Organizational Network Analysis
(Management Elective Course)
HSBC Business School, Peking University Shenzhen
First Module, Fall Semester 2011-12
Course Syllabus

Instructor: Terrill L. Frantz
Office: C312 Office Hours: By Appointment (send an email to arrange)
Email: terrill@phbs.pku.edu.cn

Class meeting times: Tuesdays & Fridays, 1:30pm-3:20pm Room: C104
Teaching Assistant (TA): tbd
TA Office hours: tbd
Course website: http://ona11.phbs.info
Course credits: 3
Aim of Course
This course introduces students to Organizational network analysis (ONA), which is a
contemporary approach to thinking about and scrutinizing the socio-technical aspect of a
business organization. The course is designed for managers, change agents, scholars, even
organizational participants, who want to look beyond the formal organization chart to better
understand and navigate the complexities of the business organization. ONA represents the
business organization as an assortment of connected relational networks of people, groups,
tasks, resources, and more. In this form, the complex, and often hidden, characteristics of the
organization can be visualized and measured and thus can be more astutely managed. With
this framework, abnormalities (relative to the preferred state) in organizational knowledge,
communications, performance and many other important technical and social aspects of the
organization can be uncovered; moreover, the ONA framework is a excellent tool for aiding in
the design of organizational change and management strategies.
Main Issues
Business organizations have become increasing complex following the ongoing structural
changes in the business environment and our global society. Historically, we have relied upon
the formal organization chart to chart our course(s) through an organization. We have come to
realize that the formal chart is not enough to map the way things actually work in a real-world
organization; for example, there are networks of social relationships and socio-technical
interactions that frequently trump the formal structure. Over the past decade, organizational
scientists have begun to meld the advances in network science with the challenges of
organization research and have begun to conceive the business organization as numerous
relational networks among people, groups, resources, tasks, belief systems, etc. Organization
network analysis consists of this network perspective of an organization combined with the
methodological and statistical tools of (social) network analysis.
Course Outcomes
The student will have a brand new perspective on the organizations they are involved in; this
will aid in their heightened perceptions and understanding of the hidden aspects that are
actually present, but usually reside below others’ perceptive “radar.” The student will be able
to quantify and evaluate different organizational situations. They will be equipped to use and
benefit from advanced network software to aid in quantifying the dimensions they can now
perceive.
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Teaching Methodology
This course is lecture and activity based. The students will be introduced to the ideas through
lecture and readings, and will put the ideas into practice via class-based activities that utilize
analysis software and a web-based survey tool. Depending on the class enrollment size,
activities may either be performed as an individual or in small groups. Students will be
presented with both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of this approach.
Prerequisites
The prerequisites for this class are a general and basic familiarity with business organizations,
organization behavior and general management ideas, arrived at either through coursework, or
personal experience.
Grading/Evaluation
Grades will be based according to the follow weighting:
Attendance (18 class meetings): 25%
Course Assignments: 35%
Final Project: 40%
Class attendance and in-class participation is considered in the grading for this course.
Required Texts:
1. Cross, Robert L. (2004). The hidden power of social networks: Understanding how work
really gets done in organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
2. Valente, Thomas W. (2010). Social networks and health: Models, methods and
applications. NY: Oxford Univ. Press.
Software (Available without cost):
Organizational Risk Analyzer (*ORA):
www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/projects/ora (operates only the Windows operating system)