Networking Smart: How to Build Relationships for Personal and Organizational Success

by Wayne E Baker

Overview

The ability to build business and personal networks can make or break a career, or a company. This teaches entrepreneurs, change agents, and corporate executives to boost their effectiveness, influence, and happiness by building powerful networks. Named "one of the top 30 business books" of the year by Executive Book Summaries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595007868
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/01/2000
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xxi
	Introduction	1
	Why Building Relationships Is More Important Than Ever Before	4
	Restructuring	5
	The New Employer-Employee Contract	6
	New Information and Communication Technologies	6
	Multifunctional Teams and Groups	7
	External Partnerships	7
	Globalization	7
	The Rise of Network Organizations	8
	Management Philosophies, Old and New	9
	Whips and Chains: Philosophy of Control	10
	Soft Values for a Hard Decade: Philosophy of Empowerment	13
	The Company of the Table: A Metaphor for Relationship Building	15
	Preview of the Book	17
Part 1.	The Networking Perspective
1.	The Cult of the Deal: Old Attitudes in a New Business World	25
	A Good Idea Taken Too Far	27
	A Pervasive Problem	29
	The Networking Solution	31
2.	The Networking Leader	33
	The Networking Territory	34
	Managing Relationships Is a Tough Job	35
	The Five Networking Principles	37
Principle 1	Relationships Are a Fundamental Human Need	37
Principle 2	People Tend to Do What Is Expected of Them	38
Principle 3	People Tend to Associate with Others Like Themselves	41
Principle 4	Repeated Interaction Encourages Cooperation	42
Principle 5	It's a Small World	43
	The Spectrum of Relationships	44
	Ethics and Responsibility	47
	What You Can Do Now	48
	What You Can Do Soon	50
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	51
3.	Building Intelligence Networks	52
	Your Internal Intelligence Network	54
	Donuts with Ditch	57
	Can Computer Networking Help?	59
	Your External Intelligence Network	61
	Customers and Suppliers as Eyes and Ears	63
	High-Level Eyes and Ears	65
	What You Can Do Now	66
	What You Can Do Soon	68
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	70
Part 2.	Managing Relationships and Networks inside the Organization
4.	Managing Up, Down, and Sideways	75
	The Secret Formula	77
	Mutual Understanding	78
	Mutual Benefit	81
	The Relationship Contract	83
	Managing Up: Working Well with Your Superiors	84
	Mutual Understanding	85
	Mutual Benefit	88
	Managing Down: Subordinates as Partners	90
	Mutual Understanding	90
	Mutual Benefit	93
	Managing Sideways: The Power of Peers	94
	Mutual Understanding	95
	Mutual Benefit	96
	What You Can Do Now	97
	What You Can Do Soon	100
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	101
5.	Bottlenecks and Bridges	105
	Differentiation: First Principle of Organization	107
	Integration: Second Principle of Organization	110
	Techniques for Level-One Integration	111
	Techniques for Level-Two Integration	113
	Capital Partners: A Case of Successful Level-Two Integration	115
	Rationale and Benefits	117
	Building Bridges at Capital Partners	118
	What You Can Do Now	122
	What You Can Do Soon	125
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	126
6.	Managing Serendipity	129
	Creating the Right Conditions	130
	Tennant Company: A Role Model	131
	Three Factors That Influence Serendipity	133
	Proximity and Facility Design	134
	Gatekeepers and Liaisons	135
	Diverse Group Composition	137
	What You Can Do Now	139
	What You Can Do Soon	140
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	143
7.	Tapping the Power of Diversity	146
	The Glass Ceiling as a Relationship Problem	149
	Numbers, Proportions, and Critical Mass	154
	Breaking the Glass Ceiling	157
	Senior-Level Commitment	157
	Education and Training	158
	Jobs and Career Paths	159
	Formal and Informal Minority Groups	160
	Favorable Numbers and Proportions	161
	Organizational Redesign	162
	What You Can Do Now	163
	What You Can Do Soon	165
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	167
8.	Networking through the Organizational Life Cycle	169
	The Organizational Life Cycle	171
	Six Predictable Stages and Crises	172
Stage 1	Creativity and the Crisis of Leadership	172
Stage 2	Direction and the Autonomy Crisis	173
Stage 3	Delegation and the Control Crisis	174
Stage 4	Coordination and the Red Tape Crisis	175
Stage 5	Downsizing and the Overload Crisis	176
Stage 6	Networking and the Integration Crisis	177
	What You Can Do Now	178
	What You Can Do Soon	179
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	181
Part 3.	Managing Relationships and Networks outside the Organization
9.	Finding Good People (or Changing Jobs)	185
	Why Use Networks?	187
	What Types of Connections Are Important?	188
	The Dark Side: A Cautionary Tale	190
	What You Can Do Now	191
	What You Can Do Soon	194
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	195
10.	Building Relationships with Customers and Clients	197
	The Rise of Relationship Marketing	199
	Social and Business Ties: The Embeddedness Phenomena	201
	The Spectrum of Relationships	203
	Diagnosing Relationships	205
Type 1.	Spot Market: Deal-Deal Match	205
Type 2.	Exploitation: Relationship-Deal Mismatch	206
Type 3.	Exit: Deal-Relationship Mismatch	207
Type 4.	Partnerships: Relationship-Relationship Match	208
	The Zone of Indifference	208
	Investing in a Relationship-Building Infrastructure	209
	Know Thy Market	209
	Set High Performance Expectations	210
	Set High Relationship Expectations	211
	Make Sure Top Levels Stay Informed about Relationships	212
	Have Executives and Senior Managers Adopt Customers	212
	Hire Great People, Train Them Well, Reward Them Well	212
	Put Managers and Service People in the Field and Keep Them There	213
	What You Can Do Now	214
	What You Can Do Soon	216
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	219
11.	Word-of-Mouth Marketing	223
	Why Word of Mouth Is Powerful	225
	Word-of-Mouth Networks	226
	The Cast: Adopters, Opinion Leaders, Change Agents	227
	Five Types of Adopters	228
	What Are Opinion Leaders Like?	231
	Developing Word-of-Mouth Marketing Campaigns	231
	Start with the Right Product or Service	232
	Identify Qualified Opinion Leaders	232
	Building Lines of Communication	234
	Get Your Message Out	235
	Follow Up	236
	What You Can Do Now	236
	What You Can Do Soon	238
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	240
12.	Building Supplier Partnerships	241
	Using Word of Mouth to Find Suppliers	243
	The Trend toward Supplier Partnerships	245
	Transplanting Japanese Supplier Practices: How Far?	247
	Tennant Company: Role Model, Again	249
	The Big Exception: Professional Service Suppliers	252
	What You Can Do Now	256
	What You Can Do Soon	259
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	261
13.	Networking Clubs	263
	It's a Small World, Inc.	265
	An Infinite Variety	266
	Focus of Interest	266
	Size of Membership	268
	Membership Composition	268
	Rules and Procedures	268
	What You Can Do Now	269
	What You Can Do Soon	270
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	270
Appendix	Directory of Networking Clubs	272
14.	Cooperating with Competitors	274
	The Spectrum of Alliances	275
	Why Cooperate?	277
	What Makes an Alliance Work?	279
	The Biggest Obstacle	284
	Are Alliances Just Temporary Solutions?	286
	What You Can Do Now	287
	What You Can Do Soon	289
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	292
Part 4.	Conclusion
15.	The Boundaryless Organization: Role Model for the 1990s and Beyond	297
	GE's Hardware Phase: The 1980s	298
	GE's Software Phase: The 1990s	300
	Work-Out	301
	Best Practices	304
	Process Managing	306
	Education	308
	The Self-Renewing Enterprise	309
	What You Can Do Now	310
	What You Can Do Soon	311
	What You Can Do in the Long Run	312
	References	315
	Index	359