Social network analysis aided product development project management: IC Substrates case study

In knowledge management (KM), one perspective is that knowledge resides in individuals who interact in groups. Concepts as communities-of-practice, knowledge networks, and “encultured knowledge” as the outcome of shared sense-making (Blackler, 1995) are built upon this perspective. Social network analysis focuses on the patterns of people’s interactions. This adds to KM theory a dimension that considers the effects of social structure on for example, knowledge creation, retention and dissemination. This article provides a short overview of consequences of social network structure on knowledge processes and explores how the insights generated by social network analysis are valuable to KM as diagnostic elements for drafting KM interventions. Relevance is apparent for management areas such as R&D alliances, product development, project management, and so forth.

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Social Network Analysis

Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-573-3.ch107 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 818-825

Author(s):

David J. Dekker ◽

Paul H.J. Hendriks

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Development Project ◽

Knowledge Networks ◽

Knowledge Processes ◽

Social Network Structure ◽

Product Development Project ◽

Practice Knowledge

In knowledge management (KM), one perspective is that knowledge resides in individuals who interact in groups. Concepts as communities-of-practice, knowledge networks, and “encultured knowledge” as the outcome of shared sense-making (Blackler, 1995) are built upon this perspective. Social network analysis focuses on the patterns of people’s interactions. This adds to KM theory a dimension that considers the effects of social structure on for example, knowledge creation, retention and dissemination. This article provides a short overview of consequences of social network structure on knowledge processes and explores how the insights generated by social network analysis are valuable to KM as diagnostic elements for drafting KM interventions. Relevance is apparent for management areas such as R&D alliances, product development, project management, and so forth.

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Integrating service practice into project management: a matter of “do or die”?

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business ◽

10.1108/ijmpb-12-2011-0078 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 5-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Thommie Allan Burström ◽

Mattias Jacobsson ◽

Timothy L. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Project Management ◽

Product Development ◽

Best Management Practices ◽

Service Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Development Project ◽

Management Approach ◽

Content Type ◽

Product Development Project

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze service management practices within a project management context. Design/methodology/approach – This research supporting conceptual developments was both exploratory and qualitative in nature and utilized an in-depth case study of a major product development project. Findings – The conceptual framework developed is applied to empirical observations of product development project. Because there is an adequate fit with observations, elements of a service management approach appear to be viable in the description, managing, and control of projects. Research limitations/implications – Because the research was built on a case study, one has the limitations common with that approach. Conversely, case studies are acknowledged as useful in the identification of important variables in situations in which there is little control over events in a real-world context. Practical implications – Customer satisfaction is a requirement of project organizations, which is an inherent requisite of any service organization. Consequently, one turns to those elements in the practice of service management that lead to best management practices. Originality/value – This paper contributes with a practice-based understanding of how project management is based on integrated service practice.

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Social Network Analysis

Knowledge Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-933-5.ch171 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 2060-2069

Author(s):

David J. Dekker ◽

Paul H.J. Hendriks

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Development Project ◽

Knowledge Networks ◽

Knowledge Processes ◽

Social Network Structure ◽

Product Development Project ◽

Practice Knowledge

In knowledge management (KM), one perspective is that knowledge resides in individuals who interact in groups. Concepts as communities-of-practice, knowledge networks, and “encultured knowledge” as the outcome of shared sense-making (Blackler, 1995) are built upon this perspective. Social network analysis focuses on the patterns of people’s interactions. This adds to KM theory a dimension that considers the effects of social structure on for example, knowledge creation, retention and dissemination. This article provides a short overview of consequences of social network structure on knowledge processes and explores how the insights generated by social network analysis are valuable to KM as diagnostic elements for drafting KM interventions. Relevance is apparent for management areas such as R&D alliances, product development, project management, and so forth.

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Evaluation of Coordination of Emergency Response Team through the Social Network Analysis. Case Study: Oil and Gas Refinery

Safety and Health at Work ◽

10.1016/j.shaw.2014.09.004 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 30-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Iraj Mohammadfam ◽

Susan Bastani ◽

Mahbobeh Esaghi ◽

Rostam Golmohamadi ◽

Ali Saee

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Emergency Response ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

The Social ◽

Response Team ◽

Gas Refinery

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Identifying Project Corporate Behavioral Risks to Support Long-Term Sustainable Cooperative Partnerships

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13116347 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 6347

Author(s):

Marco Nunes ◽

António Abreu ◽

Célia Saraiva

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Project Management ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Research Literature ◽

Management Tools ◽

Dynamic Interactions ◽

Major Factors

Projects are considered crucial building blocks whereby organizations execute and implement their short-, mid-, and long-term strategic visions. Projects are thought, developed, and implemented to solve problems, drive change, satisfy unique needs, add value, and exploit opportunities, just to name a few objectives. Although existing project management tools and techniques aim to deliver projects with success, according to the latest reviewed literature, projects still keep failing at an impressive pace. Among the extensive list of factors that may threaten project success, several articles from the research literature place particular importance on a still underexplored factor that may strongly lead to unsuccessful project delivery. This factor—usually known as corporate behavioral risks—usually emerges and evolves as organizations work together to deliver projects across a bounded period of time, and is characterized by the mix of formal and informal dynamic interactions between the different stakeholders that constitute the different organizations. Furthermore, several articles from the research literature also point out the lack of proper models to efficiently manage corporate behavioral risks as one of the major factors that may lead to projects failing. To efficiently identify and measure how such corporate behaviors may contribute to a project’s outcomes (success or failure), a heuristic model is proposed in this work, developed based on four fundamental fields ((1) project management, (2) risk management, (3) corporate behavior, and (4) social network analysis), to quantitatively analyze four critical project social networks ((1) communication, (2) problem-solving, (3) advice, and (4) trust), by applying the theory of social network analysis (SNA). The proposed model in this work is supported with a case study to illustrate its implementation and application across a project lifecycle, and how organizations can benefit from its application.

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Identifying Integration and Differentiation in a Hospital’s Logistical System: A social network analysis of a case study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-22054/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Annelies van der Ham ◽

Frits Van Merode ◽

Dirk Ruwaard ◽

Arno Van Raak

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Network Structure ◽

Organization Theory ◽

Exploratory Study ◽

Case Study Research ◽

Study Research ◽

And Performance

Abstract Background Integration, the coordination and alignment of tasks, has been promoted widely in order to improve the performance of hospitals. Both organization theory and social network analysis offer perspectives on integration. This exploratory study research aims to understand how a hospital’s logistical system works, and in particular to what extent there is integration and differentiation. More specifically, it first describes how a hospital organizes logistical processes; second, it identifies the agents and the interactions for organizing logistical processes, and, third, it establishes the extent to which tasks are segmented into subsystems, which is referred to as differentiation, and whether these tasks are coordinated and aligned, thus achieving integration.Methods The study is based on case study research carried out in a hospital in the Netherlands. All logistical tasks that are executed for surgery patients were studied. Using a mixed method, data were collected from the Hospital Information System (HIS), documentation, observations and interviews. These data were used to perform a social network analysis and calculate the network metrics of the hospital network.Results This paper shows that 23 tasks are executed by 635 different agents who interact through 31,499 interaction links. The social network of the hospital demonstrates both integration and differentiation. The network appears to function differently from what is assumed in literature, as the network does not reflect the formal organizational structure of the hospital, and tasks are mainly executed across functional silos. Nurses and physicians perform integrative tasks and two agents who mainly coordinate the tasks in the network, have no hierarchical position towards other agents. The HIS does not seem to fulfill the interactional needs of agents. Conclusions This exploratory study reveals the network structure of a hospital. The cross-functional collaboration, the integration found, and position of managers, coordinators, nurses and doctors suggests a possible gap between organizational perspectives on hospitals and reality. This research sets a basis for further research that should focus on the relation between network structure and performance, on how integration is achieved and in what way organization theory concepts and social network analysis could be used in conjunction with one another.

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Examining the Diffusion of Research-Based Instructional Strategies Using Social Network Analysis: A Case Study of SCALE-UP

10.18260/1-2--20448 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xaver Neumeyer ◽

Kathleen Foote ◽

Robert Beichner ◽

Melissa Dancy ◽

Charles Henderson

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Instructional Strategies ◽

Scale Up

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Identify project corporate behavioral risks to support long-term sustainable cooperative partnerships.

10.36227/techrxiv.14069048 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

marco nunes ◽

Antônio José de Abreu Pina

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Project Management ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Corporate Behavior ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Project Lifecycle

Projects can be seen as the crucial building blocks whereby organizations execute and implement their short, and long-term strategic vision. Projects are thought to solve problems, drive change, satisfy unique needs, add value, or exploit opportunities, just to name a few. In order to successful deliver projects, project management tools and techniques are applied throughout a project´s lifecycle, essentially to efficiently and in a timely manner, identify and manage project risks. However, according to latest reviewed literature, projects keep failing at an impressive rate. Although research in the project management field argues that such failure rate is due to a huge variety of reasons, it highlights particular importance to a still underexplored and not quite well understood (regarding how it emerges and evolves) risk type, that may lead projects to failure. This risk type, called as corporate behavioral risks, usually emerge, and evolve as organizations work together across a finite period of time (for example, across a project lifecycle) to deliver projects, and is characterized by the mix of countless formal and informal dynamic interactions between the different elements that constitute the different organizations. Understanding the extent to which such corporate behavior influences project´s outcomes, is a breakthrough of high importance that positively impacts two dimensions; first, enables organizations that deliver projects (but not only), to increase the chances of project success, which in turn is a driver of sustainable business, because it allows the development and implementation of effective, and timely corrective measures to project´s tasks and activities, and second, it contributes to the scientific community (on the organizations field), to generate valuable and actionable new knowledge regarding the emergence and evolution of such cooperative risks, which can lead to the development of new theories and approaches on how to manage them. In this work, we propose a heuristic model to efficiently identify and analyze how corporate behavioral risks may influence project´s outcomes. The proposed model in this work, lays its foundations on four fundamental fields ((1) project management, (2) risk management, (3) corporate behavior, and (4) social network analysis), and will quantitatively measure four critical project social networks ((1) communication, (2) problem-solving, (3) advice, and (4) trust) that usually emerge as projects are being delivered, by applying the theory of social network analysis (SNA), more concretely, SNA centrality metrics. The proposed model in this work is supported with a case study to illustrate its implementation across a project lifecycle, and how organizations can benefit from its application.

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