5 Networking
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Peter Winkler
Abstract
This chapter discusses the dual role of management communication in networking, understood as initiating and maintaining informal reciprocity relations in and around organizations. Drawing on cases from the literature, the chapter argues that in a stage of network initiation, managers facilitate informal network approximation by preserving uncertainty and indecision, while in a stage of network maintenance, they start to exploit emergent valuation orders in networks by making them explicit, scalable, and controllable. Previous management literature studied conditions, features, and functions of networking from an essentialist and structuralist perspective. This chapter points at promising paths for future research when studying networking from an explicitly communication-centered lens. The chapter starts with a critical overview of extant networking scholarship, it then introduces the sociology of Harrison White as key reference, and finally it elaborates on the role of management communication in the stages of network initiation and maintenance.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the dual role of management communication in networking, understood as initiating and maintaining informal reciprocity relations in and around organizations. Drawing on cases from the literature, the chapter argues that in a stage of network initiation, managers facilitate informal network approximation by preserving uncertainty and indecision, while in a stage of network maintenance, they start to exploit emergent valuation orders in networks by making them explicit, scalable, and controllable. Previous management literature studied conditions, features, and functions of networking from an essentialist and structuralist perspective. This chapter points at promising paths for future research when studying networking from an explicitly communication-centered lens. The chapter starts with a critical overview of extant networking scholarship, it then introduces the sociology of Harrison White as key reference, and finally it elaborates on the role of management communication in the stages of network initiation and maintenance.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface to the Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Series V
- Contents VII
- Introducing 1
-
Part I: Practices of management communication
- 1 Speaking 27
- 2 Writing 47
- 3 Deciding 69
- 4 Creating by communicating 87
- 5 Networking 105
- 6 Controlling and resisting 123
- 7 Tweeting 143
- 8 Documenting 161
- 9 Posting 177
-
II. Forms of management communication
- 10 Strategizing 195
- 11 Leading 213
- 12 Planning and designing 231
- 13 Routinizing 247
- 14 Branding 263
- 15 Managing communication 279
- 16 Mentoring 295
- 17 Counseling 313
- 18 Developing organizations 335
- 19 Accounting 355
-
Part III: Contexts of management communication
- 20 Managing communication in multilingual workplaces 373
- 21 Exploring and analyzing linguistic environments 389
- 22 Managing high reliability organizations 409
- 23 Building communities 427
- 24 Managing CSR Communication 443
- 25 Rating social and environmental performances 459
- 26 Managing in hospitals 477
- 27 Crowdsourcing 493
- 28 Managing and being managed by emotions 511
- 29 Changing through communication 529
- About the contributors 549
- Index 559
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface to the Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Series V
- Contents VII
- Introducing 1
-
Part I: Practices of management communication
- 1 Speaking 27
- 2 Writing 47
- 3 Deciding 69
- 4 Creating by communicating 87
- 5 Networking 105
- 6 Controlling and resisting 123
- 7 Tweeting 143
- 8 Documenting 161
- 9 Posting 177
-
II. Forms of management communication
- 10 Strategizing 195
- 11 Leading 213
- 12 Planning and designing 231
- 13 Routinizing 247
- 14 Branding 263
- 15 Managing communication 279
- 16 Mentoring 295
- 17 Counseling 313
- 18 Developing organizations 335
- 19 Accounting 355
-
Part III: Contexts of management communication
- 20 Managing communication in multilingual workplaces 373
- 21 Exploring and analyzing linguistic environments 389
- 22 Managing high reliability organizations 409
- 23 Building communities 427
- 24 Managing CSR Communication 443
- 25 Rating social and environmental performances 459
- 26 Managing in hospitals 477
- 27 Crowdsourcing 493
- 28 Managing and being managed by emotions 511
- 29 Changing through communication 529
- About the contributors 549
- Index 559
