Theories of Management - Essay Example

Running Head: THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT Theories of Management of the of the Theories of Management IntroductionCharacteristics of personal networks are important to both individuals and organizational success. For instance, greater individual success of employees in gaining promotions has been attributed to their more effective use of networks.Past StudiesSince formal personal networks are public, officially recognized within the organization and with identifiable memberships and explicit structure, they will be more accessible for change policies to advance careers.

For instance, an employee who is excluded from a formal network can refer to company policy or written job descriptions to argue that she or he has been treated unfairly. Employees who are excluded from informal networks, in contrast, have little recourse because organizations do not take responsibility for informal work ties (Ibarra, 2003, 57).Informal networks tend to be personal, voluntary, and have fluid boundaries. Participation in informal networks is not formally governed or officially recognized.

Informal personal and social network activities are with organizational members who share, for instance, common social interests and are often used as a means to socialize among colleagues and to participate in activities they enjoy. Organizational issues are often discussed unofficially. (Ibarra, 2003, 58) Informal social groups are likely to be found in most areas of an organization and in most organizations there are many informal social groups.Both engagement in formal and informal networking activities and career satisfaction can be expected to be dependent on the availability of time.

Being scarce of time may diminish the amount of time that employees interact with their coworkers and this can be reflected in their network characteristics.Building effective and efficient Individual Personal networkIndividually, a network whether it is an acquaintance, business partnerships and the likes is an advantage on the person who has it against a person who has no network at all. A certain network could be utilized for advancement of an individual in dealing instances such as selling of goods, interaction with others and promoting one's self.

Knowing these premises, it is very important to build networks. The question is, how can a person be able to build connectionsConstraint is a quantitative measure describing the pattern of connections between contacts in a personal network. Constraint measures the extent to which relations in a person's network lead directly or indirectly to one contact. A clique, in which there is a high degree of overlap between contacts, is an illustration of a highly constrained network. A low constraint network, on the other hand, has few redundant contacts and fewer interconnections between contacts.

Low constraint networks presumably have broader coverage in terms of access to information and timeliness of information. Low constraint networks also provide control benefits because of the brokerage opportunities between disconnected contacts (Ibarra, 2003, 65).The number of contacts in a network (network size), the degree of interrelatedness of network contacts (density), and the extent to which one person dominates in a network (hierarchy) all affect constraint. In general, larger networks are less constrained than smaller networks.

Sparse networks with fewer interconnections are less constrained than dense networks with many interconnections.1ConclusionPersonal networks are important to understand in the team context because when individuals participate in a team, they do not somehow "check" their relationships with other people at the door. They carry with them the ties (both positive and negative) that they have with other people in their lives, both inside and outside the business organization. Understanding how personal networks are related to performance variations between teams has the potential of making a contribution to knowledge about how existing social networks theory aggregates to the group level.

It may also add to the understanding of how small groups work.References1. Baugh, S.G., Scandura, T.A. (1999), "The effects of multiple mentors on protege attitudes toward the work setting", Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, Vol. 14 No.4, pp.503-21. 2. Burke, R.J., Rothstein, M.G., Bristor, J.M. (2005), "Interpersonal networks of managerial and professional women", Women in Management Review, Vol. 10 No.1, pp.21. 3. Forrett, M.L., Dougherty, T.W. (2001), "Correlates of networking behavior for managerial and professional employees", Group & Organization Management, Vol. 26 No.3, pp.283-311. 4.

Friedman, R., Kane, M., Cornfield, D.B. (1998), "Social support and career optimism: examining the effectiveness of network groups among black managers", Human Relations, Vol. 51 No.9, pp.1155-77. 5. Ibarra, H. 2003), "Personal networks of women and minorities in management: a conceptual framework", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 No.1, pp.56-87.6. Moore, G. (2000), "Structural determinants of men's and women's personal networks", American Sociological Review, Vol. 55 No.5, pp.726-35.