Social Network Analysis

According to a white paper titled “Tapping the power of social networking to manage talent” written by Saba in partnership with Human Capital Institute, Social Network Analysis (SNA) is the mapping and measuring of flows of knowledge between people, groups, organizations or other components like computers linked on the web.

Why does SNA matter to an HR person? SNA is supposed to improve talent management and employee performance. SNA can be used to build Corporate Social Networking (CSN) which plays an essential role in mapping relationships at work. Once, HR understands those relationships, human performance can be motivated, shaped, manipulated, in order to achieve employee/business success. It is well known that the knowledge of who the agents of change are in a group is valuable; it is even more valued to take some action with that knowledge. Web 2.0 technology eases the analysis of networking and its impact on talent management, especially in mid to large size companies, where HR cannot get to know every employee.

Once a company implements and facilitates to its employees/customers/candidates an online place to share and interact with each other, HR can deploy an strategy to improve recruiting, on-boarding, leadership development, retention and evaluation. SNA results can be represented in flowcharts, graphs, roadmaps, and so on, which contain key connections useful to design and deploy engagement programs like mentoring or leaderships trainings. From a strategic HR perspective it was motivating to read how technology can be used to make more informed decisions when managing talent.