241: Innovating the Future of Relational Analytics: Bridging Relational Coordination and Social Networks (17611)

Saturday, August 10, 2024

08:00 – 09:30 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

Location: Swissotel: Vevey 2

Session Number: 241
PDW (workshop)
Orientation: Practice,Theme,Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/Ed4p9k

Organizer(s)

SS

Scott Soltis

U. of Kentucky, United States
JG

Jody Hoffer Gittell

Brandeis U., United States

Presenter(s)

AB

Anindita Roy Bannya

UNSW Sydney, Australia

Panelist(s)

KC

Kristin Cullen-Lester

U. of Mississippi, United States
TF

Theresa M. Floyd

U. of Montana, United States
MK

Michaela Kerrissey

Harvard U., United States
AM

Ajay Mehra

U. of Kentucky, United States
SS

Stephen M. Shortell

U. of California, Berkeley, United States
SW

Sijia Wei

Northwestern U.

Despite serving as primary lenses through which relational analytics are explored, the fields of relational coordination and social networks rarely intersect (Gittell & Ali, 2021; Soltis, Methot, Gittell & Harris, 2023). The aim of this professional development workshop is to begin to bridge this gap and help to innovate towards a future of relational analytics that simultaneously employs the theories and methods related to relational coordination - the study of how groups communicate and relate to manage interdependent tasks - and social networks - the study of formal and informal structures of relationships in organizations. We hope to accomplish this goal by bringing leading scholars in each field together to interact with each other as well as other academics and practitioners with an interest in the role of relationships in human resource management and organizations, more broadly. The combination of relational coordination (Gittell, 2002; Gittell, Seidner, & Wimbush, 2010) and social networks (Borgatti, Mehra, Brass, & Labianca, 2009; Borgatti, 2006; Brass, 1981) has the potential to better describe, assess, and improve the coordination of work in complex organizational systems. We will start with primers on each field in isolation before discussing the criticality of cross-perspective views. Participants will then break into facilitated working groups to develop different approaches to integrating the two methods, conceptually and/or technically, building on examples from past, current or future work where relevant. We will come back together to share our ideas and to consider the research program going forward with a panel of experts in relational coordination and social networks.