Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-c9gpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T10:41:15.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Networks in Meetings

How Do People connect?

from Capturing and Understanding Dynamics and Processes of the Meeting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

By
Nils C. Sauer ,
Annika L. Meinecke  and
Simone Kauffeld
Edited by
Joseph A. Allen ,
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock  and
Steven G. Rogelberg
Joseph A. Allen
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Omaha
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Steven G. Rogelberg
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Get access

Summary

Abstract

Meetings are not static events, but instead are dynamic in nature. The course of the meeting is affected by participants' responses to one another. In this chapter, we argue that these responses among meeting participants can be understood as ties in an interaction network. This network perspective to meeting interaction allows us to focus on the relationships and connections between meeting participants who are embedded in a web of interrelations. Social network analysis helps us systematically uncover these connections. By applying social network analysis to meeting interaction, we take into account the relational nature of social interaction and use a structural perspective to meeting interaction. In this chapter, we introduce the central principles of the network perspective and explain how meetings can be conceptualized as social networks. Next, we focus on typical social network measures and explore how these network measures can be applied to meeting interaction. We further provide a detailed example to showcase how social network analysis can be applied to real team meeting data. We close this chapter by discussing the benefits and challenges of using social network analysis in team meetings.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Meeting Science , pp. 357 - 380
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ancona, D. G., & Caldwell, D. F. (1992). Bridging the boundary: External activity and performance in organizational teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 634–665. doi:10.2307/2393475CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Argote, L., Turner, M. E., & Fichman, M. (1989). To centralize or not to centralize: The effects of uncertainty and threat on group structure and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 43, 58–74. doi: 10.1016/0749–5978(89)90058–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, T. T., Bedell, M. D., & Johnson, J. L. (1997). The social fabric of a team-based M.B.A. program: Network effects on student satisfaction and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1369–1397. doi:10.2307/257037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balkundi, P., & Harrison, D. A. (2006). Ties, leaders, and time in teams: Strong inference about network structure's effects on team viability and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 49–68. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2006.20785500CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bavelas, A. (1950). Communication patterns in task-oriented groups. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 22, 725–730. doi:10.1121/1.1906679CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bezrukova, K., Jehn, K. A., Zanutto, E. L., & Thatcher, S. M. B. (2009). Do workgroup faultlines help or hurt? A moderated model of faultlines, team identification, and group performance. Organization Science, 20, 35–50. doi:10.1287/orsc.1080.0379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonito, J. A. (2002). The analysis of participation in small groups: Methodological and conceptual issues related to interdependence. Small Group Research, 33, 412–438. doi:10.1177/104649640203300402CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonito, J. A., & Hollingshead, A. B. (1997). Participation in small groups. In Burleson, B. R. (Ed.), Communication yearbook 20 (pp. 227–261). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Borgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009). Network analysis in the social sciences. Science, 323, 892–895. doi:10.1126/science.1165821CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brass, D. J. (1985). Men's and women's networks: A study of interaction patterns and influence in an organization. Academy of Management Journal, 28, 327–343. doi:10.2307/256204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, D. J. (2012). A social network perspective on organizational psychology. In Kozlowski, S. W. J. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of organizational psychology (pp. 667–695). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, D. J., & Burkhardt, M. E. (1992). Centrality and power in organizations. In Nohria, N. & Eccles, R. (Eds.), Networks and organizations: Theory and practice (pp. 191–215). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Brown, T. M., & Miller, C. E. (2000). Communication networks in task-performing groups: Effects of task complexity, time pressure, and interpersonal dominance. Small Group Research, 31, 131–157. doi:10.1177/104649640003100201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2004). Structural holes and good ideas. American Journal of Sociology, 110, 349–399. doi: 10.1086/421787CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2005). Brokerage and closure: An introduction to social capital. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S., & Ronchi, D. (2007). Teaching executives to see social capital: Results from a field experiment. Social Science Research, 36, 1156–1183. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.09.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carton, A. M., & Cummings, J. N. (2013). The impact of subgroup type and subgroup configurational properties on work team performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 732–758. doi:10.1037/a0033593CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, M. A., Rogelberg, S. G., Allen, J. A., & Luong, A. (2011). Meeting design characteristics and attendee perceptions of staff/team meeting quality. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 15, 90–104. doi:10.1037/a0021549CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Correll, S. J., & Ridgeway, C. (2003). Expectation states theory. In Delamater, J. (Ed.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 29–51). New York, NY: Kluwer Plenum.Google Scholar
Crawford, E. R., & LePine, J. A. (2013). A configural theory of team processes: Accounting for the structure of taskwork and teamwork. Academy of Management Review, 38, 32–48. doi: 10.5465/amr.2011.0206CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, J. N., & Cross, R. (2003). Structural properties of work groups and their consequences for performance. Social Networks, 25, 197–210. doi:10.1016/S0378–8733(02)00049–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabbs, J. M., & Ruback, R. B. (1987). Dimensions of group process: Amount and structure of vocal interaction. Advances in Experimental Psychology, 20, 123–169. doi:10.1016/S0065–2601(08)60413-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felps, W., Mitchell, T. R., & Byington, E. (2006). How, when, and why bad apples spoil the barrel: Negative group members and dysfunctional groups. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27, 175–222. doi:10.1016/S0191–3085(06)27005–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, L. C. (1979). Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1, 215–239. doi:10.1016/0378–8733(78)90021–7Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360–1380. doi:10.2307/2776392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, M. S. (1983). The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1, 201–233. doi:10.2307/202051CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, M. R. (2002). Acting on what others know: Distributed knowledge and team performance (Doctoral dissertation), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. T. (1999). The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 82–111. doi:10.2307/2667032CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haunschild, P. R. (1993). Interorganizational imitation: The impact of interlocks on corporate acquisition activity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 564–592. doi: 10.2307/2393337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoppe, B., & Reinelt, C. (2010). Social network analysis and the evaluation of leadership networks. Leadership Quarterly, 21, 600–619. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.06.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, M. C., Chandler, D. E., & Kram, K. E. (2007). Developmental initiation and developmental networks. In Ragins, B. R. & Kram, K. E. (Eds.), The handbook of mentoring at work: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 349–372). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Huang, S. D., & Cummings, J. N. (2011). When critical knowledge is most critical: Centralization in knowledge-intensive teams. Small Group Research, 42, 669–699. doi:10.1177/1046496411410073CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibarra, H. (1992). Homophily and differential returns: Sex differences in network structure and access in an advertising firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 422–447. doi:10.2307/2393451CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, N., Lazer, D., Arrow, H., & Contractor, N. (2004). Network theory and small groups. Small Group Research, 35, 307–332. doi:10.1177/1046496404264941CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalish, Y., & Robins, G. (2006). Psychological predispositions and network structure: The relationship between individual predispositions, structural holes and network closure. Social Networks, 28, 56–84. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2005.04.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffeld, S., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2012). Meetings matter: Effects of team meetings on team and organizational success. Small Group Research, 43, 130–158. doi:10.1177/1046496411429599CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffeld, S., & Meyers, R. A. (2009). Complaint and solution-oriented circles: Interaction patterns in work group discussions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 18, 267–294. doi:10.1080/13594320701693209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. (2010). Organizational social network research: Core ideas and key debates. Academy of Management Annals, 4, 317–357. doi:10.1080/19416520.2010.494827CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkman, B. L., & Rosen, B. (1999). Beyond self-management: Antecedents and consequences of team empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 58–74. doi:10.2307/256874CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, K. J., Lim, B.-C., Saltz, J. L., & Mayer, D. M. (2004). How do they get there? An examination of the antecedents of network centrality in team networks. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 925–963. doi:10.2307/20159634CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köhler, T., Cramton, C. D., & Hinds, P. J. (2012). The meeting genre across cultures: Insights from three German-American collaborations. Small Group Research, 43, 159–185. doi:10.1177/1046496411429600CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krivitsky, P. N. (2012). Exponential-family random graph models for valued networks. Electronic Journal of Statistics, 6, 1100–1128. doi:10.1214/12-EJS696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Labianca, G., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Exploring the social ledger: Negative relationships and negative asymmetry in social networks in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 31, 596–614. doi:10.5465/AMR.2006.21318920CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, D. C., & Murnighan, J. K. (1998). Demographic diversity and faultlines: The compositional dynamics of organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 23, 325–340. doi:10.5465/AMR.1998.533229CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, D. C., & Murnighan, J. K. (2005). Interactions within groups and subgroups: The effects of demographic faultlines. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 645–659. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2005.17843943CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, D. J., Rogelberg, S. G., Warr, P. B., & Burnfield, J. L. (2009). Perceived meeting effectiveness: The role of design characteristics. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24, 65–76. doi:10.1007/s10869–009–9092–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leavitt, H. J. (1951). Some effects of certain communication patterns on group performance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 38–50. doi:10.1037/h0057189CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Allen, J. A., & Meinecke, A. L. (2014). Observing culture: Differences in U.S.-American and German team meeting behaviors. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 17, 252–271. doi:10.1177/1368430213497066CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman-Blumen, J., & Leavitt, H. J. (2001). Hot groups: Seeding them, feeding them, and using them to ignite your organization. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mangold International. (Ed.). (2010). INTERACT quick start manual V2.4. Retrieved from www.mangold-international.com.Google Scholar
Markovsky, B., & Chaffee, M. (1995). Social identification and solidarity: A reformulation. Advances in Group Processes, 12, 249–270.Google Scholar
Markovsky, B., & Lawler, E. J. (1994). A new theory of group solidarity. Advanced Group Process, 11, 113–137.Google Scholar
Mehra, A., Smith, B. R., Dixon, A. L., & Robertson, B. (2006). Distributed leadership in teams: The network of leadership perceptions and team performance. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 232–245. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.02.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizruchi, M. S. (1996). What do interlocks do? An analysis, critique, and assessment of research on interlocking directorates. Annual Review of sociology, 22, 271–298. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.22.1.271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mollemann, E. (2005). Diversity in demographic characteristics, abilities and personality traits: Do faultlines affect team functioning? Group Decision and Negotiation, 14, 173–193. doi:10.1007/s10726–005–6490–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreno, J. L. (1934). Who shall survive? Washington, DC: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing.Google Scholar
Moreno, J. L. (1951). Sociometry, experimental method and the science of society. Oxford, UK: Beacon House.Google Scholar
Oh, H., Chung, M.-H., & Labianca, G. (2004). Group social capital and group effectiveness: The role of informal socializing ties. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 860–875. doi:10.2307/20159627CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paletz, S. B. F., & Schunn, C. D. (2011). Assessing group-level participation in fluid teams: Testing a new metric. Behavioral Research, 43, 522–536. doi:10.3758/s13428–011–0070–3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pentland, A. (2012). The new science of building great teams. Harvard Business Review, 90, 60–69.Google Scholar
Reagans, R. E., & Zuckerman, E. W. (2001). Networks, diversity and productivity: The social capital of corporate R&D teams. Organization Science,12, 502–518. doi:10.1287/orsc.12.4.502.10637CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reagans, R. E., Zuckerman, E. W., & McEvily, B. (2004). How to make the team: Social networks vs. demography as criteria for designing effective teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49, 101–133. doi: 10.2307/4131457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogelberg, S. G., Leach, D. J., Warr, P. B., & Burnfield, J. L. (2006). “Not another meeting!” Are meeting time demands related to employee well-being? Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 83–96. doi:10.1037/0021–9010.91.1.83CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sauer, N. C., & Kauffeld, S. (2013). Meetings as networks: Applying social network analysis to team interaction. Communication Methods and Measures, 7, 26–47. doi:10.1080/19312458.2012.760729CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauer, N. C., & Kauffeld, S. (in press). The ties of meeting leaders. Journal of Business and Psychology.Google Scholar
Scott, J. (2000). Social network analysis: A handbook. London, UK: Sage.Google Scholar
Shaw, M. E. (1964). Communication networks. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 111–147). New York, NY: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, M. E. (1971). Group dynamics: The psychology of small group behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Snijders, T. A. B. (2013). Network dynamics. In Wittek, R., Snijders, T. A. B., & Nee, V. (Eds.), The handbook of rational choice social research (pp. 252–279). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Snijders, T. A. B., & Steglich, C. E. G. (in press). Representing micro-macro linkages by actor-based dynamic network models. Sociological Methods & Research. doi:10.1177/0049124113494573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparrowe, R. T., Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., & Kraimer, M. L. (2001). Social networks and the performance of individuals and groups. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 316–325. doi:10.2307/3069458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stohl, C., & Putnam, L. (2003). Communication in context: Implications for the study of bona fide groups. In Frey, L. R. (Ed.), Group communication in context: Studies of natural groups (2nd ed., pp. 285–292). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thatcher, S. M. B., & Patel, P. C. (2011). Demographic faultlines: A meta-analysis of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 1119–39. doi:10.1037/a0024167CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellman, B. (1988). Structural analysis: From method and metaphor to theory and substance. In Wellman, B., & Berkowitz, S. D. (Eds.), Social structures: A network approach (pp. 19–61). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×