Organizational Network Analysis

Organizational network analysis studies the informal web of relationships — who goes to whom for advice, who is friends with whom, who works with whom — that runs alongside the formal org chart and often determines who actually gets things done. Daniel Brass's 1984 study of a newspaper publishing company showed that an employee's position in workflow, communication, and friendship networks predicted perceived influence and promotion better than formal rank. David Krackhardt's 1990 work added a cognitive twist, demonstrating that accurately perceiving the informal network is itself a source of power. Herminia Ibarra's 1993 study related network centrality to involvement in technical and administrative innovation, distinguishing the network bases of different kinds of influence. Together these works established a pipeline: collect relational data on the organization, compute each member's structural position, and link those positions to power, influence, and innovation. The approach treats the organization as a structure of relationships rather than a hierarchy of boxes.