Dynamic Network Theory: How Social Networks Influence Goal Pursuit

In Dynamic Network Theory, James D. Westaby expertly melds social psychology’s traditional focus on individual and collective goals with organizational/management science’s analyses of institutional roles. The result is a masterly interdisciplinary work that examines networks’ generation of social capital in formal and informal organizations. Such analysis is made possible through a powerful combination of approaches from social psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, organization/management science, social learning, and helping skills.

Dynamic Network Theory is a quantum advance over conventional social network analysis. Reaching beyond the mere mapping of connections among a network’s nodes of individuals and organizations, the author examines the various entities of social networks, how to assess the net valence of their roles, and the systemic environments that influence those roles.

Westaby expertly uses dynamic network charts to illustrate the various everyday social networks we encounter in some way at different levels of analysis—from a local community trying to help solve a neighborhood crime, to a firm wondering how to streamline decision making, or to transnational terrorist cells figuring out how to plan an attack without central control or coordination.
Read more