By KAREN CHO
From INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu)
바카라 꽁 머니ing is not all that it's cracked up to be; in fact it can even be downright harmful, so says Martin Gargiulo, an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD and expert on social 바카라 꽁 머니 analysis.
"We know today that networks are an asset that helps 바카라 꽁 머니 get things done ... (but) networks can also be a liability," says Gargiulo.
At best, networks can be a window to the world that allows 바카라 꽁 머니 to understand and work with the diversity and the complexity of that world. At worst, they can be "blinders" that prevent 바카라 꽁 머니 from doing so.
"If 바카라 꽁 머니r network is composed of people like 바카라 꽁 머니, people who all talk to each other -- what scholars call a "dense" network -- 바카라 꽁 머니're pretty sure 바카라 꽁 머니 understand what's going on in the rest of the organization, but in fact 바카라 꽁 머니're recycling the same information ... The illusion of multiple views confirms 바카라 꽁 머니r own views. But, at some point, 바카라 꽁 머니 find out to 바카라 꽁 머니r surprise that what 바카라 꽁 머니 thought was obvious to everybody, is only obvious to 바카라 꽁 머니 and the people 바카라 꽁 머니 talk to," Gargiulo explains.
That is not to say that all dense networks are bad. At work, for example, Gargiulo says that if 바카라 꽁 머니 have a team that forms a dense network of like-minded individuals, it will be an important resource toward achieving 바카라 꽁 머니r professional goals. But 바카라 꽁 머니 also need a sparse network to bridge outside that team into the larger organization. Otherwise, 바카라 꽁 머니r team may become isolated and unable to get the support it needs to get things done.
"바카라 꽁 머니 need to understand the trade-off between a dense, homogenous network, which can be very comforting and very helpful in a moment of crisis, for example, and a sparse network that allows 바카라 꽁 머니 to reach throughout the organization and beyond. 바카라 꽁 머니 do want to have that closely knit support network around 바카라 꽁 머니 when 바카라 꽁 머니're facing bad times. But it can also be a liability unless 바카라 꽁 머니 combine it with a sparse network that goes beyond that close support group."
STRONG VERSUS WEAK TIES
One key to making networking work for 바카라 꽁 머니, according to Gargiulo, is to differentiate between what network scholars call "strong ties" and "weak ties."
"I like to use the metaphor that networks are like copper or electrical wires. The thicker the wire, the more power it carries; the more 바카라 꽁 머니 can help people, the more people will be willing to invest time and energy in helping 바카라 꽁 머니 out."
But that also makes strong ties costly and, like thick wires, they may not be necessary to keep a relationship going.
Gargiulo cautions against having too wide a network because maintaining all those relationships can detract from the ones that truly matter. He recommends distilling one's network to a core group of "between 20 and 30 ... and sometimes even smaller; 15 or 20," depending on how sociable the person is. These people may change over time (some ties become stronger, some weaker), but there is always a core network that matters, and 바카라 꽁 머니 need to nurture those ties.
"When 바카라 꽁 머니 look at websites like LinkedIn, which can be extremely useful, 바카라 꽁 머니 very quickly see that some people that have huge networks of 400-500 contacts. When 바카라 꽁 머니 study what's going on in those networks, in fact only a very small number of ties are active, in the sense that 바카라 꽁 머니 actually exchange things with them because maintaining relationships takes time."
A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
To help people better understand the complexities of networking, and subsequently calibrate their own networks to optimal levels, Gargiulo has developed a tool in the form of a social capital questionnaire. 바카라 꽁 머니 answer the questionnaire online and can get a personalized report comparing 바카라 꽁 머니r network with a reference group of 바카라 꽁 머니r choice.
He explains: "The report walks 바카라 꽁 머니 through the composition, the strength of 바카라 꽁 머니r relationships, and how 바카라 꽁 머니r contacts relate to one another, discussing the pros and cons of different types of networks. It also analyses what kind of resources 바카라 꽁 머니 get from these contacts -- how important, how critical those people are for 바카라 꽁 머니."
"One of the things that we learn very clearly in the network analysis research is that those relationships are as consequential for what happens to 바카라 꽁 머니, for 바카라 꽁 머니r ability to get things done and for how 바카라 꽁 머니 think and how 바카라 꽁 머니 view the world, as the relationships that 바카라 꽁 머니 have with each other."
For example, Gargiulo says 바카라 꽁 머니 may think 바카라 꽁 머니 have a relationship that does not seem to be very important. But before relegating that relationship to the back burner, 바카라 꽁 머니 can, with the help of this questionnaire, evaluate if that person is well connected to everybody in 바카라 꽁 머니r network. If so, 바카라 꽁 머니 will then be pre-empted to keep this "critical" relationship alive, because whatever 바카라 꽁 머니 don't do in that relationship may affect the rest of 바카라 꽁 머니r network.
Ultimately, no one is an island. "바카라 꽁 머니 have 바카라 꽁 머니r own abilities and experience, but 바카라 꽁 머니 also have -- and this is crucial for today's jobs -- all the experience, ability (and) knowledge that resides with people in 바카라 꽁 머니r network."
