Abstract
Social networks aid the theorization of interdependencies of organizational components and provide futuristic methods to operationalize and analyze relationships. The purpose is to study the existing knowledge base, understand interactions in organizations as socially composed networks of relationships, and enhance comprehension of social networks. The chapter provides a systematic review and synthesis of select research papers. It presents highlights to understand key concepts, theories, and models, with emergent themes to comprehend the role of networks and importance of emergent structures in the systems of organizations. It cites technology as an enabler of interaction in intra-organizational communication and provides deconstructed models of multidimensional networks. These will guide young network researchers in the area of social science. It concludes that better integration of information technology and network literature will be instrumental to micro-level studies of organizations and create sustainable networks beneficial to organizations.
TopConstructive Organization Of Themes And Content According To Emergent Topicsmethod Adopted
For this study, the databases of APA, Cambridge Core, EBSCO, Elsevier (Science Direct), ERIC, IEEE Xplore, JSTOR, PubMed, PsycINFO, SAGE, Taylor & Francis (Chapman & Hall), WILEY and Web of Science were accessed and searched. Additional records were searched from sources like Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), INFLIBNET, JSToR Open Access E-Books, National Digital Libraries India, Oxford Open Journals and PLoS were also searched.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Organization: An organized collection of individuals working interdependently within a relatively structured, organized, open system to achieve common goals.
Social Network: A social network is a set of people (or organizations or other social entities) connected by a set of social relationships, such as friendship, co-working, or information exchange.
Sociomateriality: Sociomateriality is a theory that illuminates the relationship between social practice and materiality in an organization.
Leadership: Leadership is an interaction between two or more group members that frequently involves restructuring the environment, as well as member perceptions and expectations. When one group member alters the competencies or motivation of the other members of the group, this is called leadership. Any group member can display some leadership skills.
Networked Organization: The networked organization is a working arrangement where members are distributed but work together to achieve common goals. It is an organization where there is a system of nodes and links interconnected in various ways and directions.
Interaction: Interaction can describe any process whereby the action of one participant influences the action of another participant. ·
System: It is a set of interdependent components that form an internally organized whole that operates as in relation to its environment and to other systems.