social network methods by Hanneman R.A & Riddle M – available online: www.faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/nettext/ • UCINET – A software package which analyses network data and enables maps to be drawn (free download for 30 days) http://www.analytictech.com/downloaduc6.htm • Introduction to Social Network Theory by Charles Kadushin http://home.earthlink.net/~ckadushin/Texts/Basic%20Network%20Concepts.pdf • Monge and Eisenberg (1987) Social network Analysis As A Knowledge Management Tool. http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/2006/596/mp5_snakm.pdf Excellent papers to read as an introduction • Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks by Rob Cross, Andrew Parker, Laurence Prusak and Stephen Borgatti in Organizational Dynamics (2001)Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 100–120 • A glossary of terms for navigating the field of social network analysis by Penelope Hawe, Cynthia Webster and Alan Shiell in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2004);58:971- 975 http://home.earthlink.net/~ckadushin/Texts/Basic%20Network%20Concepts.pdf

22. Thank You! laura.blake@manchester.ac.uk