167,445 research outputs found
Measuring Coordination through Social Networks
In this study, we explore the correlation between actor centrality and project based coordination. By drawing from established coordination and organisational process theory, a text-mining tool is designed and implemented to measure coordination from a large dataset of emails. Here, we provide effective mechanisms for: (i) cataloguing coordination key phrases from an email corpus; (ii) the calculation of coordination score based on project scope; (iii) the construction of social network matrices using centrality measures, and (iv) approaches for exploring the association between network centrality and coordination score. We argue that actor centrality affects the ability of an individual to coordinate the actions of others. The following questions guide this study--What is the effect of network centrality on organisational coordination? How is the actorâs ability to coordinate projects related to their structural position in the communications network? We developed multi-layered test designs to explore this relationship in a project-based (macro) and cross-project (micro) level. We suggest four major findings from the analysis of communication data from Enron email corpus. Firstly, it is concluded that centrally positioned actors show more coordinative activity. Secondly, it is found that betweenness index of centrality is the most potent predicate for coordination. Thirdly, the influence of an actor is associated with coordination more so than the actorâs prominence. Lastly, results suggest that coordination ability is more closely correlated to actor centrality than the organisational position. It is therefore concluded that centrally âwell-connectedâ people are able to exercise greater coordination within the network structure
A Case Study on Software Vulnerability Coordination
Context: Coordination is a fundamental tenet of software engineering.
Coordination is required also for identifying discovered and disclosed software
vulnerabilities with Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Motivated by
recent practical challenges, this paper examines the coordination of CVEs for
open source projects through a public mailing list. Objective: The paper
observes the historical time delays between the assignment of CVEs on a mailing
list and the later appearance of these in the National Vulnerability Database
(NVD). Drawing from research on software engineering coordination, software
vulnerabilities, and bug tracking, the delays are modeled through three
dimensions: social networks and communication practices, tracking
infrastructures, and the technical characteristics of the CVEs coordinated.
Method: Given a period between 2008 and 2016, a sample of over five thousand
CVEs is used to model the delays with nearly fifty explanatory metrics.
Regression analysis is used for the modeling. Results: The results show that
the CVE coordination delays are affected by different abstractions for noise
and prerequisite constraints. These abstractions convey effects from the social
network and infrastructure dimensions. Particularly strong effect sizes are
observed for annual and monthly control metrics, a control metric for weekends,
the degrees of the nodes in the CVE coordination networks, and the number of
references given in NVD for the CVEs archived. Smaller but visible effects are
present for metrics measuring the entropy of the emails exchanged, traces to
bug tracking systems, and other related aspects. The empirical signals are
weaker for the technical characteristics. Conclusion: [...
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Understanding the effect of IS change: A social capital perspective
This paper argues that by adopting a social capital perspective of the effects of Information Systems (IS) implementation we are able to provide insights into both human and technological aspects of change interventions. This theoretical paper is firmly embedded within socio-technical approaches and aims to conceptualise and address concerns relating to organisational issues of systems and technology management. IS implementation inevitably impacts upon the existing work and social relationships within organisations where there is the potential experience of reduced system effectiveness through a periodic lack of coordination and control. It is evident, in this respect, that the adoption of IS produces challenges to human collaboration which clearly add a social dimension to systems management. The paper broadly outlines how a social capital perspective may determine the areas of focus from IS-driven organisational change and provide indications about potential ways to improve system and technology adoption. This may support more appropriate designs for change interventions that enable organisations to accrue more value from IS
The balanced scorecard logic in the management control and reporting of small business company networks: a case study
The purpose of this paper is to assess and integrate the application of the balance scorecard (BSC) logic into business networks identifying functions and use that such performance measuring tool may undertake for SMEâs collaborative development. Thus, the paper analyses a successful case study regarding an Italian network of small companies, evaluating how the multidimensional perspective of BSC can support strategic and operational network management as well as communication of financial and extra financial performance to stakeholders. The study consists of a qualitative method, proposing the application of BSC model for business networks from international literature. Several meetings and interviews as well as triangulation with primary and secondary documents have been conducted. The case study allows to recognize how BSC network logic can play a fundamental role on defining network mission, supporting management control as well as measuring and reporting the intangible assets formation along the network development lifecycle. This is the first time application of a BSC integrated framework for business networks composed of SMEs. The case study demonstrates operational value of BSC for SMEâs collaborative development and success
Discovering Functional Communities in Dynamical Networks
Many networks are important because they are substrates for dynamical
systems, and their pattern of functional connectivity can itself be dynamic --
they can functionally reorganize, even if their underlying anatomical structure
remains fixed. However, the recent rapid progress in discovering the community
structure of networks has overwhelmingly focused on that constant anatomical
connectivity. In this paper, we lay out the problem of discovering_functional
communities_, and describe an approach to doing so. This method combines recent
work on measuring information sharing across stochastic networks with an
existing and successful community-discovery algorithm for weighted networks. We
illustrate it with an application to a large biophysical model of the
transition from beta to gamma rhythms in the hippocampus.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Springer "Lecture Notes in Computer Science"
style. Forthcoming in the proceedings of the workshop "Statistical Network
Analysis: Models, Issues and New Directions", at ICML 2006. Version 2: small
clarifications, typo corrections, added referenc
Exploring the Impact of Socio-Technical Core-Periphery Structures in Open Source Software Development
In this paper we apply the social network concept of core-periphery structure
to the sociotechnical structure of a software development team. We propose a
socio-technical pattern that can be used to locate emerging coordination
problems in Open Source projects. With the help of our tool and method called
TESNA, we demonstrate a method to monitor the socio-technical core-periphery
movement in Open Source projects. We then study the impact of different
core-periphery movements on Open Source projects. We conclude that a steady
core-periphery shift towards the core is beneficial to the project, whereas
shifts away from the core are clearly not good. Furthermore, oscillatory shifts
towards and away from the core can be considered as an indication of the
instability of the project. Such an analysis can provide developers with a good
insight into the health of an Open Source project. Researchers can gain from
the pattern theory, and from the method we use to study the core-periphery
movements
Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact
A surprising new breakthrough is emerging in the social sector: A handful of innovative organizations have developed web-based systems for reporting the performance, measuring the outcomes, and coordinating the efforts of hundreds or even thousands of social enterprises within a field. These nascent efforts carry implications well beyond performance measurement, foreshadowing the possibility of profound changes in the vision and effectiveness of the entire nonprofit sector. This paper, based on six months of interviews and research by FSG Social Impact Advisors, examines twenty efforts to develop shared approaches to performance, outcome, or impact measurement across multiple organizations. The accompanying appendices include a short description of each system and four more in-depth case studies
A metric for collaborative networks
The objective of this paper is to provide a metric that could be used to define success in acollaborative network. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology of this research consists of four stages: Review, Constructing, Testing and Description. Review stage comprised of a critical review of theliterature in order to understand the characteristics of collaborative network organisations and thereasons behind the successes and failures in collaborative networks. Construction stage resulted indevelopment of a metric for collaborative networks. Testing stage tested the model through case studyin a collaborative networks organisation. The outcome of the case study was discussed at thedescription stage to assess usability and usefulness of the metric for participants in turn to generatec onclusions
Reconciling long-term cultural diversity and short-term collective social behavior
An outstanding open problem is whether collective social phenomena occurring
over short timescales can systematically reduce cultural heterogeneity in the
long run, and whether offline and online human interactions contribute
differently to the process. Theoretical models suggest that short-term
collective behavior and long-term cultural diversity are mutually excluding,
since they require very different levels of social influence. The latter
jointly depends on two factors: the topology of the underlying social network
and the overlap between individuals in multidimensional cultural space.
However, while the empirical properties of social networks are well understood,
little is known about the large-scale organization of real societies in
cultural space, so that random input specifications are necessarily used in
models. Here we use a large dataset to perform a high-dimensional analysis of
the scientific beliefs of thousands of Europeans. We find that inter-opinion
correlations determine a nontrivial ultrametric hierarchy of individuals in
cultural space, a result unaccessible to one-dimensional analyses and in
striking contrast with random assumptions. When empirical data are used as
inputs in models, we find that ultrametricity has strong and counterintuitive
effects, especially in the extreme case of long-range online-like interactions
bypassing social ties. On short time-scales, it strongly facilitates a
symmetry-breaking phase transition triggering coordinated social behavior. On
long time-scales, it severely suppresses cultural convergence by restricting it
within disjoint groups. We therefore find that, remarkably, the empirical
distribution of individuals in cultural space appears to optimize the
coexistence of short-term collective behavior and long-term cultural diversity,
which can be realized simultaneously for the same moderate level of mutual
influence
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