Network Centrality: A Measure for Power and Status in Organizations

In an organization, the formal org chart will show you the functional and hierarchical structure, but not the social status of employees. For example, Bob, Mary, and Alice all have the same title at the company.

• Popular Bob is a funny guy who has many friends at work. Many people know who Bob is, but do not necessarily engage in serious conversations with him. Bob is a great guy to have around to maintain a light work environment. Bob could also be popular not only because of his social skills but also because of his technical skills - an expert everyone turns to with questions (AI, finance, legal issues, etc.).

  
  

• Influencer Mary is not particularly shy or social, but she supports several important strategic committees. If you want to know what the senior executives think about or float an idea by them, Mary is the go-to person.

  
  

• Broker Alice is on the shyer side, but since she works on many projects, she knows people in different departments and therefore holds important insights that can help improve collaboration and project delivery.

How could you discover the Marys, Bobs, and Alices in your organization?

There are different ways to measure status and uncover individuals who are key players in the social network. Generally, this is done by calculating the centrality of each member and identifying those with the highest centralities.

There are different kinds of centralities and, therefore, roles people can play. Here are some of the common ones:

• Popularity, or degree centrality, which is represented by Bob, is calculated based on the overall number of connections an actor has. For example, their number of friends or followers.

  
  

• Influence, or eigenvector centrality, which is represented by Mary, is calculated based on the number of connections to other influential (well-connected) actors. In other words, one can gain power by forming key connections with other people in positions of power. In the successful show, House of Cards, the character Frank Underwood is a perfect example of someone who gains power by knowing how to press the right buttons in Washington.  In the real world, someone like the president of the European Commission would not have a lot of power on her own, but holds a high status due to her influence on the member countries.

  
  

• Brokerage, or in-between centrality, which is represented by Alice, is calculated based on the number of connections an actor bridges in the network. In other words, a broker is someone who connects different groups or individuals who do not normally communicate directly. This can be someone who has a formal brokerage role, like a headhunter, matchmaker, or venture capitalist. It can also be an informal role, like a trusted confidant or a socialite.

In future posts, I will share a few practical ideas on how to get started with Social Network Analysis to understand the structure of relationships in your organization and how they affect the culture and performance.