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Applied Social Network Analysis
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:24:19
Abstract
The course provides an overview over the action theoretical foundations of social network approaches and their empirical tests in the field of organization studies.
Objective
Participants acquire (1) fundamental knowledge of action theoretical key assumptions concerning the determinants, dynamics, and consequences of social networks in and between organizations; (2) a structured overview over major empirical findings; (3) insight in the possibilities and limits of social network analysis for modeling social and economic processes in and between organizations.
Content
Does the presence of dense cliques improve or decrease the performance of employees? Does a large personal network in the firm improve or decrease the career prospects of individual employees? Do “post-bureaucratic” forms of managing organizations lead to an erosion or an intensification of informal contacts between employees? Are informal leaders more or less satisfied with their jobs than isolated employees? Under which conditions does ethnic diversity in teams lead to social segregation? Which kind of informal network structure facilitates the solution of task and relational conflicts at work? Since the ‘discovery’ of the informal organization in the classical Hawthorne Experiments of the 1930s, questions like these occupy a prominent place in the research agenda of organizational sociologists. Social network effects have been postulated and often found in a large variety of domains, ranging from organizational performance to employee health. With the recent methodological advancements in the field of dynamic network analysis, the focus on network effects is complemented by research on the emergence and evolution of networks through time. The lecture presents the major developments of organizational network analysis by disentangling the theoretical assumptions behind the most widely used network concepts, reconstructing the social mechanisms behind a selected number of current network models, and critically discusses key findings on the causes, dynamics, and effects of networks in and between organizations.
Resources
Literature
To be announced.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture |
Applied Social Network Analysis
Blockseminar,
27.10.08: 12-14 und 17-19
28.10.08: 12-14 und 17-19
29.10.08: 12-14 und 17-19 (HG D3.2)
30.10.08: 12-14
|
|
14 h semesterly |
Offered In
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Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (In order to be awarded credits, please register under "Pflichtwahlfach GESS"!. The language courses are offered by the ETH and University of Zurich Language Center.)
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