Social Networks and Business - Essay Example

Networks Insert name Course/code Instructor’s name Introduction The kind and type of social network a person identifies with plays an important role in determining the person’s success. Regardless of the level of hierarchy in the office or in the society, the person’s social network helps to improve the person or break him. That is why sociologists ascertain that it is important to choose a network of people, who help to improve rather than destroy the person. Findings and analyses According to Uzzi and Dunlap (2005), social networks provide three critical elements. Private information Access to diverse skill sets Power Social networks help a person to improve his abilities. It is true that Private and public information help us make judgments, but private information provided by social networks is very unique since it determines how a person succeeds since it is limited and special. My workmates network in standard chartered bank Name of contact Who introduced me to contact People I have introduced to contact Michael Me Lincoln Elias Michael Lincoln Kenneth Lincoln Michael Francis Me Bosco Lincoln Michael Lawrence Michael Lincoln Gladys Me Bosco Description and analysis The table above describes my office network in standard chartered bank. In this table, there are two super connectors, Michael and Lincoln. Michael is the operations manager whom I met while still taking our graduate courses. He introduced me to the company and I took off as an accountant. Currently I am the deputy financial controller. Lincoln is currently the marketing manager, although he started as a clerk in the marketing department. Michael and Lincoln have immensely contributed to my success. As the operations manager Michael shares with me his views on how to promote business operations and what we need to do to stay ahead of our competitors. As a result, I am always aware of his requests in board meetings and since I have the duty of approving budgets, I have an advantage of knowing what he needs before it is officially announced. As the marketing manager, Lincoln also shares with me information on how to market company products. As a result, I am aware of his intentions and at times since he travels immensely, I relay the information he shares with me to the board. Elias is the current chief financial officer. Michael introduced him to me during my early days in the company. He started work in the company as a statistician and he is now in the position of chief financial officer. Kenneth is the company’s internal auditor. Due to the nature of his job, Kenneth shares crucial information with me while at the same time he relies heavily on my budget estimates to ensure that no money is lost in the course of company operations. Our offices are in different buildings and thus we mainly meet in social gatherings when we are not in office. This is where we share this information. Lawrence is the company doctor. Many people within the company prefer to see their personal doctors since they are usually afraid that the company doctor might relay their medical information to the company. I have come to realize that this is not the case through Bosco, the company’s lawyer. Francis is the company’s former human resources manager. He has since left to venture in to private practice. I still communicate with him on a regular basis and still seek my advice on how to run his business. Gladys is the company’s secretary to the chief executive officer. I relate and communicate with her regularly since I access the CEO’s office regularly even in his absence. Interview: the need for maintaining and diversifying networks According to my interviewee, the best way to meet and network with people is in places where it allows for conversational icebreakers to take place. My interviewee is a top CEO of a telecommunications firm. According to her, it is important to meet and network in places where formalities are not required. These are places where you speak to people as if they were your junior or senior graduate roommates. According to her, the best way to network is by being open-minded. This means that you are free to exchange ideas with everyone even without knowing what they officially do. According to her, this helps since you end up getting private information that those people would not have given formally or officially (Yang and Chen 2008). According to my interviewee the best places to network and get important information is by going to places where you are least expected to attend or go. This gives you the power of knowledge according to her. Regardless of this, she affirms that it is important to take precaution as you attend such events or places. My interviewee also noted that at times it is important to break some networks if they are detrimental to your career or life expectations (Deresky 2004). According to her, such networks that undermine or take advantage of you should be broken as soon as is possible. She also notes that for a network to be mutually beneficial self-disclosure, mutual trust, context, as well as respect must exist within the network (Livingstone 2008). This, according to her helps to preserve the network and to avoid possible breakages. According to my interviewee, these traits are crucial for the maintenance of networks as well as diversifying them. According to her the absence of these traits lead to a break or poor development of the network. From the lessons I got from my interviewee I still relate with other employees especially my junior staff but I rarely share private information with them unless when am giving them advice on life. My social networking with them is mainly during company events, promotion events, and road shows that I have to attend to ensure following of budgetary regulations and the avoidance of incidences of fraud. From my office network, it is clear that the “self-similarity principle” does not apply. This is because I have not chosen people who resemble me but other people who have had an influential impact in my work have rather introduced me to my network. It is clear that my two super connectors have introduced me to very influential people in the work place. The nature of my work does not allow me to mingle a lot with fellow employees but I have been able to access private information from my network (Uzzi and Dunlap 2005). My interviewee also emphasized the need to have super connectors who do not directly relate to me in the work place As the former human resources manager, Francis was a very crucial link within the company. He happens to be my brother in law so we associate in other family events where other company employees are not present. As the human resources manager, he would mingle with everyone within the company and thus his information was very trust worthy since it emanated from all the company employees. He was what I could call “the broker” within my network. The proximity principle applies slightly within my network. However, as a company policy our offices are located in different buildings. Thus, I do not spend a lot of time with my network but we mostly meet over weekends especially when we are playing squash or watching premier league games. This gives us a chance to share private information crucial for the development of our careers and lives (Harrison 2010). In addition, the company does not provide houses but rather provides housing allowances. As a resort, we live in different neighborhoods. Our vacations do not concur and thus we do not have that extensive time to be together. However, social networking sites like face book and linked in have allowed us to share additional private information even during times that we are not together. This according to my interviewee is a very important aspect since it prevents what she called “over-socialization in the work place. The shared activities principle applies greatly to me. During free times, we share very many activities. These include playing squash, swimming, and watching football. These activities allow us to mingle with other people in different company’s who share diverse information. During football games, we are fans of different teams and this gives us an opportunity to differ in our opinions. As a result, we end up even sharing divergent views on what we are doing in our offices. This gives us a chance to correct ourselves where it appears that we have gone astray. Apart from my work network, I also have important brokers outside the work place. These include clients who offer advice on how we can invest within the society. Some of these clients offer advice on how we can improve company services not only in town centers but also in rural communities, which many companies ignore. For instance one of our clients expressly told us that we were about to be overtaken by one of the rival banks since we were not offering micro finance services. As a result, there was a constitution of a board meeting where discussion of ways on how we could introduce micro finance services through agents in rural communities was taken to task (Ball et al 2008). My interviewee also noted that mingling with other people different from the work she does allows her to have different perspectives of looking at important or crucial issues within the work place. Conclusion From the study and interview, it is clear that networks are very important in the development of a person’s work and social relations. As thus, it is important to take care while choosing the people in a person’s network since they can help to improve or destroy person’s ambitions. Appendix A: interview questions How do you meet and network with people Do you have preconditions on the kind of people you can network? Are there specific places and or events you choose to network Do you ever break networks? If so what are the reasons for doing so What special traits do you have or expect from networks? Do these traits help you maintain or diversify your network? How have your networks helped you become the person you are today? What is your general opinion on the role and nature of networks? List of references Ball, D., Geringer, J.M. Minor, M., McNett, J.M. (2008). International business: The challenge of global competition (12th Ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Deresky, Helen, (2004). International management: Management across borders and cultures (5th Ed). Pearson Education, Inc. Harrison, A. (2010). Business Environment in a global context. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford. Livingstone, S. (2008) Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media & Society, 10(3): 393-411. Uzzi, B., & Dunlap, S. (2005). How to build your network. [PDF]. Yang, S. J. H., & Chen, I. Y. L. (2008). A Social Network-based System for Supporting Interactive Collaboration in Knowledge Sharing over Peer-to-Peer Network. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 66 (1), 36-50 Read More