Spinuzzi network-2

How to improve information flow in organizations (c) 2011 Clay Spinuzzi

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What is a Network?

Clay [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




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Value

• Understand how sociotechnical networks differ from social network analysis and networked organizations.

• Understand what a sociotechnical network is and why this sort of analysis is valuable.

• Understand conditions that have led to more distributed organizations.

• Understand weaving and splicing in sociotechnical networks.

• Understand the four characteristics of sociotechnical networks.


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WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT…


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We’re not talking about Social Network Analysis (SNA)

• Looks at connections between people• Connections are explicit• Data collection focuses on quantification (surveys,

structured interviews, classifiable communications, most recently email and social networks)

• Analyses are typically quantitative• Great for finding hidden connections, structural

holes• In popular literature: Gladwell, Barabasi


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In social network analysis…

Person

Person

Person

Person

Person

Person

Person


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Popular Books on SNA

• Barabasi, Linked.• Gladwell, The Tipping Point.


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But SNA is different from sociotechnical networks…

• SNA assumes constant nodes (human beings)• SNA comparatively underdefines links• SNA misses the notion of mediation• SNA therefore takes fitness (competence) to

be a property of the node


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We’re not talking about networked organizations

• A form of organization, distinct from tribes, institutional hierarchies, and markets

• Focused on the people in the organization, newly enabled to communicate via digital technologies

• Described in studies of distributed work, peer production, and warfare

• Characterized by distributed leadership, involving pushing discretion to edges of the organization

• Involving tactics such as swarming and rapid iteration• … although we will see some of those characteristics in

Telecorp.


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In a networked organization…


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Popular Books on Networked Organizations

• Toffler, The Third Wave.• Brafman and Beckstrom, The Starfish and the

Spider.• Robb, Brave New War.


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But networked organizations are different from sociotechnical networks…

• Networked organizations still assume constant nodes (human beings)

• Networked organizations still comparatively underdefine links

• Networked organizations are phenomena, while sociotechnical networks represent analysis


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Rather, we’re talking about sociotechnical networks

• Analysis that involves both humans and nonhumans

• Existing across history• Focusing on sociocultural meaning of linking

people, practices, and artifacts• Transforming information and capabilities

through different configurations• Examples: Activity theory, actor-network theory


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DISTRIBUTED WORK


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Adhocracies

• “man will find himself [sic] liberated, a stranger in a new free-form world of kinetic organizations. In this alien landscape, his position will be constantly changing, fluid, and varied. And his organizational ties, like his ties with things, places, and people, will turn over at a frenetic and ever-accelerating pace.” (Toffler 1970, p.125)

• “managers are losing their monopoly on decision-making” (Toffler 1970, p.140)


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Adhocracies


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Decentralization

• “the new production system relies on a combination of strategic alliances and ad hoc cooperation projects between corporations, decentralized units of each major corporation, and networks of small and medium enterprises connecting among themselves and/or with large corporations or networks of corporations.” (Castells 2000, p.96)


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1996: GIS-ALAS


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TELECORP’S NETWORKS


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Telecorp’s challenges

• Complexity. The competitive and regulatory landscape changed rapidly, leading to increasingly specialized units.

• Interconnectivity. Telecorp had to create seamless links with its “coopetition” - rapidly

• Speed. Every call is an emergency, leading Telecorp’s workers to find shortcuts and to process multiple calls at once.

• Volume. Telecorp was growing rapidly, as was the entire telecommunications sector.

• Turnover. At this point, unemployment was low and Telecorp had a hard time keeping employees.


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Telecorp as a Sociotechnical Network

From the perspectives of • Activity theory• Actor-network theory“A dialogue, not a dialectic.”


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One Dog’s Death

• “Rex” escaped his yard and was struck by a car.

• Who’s to blame? Someone didn’t effectively circulate the message “dog in yard.”

• ANT: political-rhetorical aspect• AT: developmental aspect


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Aside: I received an email…

• “I'm currently taking a Qualitative Research Methods with [professor] at [university]. In our last class, we read your article "Who Killed Rex?" During our discussion, it was suggested that you fabricated your qualitative investigation of Telecorp in an effort to educate your readers …”


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Two Ways to Build a Network

1. Weaving (developmental)– Starts at a point and diverges– The longer the network, the more attenuated it is– Example: Different kinds of fishing nets– “Weaving” analyses emphasize human cognition

and expertise. They’re asymmetrical.

Activity theory provides a weaving analysis


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Development (Weaving) in ALAS

Development


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Two Ways to Build a Network

2. Splicing (political-rhetorical)– Different preexisting elements converge– The longer the network, the stronger it is– Example: The Bell network– “Splicing” analyses examine humans and

nonhumans on the same footing. They’re symmetrical.

Actor-network theory provides a splicing analysis.


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Alliances (Splicing) in ALAS


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Three Aspects of Telecorp’s Network

• The physical network: sprawling, delicate.• The actor-network: spliced, symmetrically

treated actants (human and nonhuman) that provide the illusion of unified service.

• The activity network: woven, interlinked activities that are asymmetrically treated; developing; and structured.


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Four Characteristics of Sociotechnical Networks

• Heterogeneous• Multiply linked• Transformative• Black-boxed


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Five Events

1. Rex’s owner notices interrupted service.2. He calls Telecorp and asks them to fix it.3. The message finds its way to the NCC.4. An NCC worker calls a BigTel technician and

orders the repair.5. BigTel’s technician visits the residence,

accidentally letting Rex escape.


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Opening All the Black Boxes

• “The workers’ jobs were complex because their relations to other departments, other activity systems, were complex and getting more complex all the time.” (p.57)


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Opening All the Black Boxes

• “Without relative stability on which sustainable practices could be founded and formalized, workers could only learn by encountering contingencies and tailoring responses to each one of them.” (p.57)


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Who’s Responsible?

• Not the person who brought the information into Telecorp, but …

• The last line of defense: The NCC• But that person can plead mitigating

circumstances!


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Exercise: Examine Social Media Use

• What’s the team (functional boundaries)?• What are they trying to accomplish (multiple

objectives)?• What are their assumptions?• What tools, texts, practices, people do they

enlist, and how do those drag in other assumptions?

• What information fails to circulate?


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THE FOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIOTECHNICAL NETWORKS


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1. Heterogeneous

• ANT: actants• AT: activities• Both: Qualitative, not quantitative


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2. Multiply Linked

• Links are heterogeneous too. • Links must be observed and analyzed

empirically and/or discussed in interviews.• Formal or informal.• Active or passive.


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3. Transformative

• Standing sets of transformations. • Here: information and services.• Transformations often include genres.• Often qualitative and categorical.• How homogeneous assemblages of humans

and nonhumans regularly effect transformations.


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4. Black-Boxed

• When we lift the limiting assumption of heterogeneity…

• … we find that nodes are themselves networks…

• … and we can potentially follow their links forever.

• But in practice, the customer calls “the phone company.”


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Exercise: Apply the Four Characteristics

• Heterogeneous. What different types of nodes (activities, actants) do you see in your case?

• Multiply linked. What different types of connections (direct and indirect communication, influences, assumptions) do you see?

• Transformative. What sorts of transformations (especially of information and services) do you see?

• Black-boxed. How are parts of your case black-boxed – that is, how do people reduce complexity when talking about it?


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Twitter as Ambient Status Update


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Case Study: World of Warcraft

• Sherlock, L. (2009). Genre, Activity, and Collaborative Work and Play in World of Warcraft: Places and Problems of Open Systems in Online Gaming. Journal Of Business And Technical Communication, 23(3), 263-293.

• Grouping (team performance) enabled and enhanced through out-of-game genres.

• Division of labor, strategies, tactics.


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Example: LinkedIn


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Exercise: Examine Weaving and Splicing

• Weaving. In your case, how have things developed and diverged? Think especially of genres, functional groups, and practices.

• Splicing. In your case, how have different things converged? Think especially of genres, functional groups, and practices.

• “Text” comes from “textere,” to weave together. How are texts helping to weave – and splice – the organization?


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Takeaways

• How sociotechnical networks differ from social network analysis and networked organizations.

• What a sociotechnical network is.• Conditions that have led to more distributed

organizations.• Weaving and splicing in sociotechnical

networks.• The four characteristics of sociotechnical

networks.


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Applications

• Examining sociotechnical networks - qualitatively.

• Determining how an organization has become woven together via development.

• Determining how an organization has become spliced together via alliances.

• Examining how they’re used at different levels.• Examining how they connect, especially in

unsanctioned or unforeseen ways.


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We Still Haven’t Discussed…

• The details of activity theory• The details of actor-network theoryWe’ll get to these in the next chapter

Spinuzzi network-2

Education

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