Network Assessment and Validation for Effective Leadership

From Grand Forum

Project Leaders

Leader:Barry Wellman
Co-Leader:Abby Goodrum

PNIs

CNIs

Description

The NAVEL project reflects the fundamental strategy of the NCE program in fostering innovation and knowledge transfer. The NAVEL contribution is to examine the feasibility of a shift from traditional formal hierarchical structures to new organizational structures based on networks of informal professional ties. We do this by a self-study of the ways in which the GRAND NCE is creating a network of academics, government and industry decision-makers and researchers, NGOs, and other stakeholders.

We shall see the extent to which this networked strategy avoids the pitfalls of traditional bureaucracies which tend to create functional “silos”, limiting the sharing of information across functional units and hierarchical levels, and precluding the movement of information between organizations. Their rigidity can hinder innovation and knowledge transfer. By contrast, networked forms of organizations such as GRAND, where informal ties guide coordination and communication, enable the free flow of information. They facilitate pooling of information of expertise across functional, hierarchical, and organizational boundaries and foster flexible communication and coordination patterns that can reflect changing needs.

Networked organizations are particularly suitable for scientific research with its long traditions of informal collaboration and peer-to-peer egalitarian relationships. However, building such collaborative networks is not easy. By design, an NCE includes participants with diverse disciplinary background and institutional affiliation who work across the country. For researchers in different disciplines, differences in training, publication channels, and scientific forums weaken social bonds and hinder collaboration. Working across institutions is equally difficult: bureaucratic institutional culture discourages information sharing and budgetary flexibility. In addition, differences in procedures impede shared understanding and common practices. Distance compounds such difficulties in scholarly collaboration, despite the increasing use of information and communication technologies.

The NAVEL project will examine and facilitate collaboration by monitoring the developing network of the GRAND NCE, identifying disconnects and untapped opportunities, and improving communication and knowledge transfer by targeted intervention. We are:

1. Collecting information about existing network relationships among GRAND scholars, industry partners, and public sector users and regulators.

2. Analyzing these relationships with a view to providing:

a. Mapping who is connected to whom doing what activities.

b. Analyzing the underlying structures of these networks using advanced techniques of blockmodeling and clustering.

3. Implementing new procedures for building connectivity and communication among scholars and partners.

The NAVEL project has substantially accomplished all of its first year milestones and is in good shape. The team has collected the baseline data necessary for the analyses of the collaboration among GRAND participants. Several different datasets are now available: network data on the collaborative ties at the initial stage of the network; bibliographic data on the co-authorship of GRAND participants, and qualitative data on the expectation and motivation for joining the network.

Theme Distribution

nMEDIA:

20%

GamSim:

20%

AnImage:

20%

SocLeg:

20%

TechMeth:

20%

Publications

Artifacts

Activities

Press

Awards

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