Salvatore Parise

Knowledge Management and Human Resource Development: An Application in Social Network Analysis Methods:

The problem and the solution. This article describes how social network analysis (SNA) can contribute to the knowledge management (KM) efforts of human resource development (HRD) professionals in organizations today.The suggested contributions of SNA are based on primary research conducted across more than 80 organizations. The author first provides an introduction to the people-to-people strategy of todays KM efforts.A detailed look at some common HRD challenges is introduced. Next, an introduction to SNA metrics and techniques is given, and a description of how they can be used to help understand HRD challenges is outlined. The author then provides three cases to illustrate how SNA can aid HRD analysis and interventions involving (a) knowledge creation and innovation, (b) knowledge transfer and retention, and (c) knowledge associated with job succession planning. The author concludes by discussing the implications for HRD of utilizing SNA in the organization.

What's your social media strategy?

This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.

Managing Change through Networks and Values

Executives today must implement large-scale organizational change initiatives in evertighter time frames with fewer resources. Yet, anticipated performance outcomes often do not materialize as internal resistance slows or derails their change initiatives. A combined assessment of culture and informal structure can help identify barriers to change and facilitate change initiatives. Based on work with ten organizations, this article demonstrates how this approach can help drive change through people and values in certain network positions; diagnose cultural drivers of network fragmentation; identify dominant beliefs or paradigms impeding cultural change; and intervene with a balanced emphasis on instrumental and expressive relationships.

The Bikestuff Simulation: Experiencing the Challenge of Organizational Change.

This article describes a 2-hour experiential simulation that helps students understand (a) the challenge of even simple organizational changes, (b) the importance of communication between change agents and organizational members, and (c) the source of resistance to organizational change efforts. Teams of students compete to process the most customer orders at a bike shop. Although some team members process orders using paper-based catalogs and reference materials, other team members develop and implement a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to automate and speed up their teammates’ order completion process. The simulation produces change agent and worker behaviors similar to those seen in real organizational improvement efforts, and can be used to introduce a variety of organizational behavior concepts related to organizational change, including organizational analysis, group communication, participatory design, resistance to change, organizational inertia, and sociotechnical systems theory.

Booz Allen Hamilton: Social and Beyond

Abstract By 2008, consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton needed a more effective way to connect employees to each other and to valuable content. The majority of its consultants worked at client sites and there was a growing feeling of isolation at the firm. In addition, employee affinity to Booz Allen was starting to slip. Previous efforts at knowledge management, such as technology email lists and content management systems, had not been as effective as hoped: information silos remained. In 2008, Walton Smith and his team rolled out Hello, an enterprise collaboration platform containing tools such as social profiles, blogs, wikis, tags, and digital communities. By 2011, the platform was highly adopted by Booz Allen with ample business benefits for different stakeholders. Smith, however, faced difficult decisions going forward. Should the firm continue with internal software development/open source or should it move the Hello platform to a large, integrated vendor solution? Also, how could Booz Allen leverage its success with Hello to sell enterprise collaborative software solutions to its clients, who faced similar challenges?

Innovation and entrepreneurial behaviour in the Popular Music industry

ABSTRACT In a creative industry, what pattern of artistic influences increases the likelihood that an artist will produce innovative products? This research examines all major artists in popular music between 1950 and 2008, their unique historic network of artistic influences, and their innovation achievements in the Popular Music Industry. The research applies network analysis to the social structure of the industry to see: do artists who create innovative products occupy unique structural positions in the complete network of artistic influences (1950–2008)? We posit and find evidence that artists with structural holes in their influence networks have access to unique resources from which to fashion new innovative products.

Does Organizational Support of Social Media Affect Worker Satisfaction, Involvement, and Organizational Knowledge?

This research examines whether organizational support of social media affects employees’ satisfaction with work, their commitment to and engagement with their organization, and their knowledge of the organization and its members. It is motivated by three interconnected hypotheses. First, organizational support for social media increases its use within the organization. Second, the use of social media within the organization increases the number and depth of office friendships. Finally, the number and quality of office relationships has an effect on employee satisfaction, commitment and engagement, and knowledge. We conclude that organizational support of social media has a positive effect on the human resource variables of interest.

Music to Our Ears: New Market Creation and Creative Influences in the Popular Music Industry

In a creative industry, what pattern of creative influences increases the likelihood that an artist will pioneer a new market? This longitudinal research examines all major artists in the Popular Music Industry between 1950 and 2008 and their unique creative influences to examine if certain structural positions in the complete network of influences make one more or less likely to be a first mover in new markets. Since 1950, the Popular Music Industry has grown into a

The Evolution of an Innovation Capability

8 billion dollar a year industry with wealth creation arising from the creation of 193 separate new markets. We apply network analysis to the social structure of the Popular Music Industry to see—do artists who pioneer new markets occupy and exploit distinct structural positions in the influences network? Applying Resource Dependency Theory, we examine each artist‘s structural pattern of creative influences as an idiosyncratic resource base from which to fashion industry-shaping musical innovations. We find that artists who draw from centrally-positioned versus peripherally-positioned artists/creative influences are more likely to pioneer new markets.

Booz Allen Hamilton: Social and Beyond Research Note

OVERVIEW: As a form of crowdsourcing, idea competitions offer a mechanism to engage larger groups in innovation activities. While much of the literature on crowdsourcing focuses on idea competitions that cross a firm’s boundaries to engage external partners, relatively little is known about how this approach can be used within large companies to engage the internal community. We describe how an internal idea competition in a large company has evolved over time into a much broader innovation management system that supports a range of different types of innovations, and how it has altered the firm’s overall approach to innovation and corporate entrepreneurship.