5 Social Network Analysis as a Knowledge Management Tool – Methods and Applications

Network analysis, as understood for our purposes, is a method to analyze people and their relationships. This approach aims at the description of structures and positions from a network perspective. This kind of network research describes relationships of interactions between network members, known as “actors”,52 like individuals or organizations through precise and subtle analysis that tries to avoid simplifications. This approach remains on a merely descriptive level (see also section 4.6.3). In the case studies presented here, network analysis is used in the descriptive-analytical tradition of this kind of approach. Nevertheless, the methodical steps and applications presented below go beyond a merely descriptive position of a neutral passive observer in that they provide suggestions for practical interventions and follow-up activities to influence network actors, their relationships, and network structure to improve communication of knowledge within and between individuals and organizations.