Cause Maps and Social Network Analysis in Organizational Diagnosis

Abstract

Cause maps and social network analysis both use simple matrix techniques to represent organizational processes that are not well described using traditional research tools. These approaches are particularly suited to operationalizing the concepts of organizational complexity and structure in a concrete, practical manner. This article integrates these two techniques in the service of organizational diagnosis. Specifically, a juxtaposition matrix dividing organizational subunits into functional types and correlating these with critical organizational variables is created and analyzed Data from an empirical study of a small title company are used to illustrate the procedures developed and their relevance to the practical problems of actual organizations.