Theories relating to networking

Sunday 11th November 2012

Lest we forget...    

When first reading of 'The Networked Professional' course reader, I must admit, I felt like I had been bombarded with information and a lot seemed quite alien to me. Having read it again, and thought about it more, I have a much better understanding and can now discuss the different concepts and how they are taking part in my own professional practice...

Cooperation

Having worked part time in retail I can relate to cooperation within a working environment and the idea of dealing with situations as a team in order to produce the best possible outcomes. As well as being a cooperative team, I can also fully understand that the concept can be associated with 'Game Theory' and how it's origins are “where one player succeeds at another's expense”. My experience in retail reflect this. If one team member were to excel in sales and customer service, they would be given more working hours which could then, potentially, lead to promotion. Other team members, those who either didn't push themselves enough or were purely unlucky and not seen when doing a high standard job, would miss out on such opportunities, falling behind those that were successful. Within networks, professionals can see this as competition. They all strive to be the best – back to the old 'survival of the fittest' theory. We all want to succeed in life and in our professional practices. This will always happen if we do cooperate with others in our networks but sometimes, as individuals, we do have to give that extra bit more, use our initiative and push ourselves forward, above the rest.

I can also relate to this idea from my experiences of dance auditions. The majority of dancers will help one another through out the audition process. Working out steps and timings of the given routine etc. As soon as they come to perform for the panel, the sense of cooperation tends to leave them and they are there purely because they want the job. I know that this isn't the case for everyone, I don't want to stereotype! But personally, I have seen this on several occasions.

Axelrod says: “Should a friend keep providing favours to another friend who never reciprocates?”.. I am guilty of this. As I have realised so far on this course, I enjoy and get satisfaction from helping others. I will always go out of my way to help someone, friends in particular, and more than often, I don't get the favour in return. I don't get offended or affected by this but it does make me realise that sometimes, as a person, I am 'too nice' – if that's possible?!

“Sometimes the selection process is direct: a member of Congress who does not accomplish anything in interactions with colleagues will not long remain a member of Congress.” Very true. I agree with Axelrod here. If we do not do as we need to within our professional network, we will not succeed and progress. We must get along with who we should and obey the rules and regulations. Interaction with other team members and cooperating day in day out is essential. With out it we would be working alone, no other opinions or input which could potentially lead to wrong doings. Cooperating with others allows us to see the other side of things, gain ideas of various solutions and enables a good, strong working environment where everyone's input is equally important.

Affiliation

Creating strong, close relationships with those in our professional networks allows us to gain good connections with those following similar paths. As I have previously mentioned, it is more about 'who you know' that seems to get us further in life. Knowing you have the support to go to or fall back on is essential. There is nothing worse than having no one to turn to or to ask for advice from, receiving a second opinion. By forming these close relationships, whether it be a professional or a friend, we have that person or people that we know will be there when we need them and give us their help. Personally, I need affiliation where I have someone that will sit and listen to me, discuss the matter and offer me advice. It seems a lot to ask but I know that I would happily offer this to any of my friends and will go out of my way to help them.

Within my professional practice and networks, I have to affiliate with those on the course and my academic adviser. Without them, I'd be stuck and it is so important to have the opinions and thoughts of these people for my own professional development. I need their reflection on what I am thinking to enable me to think differently about things and see ideas in another light. If they were not there to say these things to me, I would never know and certain thoughts and ideas may never progress.

The extract from Crisp and Turner mentions that teenagers were "...happier, more alert.... when in the company of others”. I can fully relate to this. I am a 'people person' so I love having company and people around me to discuss things with. Whether it be about the Universe, my working life or a programme that was on television last night. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel the need to constantly be surrounded by others, I do also very much enjoy 'me' time. Reading, going for walks or sitting listening to music. These allow me to process my thoughts alone, without any distractions and I can then figure them out my self before discussing them with those I affiliate with. This extract also quotes: “..a network of support that will help us when we are in need” which is exactly as I was saying earlier! I agree with a lot of what is said in this extract, they talk about feeling “isolated” with too little contact but “crowded” with too much. This is how I often feel and it would be good to be able to operate to the principle of homeostasis.. but sometimes, we can not. Depending on our work environment, we may have to be around more people than we wish for lengthy periods of times or, as a contrast, we may be set tasks that require us to be alone and work as an individual. If we were always able to control it, we may all feel happier but as said earlier, we have to do what we need to do and work with those who we must to enable a better professional practice.

As always I have so many thoughts going through my mind, I am beginning to write an awful lot down... I will continue this blog soon to discuss social constructionism and connectivism... once I have gathered my ideas and more information!