Analytics can help tell a stockbroker when to buy or sell, a farmer when to water his crops and a football coach which play to run. The list goes on and on.
But what analytics has not focused on quite as much has been the working relationships employees have with each other.
This is what makes organizational network analysis, known as “ONA,” so intriguing to University of Virginia professor Peter Gray – especially as it pertains to the complex questions leaders are facing about their employees’ return-to-work schedules as the worst of the pandemic (hopefully) fades.
Gray, who has been teaching ONA in the McIntire School of Commerce’s Master of Information Technology program for several years, recently co-wrote an article with Babson College professor Rob Cross explaining how ONA offers a new approach to effectively guiding return-to-office decisions.
McIntire professor Peter Gray says data can show what kinds of work are best done in-person. (Contributed photo)
UVA Today caught up with Gray to learn more.
Q. In simple terms, can you explain to our UVA Today audience what ONA is and how it works?
A. ONA is a tool that can help leaders understand how their work really gets done in their organizations. It uses data about interactions between people and applies network science to reveal the informal structure of the organization. By making invisible patterns of collaboration visible, it provides leaders with insights into how they can better lead and manage.
Q. Broadly speaking, what are the benefits of this approach?
A. ONA is the next step forward in what is known as “People Analytics” – when leaders use data and analytics to inform key employee-related decisions in organizations. Traditionally the source of data used in People Analytics were attributes of employees themselves – for instance, their work history or job performance. Increasingly this field is moving toward understanding characteristics of employees’ relationships with each other – for example, how much time they spend interacting in a typical week, whether they need even more access to each other, and whether an interaction leaves them with a greater sense that what they do at work has purpose and matters.
Understanding the networks of collaboration in organizations is often key to informing a wide range of organizational issues, including improving innovation, large-scale organizational changes, client connectivity, talent management and leadership development, to name a few. Understanding the size, reach and quality of network ties provides leaders with an important new source of information that can greatly improve the effectiveness of their decisions and the success of their initiatives.
Q. In terms of specific return-to-office strategies that so many leaders of organizations are grappling with, what can ONA tell them? Are there any conclusions that can be drawn based on the research you’ve done?
A. Leaders must decide three things about return-to-office strategies: Who should be brought back together in a weekly cadence of in-person and virtual interactions? What work should be prioritized in the now-scarcer in-person time? And, how do leaders most effectively manage the transition to a hybrid model with the least resistance? The patterns of informal connectivity that ONA reveal shed new light on the first question by helping leaders understand which parts of their organizations should be brought back together and which elements are well-served through virtual interactions.
The data can also show what kinds of work are best done in-person (for instance, work that involves brainstorming or complex problem-solving) and which are best suited for virtual interactions (such as information transfer, approvals and coordination). And by understanding which influencers in the network are hesitant to return to the office, leaders can show them how their own networks are dependent on in-person interactions in order to hopefully enlist their help in designing a return-to-office approach that fits their needs and motivates those around them to want to return, too.
