Power and Politics in Organizations

SNA can be conducted either directly or indirectly. The indirect way is to analyze e-mails between people. For example, which employees e-mail each other? How often? Who replies to whom? Another technique is to observe a group in action to see which employees talk to each other and who approaches whom for what. Additional, nonintrusive options are to look at project structures of billable hours such as determining which individuals regularly work together. Direct approaches to SNA involve doing a survey that asks questions directly. For example, the survey might ask individuals, "Who would you go to for technical information? Who can you rely on to give you the pulse of the company? Who do you trust to keep your best interests in mind?" SNA can reveal who is trusted, important in decision making (that is, to whom do people turn for advice before making an important decision?), and innovative ("With whom are you most likely to discuss a new idea?"). The direct approach is likely to be more targeted, but some people may see it as an unwanted intrusion.