ISB Special- includes Triadic Closure, EIS and Milgram's six degrees of separation

1. - What The Faff!!
Contents
Antecedents and Consequences of Interpersonal Networks ....................................................................... 2
Similarity ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Personality ................................................................................................................................................ 2
Proximity and organizational structure .................................................................................................... 2
Environmental Factors .............................................................................................................................. 2
Triadic Closure........................................................................................................................................... 2
Networks in Organization ............................................................................................................................. 3
Some Gyaan on Network Terminologies ...................................................................................................... 3
Degree Centrality ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Between-ness Centrality ........................................................................................................................... 3
Milgram’s Six Degrees of Separation ............................................................................................................ 4
Network Range and Density ......................................................................................................................... 5
Proximity and Networks................................................................................................................................ 5
Jobs and Network ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Clique Network ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Network as Gear and Pipes ........................................................................................................................... 6
Pipes .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Gear........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Network da Limit........................................................................................................................................... 7
Ferrazzi's (Ferrari ka judwaa bhai) thumb rule for relationships .................................................................. 7
Dyslexia...Saare Zameen Par ......................................................................................................................... 7

2. Antecedents and Consequences of Interpersonal Networks
Similarity
Similar People interact with each other. Bole toh...wavelength match hota hai. IIM Cluster, ISBian
Network etc.
Personality
Can be both: mainly antecedent. Determines your peer network, your behavior in teams (recall
Metabical)
Proximity and organizational structure
Organization structure determines your networks to some extent (Chinese wall) despite your similarity
and personality-wala points. A boss and an employee can be friends, but still the structure limits
friendships. Further, when friends get promoted, equations change. Like they say in 3 Idiots...Dost jab
fire ho jata hai...toh dukh hota hai..but jab dost promote ho jata hai...toh aur dukh hota hai!
Environmental Factors
M&A is an example. But people's networks are like rubber-bands. They first change, then revert back to
pre-merger pattern of networks. Then national culture is a factor. For eg. Japanese are group oriented
while Americans are individualistic. So Japanese companies might have more density and inter-
connectedness.
Triadic Closure
Strong Triadic Closure Property is that if a node has strong ties to two neighbors, then these neighbors
must have at least a weak tie between them. If A=B and A=C, then B=C at least in a weak way. Linkedin
works on this principle..first connection, second connection.
Tina is my Friend, Mina is Tina's Friend. mera aur Mina ka kuch toh connection hai...weak hi sahi!
Consequences:

3. Networks in Organization
that's ur manager Here's ur informal network
206 haddi-wala maamu!
Trust
Advice
Communication
Manager's Network
Some Gyaan on Network Terminologies
In a network, there are nodes(people) and links (relationships).
Degree Centrality
Check the number of connections a node has directly. Basically, the Whore Node ko Dhoondo! But for
some level of safety & protection, she only networks with her clique
Between-ness Centrality
But Whore node has some connect with the outside world. through the DALAL node. The Dalal is a key
link between the two worlds now. If DALAL has a virus, the entire link has a virus.

4. A is the whore. O is the DALAL. A's key customers are B,C, D. O is the DALAL.
Strong Ties of A with BCDEFG- her roz ke customers. Weak ties with O the DALAL.
Milgram’s Six Degrees of Separation
Dooori..... Dooori..... sirf 6 step ka hai...
Linkedin works on this principle- that every human is away from the other only by 6 steps. Eeriely true
and works.
Paul Revere William Dawes
High Diversity Lowe Diversity
Low Redundancy High Redundancy
Brokerage- He was an information broker No Brokerage- He was NOT an information broker
More famous Less Famous

5. Network Range and Density
Network range= 10= no of rows
Network Density= actual ties/ total possible ties=21/40
Total possible ties generally is matrix size.
Proximity and Networks
Distance increases, network becomes weak. You connect more with people in your school, your office,
your section! A reason why many long distance relationships fail!
you'll send 50 mails to bosses and clients, but over 100 mails to your office friends as forwards.
Jobs and Network
 56% found jobs through personal contacts.
 More jobs (83% of 56% = 46% of total) obtained through “weak” ties.
WHY? Because weak ties are between cliques, strong ones are intra-clique. Toh, my weak tie would be
with IIM A fellows through one contact at IIM A. Probability of getting job through IIM is higher. (not
because of he being an IIM, but because its a diverse network)

6. Clique Network- Best Example- Overlapping connection, similar contacts- a bonding function
Think of Expansive Network like Air (now a bit of school chemistry)
Air molecules are loosely bound, but that helps air travel easily. Similarly, Expansive Netwrok provides
wavelength over distances
Network as Gear and Pipes
Pipes
A Detective.A Market Research or Equity Research Analyst. Uses network to
get information and performs work to achieve superior performance.
Gear
Getting work done through your network to achieve superior
performance. Grazie Sonia Ji!

7. Network da Limit
Ferrazzi's (Ferrari ka judwaa bhai) thumb rule for relationships
Develop a weak tie, phone call/mail once a month
Maintain a weak tie, contact 2-3 times a year
Develop a strong tie, 2 face to face meetings in a year
Dyslexia...Saare Zameen Par
Delegate: power from interdependence, not independence (free riders!)
Grease the gear to build trust-influence people with communication skills
Expansive Network rather than clique network.
Clique networks for Production and Expansive Network for Marketing, Distribution and even Innovation.
Finally develop a diversified portfolio of social contacts

8. P1: In Finance, I teach them to diversify their portfolio. Eggs in different basket you see!
P2: Oh I teach them the same. Only with respect to social contacts
S1: Oh Boss! Why don't u profs practice what you teach? Diversify the marks distribution across
students na for once!
EIS bole toh.. Executive Information System!
All data from Insead website.
What is the EIS Simulation ?
In the EIS Simulation, participants working in groups are challenged to introduce an innovation in a
division of a corporation. They have up to 6 months of (simulated) time to convince as many of the 22
members of the division's management team as possible to adopt an important innovation, which in this
case is an Executive Information System introduced corporate-wide to increase transparency and
reporting.
During the simulation, participants, operating as change agents, can choose among many different
initiatives and change management tactics to meet their goal. They may gather information on the
managers (the profiles, their relationships, etc.) or may take direct action to try to convince the
managers and thus influence their willingness to adopt the proposed innovation.
Each time participants implement a tactic, they immediately receive feedback about the impact of their
decisions. The objective is to get as many adopters as possible, overcoming different forms of individual
and organizational resistance to change.
WTF- Whats The Faayda
In today's complex business environment, organisations cannot avoid to innovate, and implementing
change has become one of the key tasks of managers. On the other hand - as everybody who has tried
to introduce innovations and change in organisations knows by experience - managing change processes
and making new things happen is often a difficult, lengthy and sometimes frustrating process.
The EIS Simulation aims at providing managers with a shared experience. An experience which brings
them in direct touch with a variety of factors impacting the dynamics of innovation and change in
organizational contexts.