RELATIONS AND NETWORK
ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIZATION STUDIES 2018-2019 TILBURG UNIVERSITY
SUMMARY LECTURES AND PAPERS
Causes IORs & IONs Consequences
,LECTURE 1 - INTRODUCTION TO RANO
MAIN AIM
The main aim of the course is to recognize, describe, analyse, explain and access relations between
organizations and of structural networks.
Causes Relations & Consequences
•Causes; networks •Efficiency
•Norms •Definition •Innovation
•Exchange •Description •Learning
•Analysis
Relations and networks of organizations is about the exchange and flow of resources between organizations.
For an individual organisation, relations and networks mean access to and dependency on resources. The
resources available through relations and networks can be labelled as social capital.
Social capital is not a feature of an organization but of a relationship. It is a resource available in and through
personal and business networks. The capital is productive and the relational variables have a higher
explanatory power as compared to attribute variables.
PAPER 1: BAKER (2000) WHAT IS SOCIAL CAPITAL AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT IT?
Introduction
Inter-organizational networks: The relative enduring transactions, flows and linkages that occur among and
between an organization and one or more organizations in the environment.
For an individual organizations, relations and networks mean access to and dependency on resources. This
could be information, ideas, influence, trust, etc.
Social capital: Resources available in and through personal and business networks.
Social capital is not owned by a person but resides in networks of relationships. It is the sum of what you know,
who you know and who you don’t know (indirectly connected). It is productive and it enables to create value.
Relational variables have a higher explanatory power as compared to attribute variables.
Individualism: The cultural belief that everyone succeeds or fails on the basis of individual
efforts and abilities.
SC is an essential part of achieving success.
The myth of individualism
In our culture, there is a myth that success is achieved by yourself. Believing in individualism lowers our
chances for success. By understanding the role of relationships, we can tap hidden resources that will enable us
to be much more successful.
Natural talent
Natural talent is expressed and developed via relationships with others. Talent has to be spotted by other
people. People have to nurture it.
Intelligence
Intelligence is not fixed but malleable. External factors play a crucial role in the development of intelligence.
Everyone is born with a psychical brain but a human mind develops through relationships.
,Education
We learn language through observation of interaction with others. People achieve more in school if they are
encouraged by their surroundings. Others facilitate educations, and so forth.
Effort
The amount of effort expended varies tremendously with the social context. Fast runners prefer to compete
against other fast runners. Work settings are motivating, managers inspire and the goals we choose are defined
by culture.
Luck
Chance and happenstance are ingredients of success. Lucky people increase their chances of being in the right
place at the right time by building a spiderweb structure of relationships that catches lots of different bits and
pieces of information.
So, success is social: It depends on our relationships with others.
The business case for social capital
Networks play a key role in personal and business success challenges conventional wisdom. It calls us to see the
world in a different way, and to change our behaviour. If you stop being individualistic and start to be social,
you will examine benefits:
- Getting a job through your network;
- People with rich social capital are paid better and promote faster. Creating value through holes in your
network is obvious and makes you important;
- Networks becomes an arising factor in influence and effectiveness;
- Social networks are a source of venture capital;
- Organizational learning is achieved by interaction, sharing, watching and cooperation;
- Worth-of-mouth marketing is the best incorporate systematic marketing you can have;
- Strategic alliance boasts status and credibility and past alliances predict future alliances;
- Good SC enables executives to successfully resist takeover attempts. You are better able to deter of
fend off hostile takeover bids, compared with a top of isolated executives;
- The quality of government varies with the richness of social capital: Networks of cooperation, norms
of civic engagement and a spirit of trust. SC is a influencer for economic development ald responsive
local governments.
Beyond the business case: Social Capital and the Quality of Life
- Happiness is caused by meaningful work, love and participation: Growth and development in
connection with others. So, developing social networks leads to happiness, growth, satisfaction and a
meaningful life;
- People with good networks enjoy better mental and physical health and you recover faster;
- People with a good network live longer. It has been widely observed that frequent attendance at
religious services reduces mortality, partly due to behavioral change but also due to the meaning to
life religion gives.
If we create networks with the sole intention of getting something, we won’t succeed. We can’t pursue the
benefits of networks; The benefits ensue from investments in meaningful activities and relationships.
, The ethics of using social capital
Is it unethical to manage a network? You can’t avoid it. You have to drop and add people, conscious or
unconscious. All behaviours and decisions about relationships have ethical implications. It is not the
management of relationships that is unethical, but it is wat we do without knowledge that makes our practices
ethical or not.
Getting a relationship because of the relationship, of the gain, is not effective. A relationship without gain for
the sake of a purposeful meaning. The ethics of social capital requires that we all recognize our moral duty to
consciously manage relationships. Not managing relationships is managing them. The only choice is how to
manage networks of relationships. To be an effective networker, we can’t directly pursue the benefits of
networks, or focus what we can get from our networks. You have to focus on what you can contribute to
others.
LECTURE 2 - OVERVIEW OF CLASSIC APPROACHES TO AND STUDIES OF IORS
PAPER 2: STERN, MUTSUHASHI & OLIVER (2001) AN INTRODUCTORY E SSAY RESEARCH ON
INTERORGANIZ ATIONAL RELATIONS
Introduction
This essay aims to gain insight into how the field of IOR studies and its key ideas develop over time.
IOR: Relationships between or among organizations that involve the concrete exchange of products,
services and resources.
IORs and IONs can be the dependent or the independent variable.
What is a network?
A network is a set of nodes and ties, they are present and
not present. Also the ties that are absent are very important.
Why is the absentee so important? Because this sets people
in strong positions, look at position B. He is the connection
between A and D.
Nodes: Units (places, cells, human beings, organizations).
In this course, nodes are mostly defined as organizations and sometimes as human beings.
Ties: The connection between nodes. It is a way between city’s and in this course the relationship between
organizations.
Dyad: A connection between two actors. It can exist of different ties.
Hole: A mssing tie between nodes.
Through these ties flows culture, resources, trust, power, feedback, money, etc. All these flows are relational
characteristics because they need two to tango. They are distinguished from attribute variables. These
variables have zero relationships, like the age of an organization. Having relationships that have certain
characteristics matters for the performance for an organization. Being interconnective matters for
performance or opportunities.
