Welcome to our living bibliography on leadership networks.

This site is maintained by Bruce Hoppe, Founder and President of Connective Associates LLC and Claire Reinelt, Research and Evaluation Director of the Leadership Learning Community

Additional resources are described in this annotated bibliography of social network analysis.

Here is a free online network survey tool you can use to run your own network mapping project.

 

Leadership in Network Organizations and Society

 

• "Leading Between: Leadership and Trust in a Network Society" by Paul Skidmore.
  • An overview of six characteristics that successful network leaders demonstrate.

 

• "Social Capital of Twenty-First-Century Leaders" by Daniel Brass and David Krackhardt

 

• "Informal Networks: The Company Behind the Charts" by David Krackhardt and Jeffrey Hansen

 

• "The Pulse-Taker" by Karen Stephenson

 

Inter-Organizational, Community and Policy Leadership Networks

• Building Smart Communities Through Network Weaving. By Valdis Krebs and June Holley
  • An accessible introduction about how to map and analyze inter-organizational and community networks. This paper describes the process and tasks for network-weaving. Research is based on work with the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet).

 

• Lawrence Community Works: Using the Power of Networks to Restore a City. Peter Plastrick and Madeline Taylor. (2004). Barr Foundation.
  • An interesting story about how Lawrence Community Works (a networking organization in an immigrant city north of Boston) connected, networked and developed the leadership of residents to become change agents in their community. The paper introduces the term “open architecture” to describe the organization and provides guidance on how to map and intentionally build networks.

 

 

• Leveraging Networks: A Guide for Public Managers Working Across Organizations. By Robert Agranoff, IBM Endowment for the Business of Government, March 2003.
  • This guide describes types of networks and how to manage them. It also provides practical advice about how to develop network participation and strengthen the operation of the network.

 

• Transforming Your Regional Economy through Uncertainty and Surprise: Learning from Complexity Science, Network Theory and the Field. By June Holley. (November 8, 2003).
  • This paper describes the critical role of social entrepreneurs in helping regions build better networks.

 

• The Persistence and Transformation of Community: From Neighbourhood Groups to Social Networks. By Barry Wellman. October 30, 2001.
  • This paper contends that community is increasingly becoming embedded in social networks rather than neighborhood groups. The expansion of the Internet has facilitated the development of "networked individualism."

 

Learning and Knowledge Leadership Networks

• A bird's eye view:  Using social network analysis to improve knowledge creating and sharing. By Rob Cross, Andrew Parker and Stephen P. Borgatti. June, 2002.
  • Based on a social network analysis of information flow among IBM's top 20 executives, this case study demonstrates the difference between formal and informal leadership networks, identifies four dimensions of relationships that are critical for knowledge flow, and suggests ways to strengthen knowledge networks.

 

• The Ties that Share:  Relational Characteristics that Facilitate Information Seeking. By Rob Cross and Stephen Borgatti.
  • This article defines the characteristics of relationships that affect information seeking in organizational settings. These include awareness, access, engagement, and safety.

 

• Knowledge Networks:  Guidelines for Assessment. Prepared by Heather Creech and Ali Ramji. 2004.
  • This paper provides guidelines for evaluating network effectiveness, structure and governance, efficiency, resources and sustainability and life-cycle.

 

Network Models of Collective Action

• The Structure and Dynamics of Movement Participation.  By Hyojoung Kim and Peter Bearman (American Sociological Review, 1997, Vol. 62, Feburary, pp. 70-93)

         

Good Overviews of Social Capital and Social Networks

• Primer on Network Centrality by Steve Borgatti
• Network Theory and Practice by June Holley, The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks.

 

Current Research on Leadership Networks

 

• Leadership Development research initiative at Network Roundtable, UVA
  • Current roundtable research projects include:
  • Client Connectivity: Generating Value at the Client Interface with Network Analysis
  • Innovation: Driving Innovation and Top Line Revenue Growth with a Network Perspective
  • Leadership Development: Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness and Resilience via Network Management
  • Organizational Change: Facilitating Large Scale Change with a Network Perspective
  • Well-Being at Work: Promoting Employee Well-Being through Relational Constellations at Work
  • Communities of Practice: Assessing and Supporting Communities of Practice with Network Analysis

 

More Advanced Reading on Individual and Organizational Leadership Networks

 

• Making Invisible Work Visible:Using Social Network Analysis to Support Strategic Collaboration. By R. Cross, S.P. Borgatti, and A. Parker. (Winter 2002). California Management Review, 44:2, 25-42.

 

• Teaching Executives to See Social Capital by Ron Burt and Don Ronchi

 

• Bringing the individual back in: A structural analysis of the internal market for reputation in organizations. By Kilduff, M., & Krackhardt, D. (1994). Academy of Management Journal, 37, 87-108.

 

• Assessing the political landscape: Structure, cognition, and power in organizations. By Krackhardt, D. (1990). Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 342-369.

 

• The social networks of high and low self-monitors: Implications for workplace performance. By Mehra, A., Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. (2001). Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 121-146.

 

• Building effective intra-organizational networks:The role of teams. By Katz,N. and Lazar, D. Working Paper, Kennedy School of Government.

 

• The Ties That Lead: A Social Network Approach to Leadership by Prasad Balkundi

 

Additional entries of interest from Balkundi's bibliography

 

• Balkundi, P., & Harrison, D. (2005). Ties, leaders, and time in teams: Strong inference about network structure's effects on team viability and performance. Academy of Management Journal. In press.

 

• Brass, D. J. (1984). Being in the right place: A structural analysis of individual influence in an organization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 518-539.

 

• Brass, D. J. (1985). Men's and women's networks: A study of interaction patterns and influence in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 28, 327-343.

 

• Brass, D. J. (1992). Power in organizations: A social network perspective. In G. Moore & J. A. Whitt (Eds.), Research in politics and society (pp. 295-323). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

 

• Burt, R., & Ronchi, D. (1990). Contested control in a large manufacturing plant. In J. Weesie & H. D. Flap (Eds.), Social networks through time (pp. 127-157). Utrecht: Isor.

 

• Dansereau, F. (1995). A dyadic approach to leadership: Creating and nurturing this approach under fire. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 479-490.

 

• Dansereau, F., Graen, G., & Haga, W. J. (1975). A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership within formal organizations: A longitudinal investigation of the role making process. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 13, 46 -78.

 

• Eden, D., &, & Leviatan, U. (1975). Implicit leadership theory as a determinant of the factor structure underlying supervisory behavior scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 736-741.

 

• Mayo, M. C., Meindl, J. R., & Pastor, J. C. (2003). Shared leadership in work teams: A social network approach. In C. Pierce & J. Conger (Eds.), Shared leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership (pp. 193-214).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 

• Mehra, A., Dixon, A. L., Robertson, B., & Brass, D. J. (2004). The social networks of leaders: Implications for group performance and leader reputation. Unpublished manuscript, Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati.

 

• Sparrowe, R. T., & Liden, R. C. (2005). Two routes to influence: Integrating leader -member exchange and network perspectives. Administrative Science Quarterly. Forthcoming.