A Sociocognitive Network Approach to Organizational Analysis

Abstract
Following the lead of other contributors to cognitive organizational theory, this paper offers a sociocognitive network methodology that represents a sharp departure from traditional approaches to organizational analysis. After outlining the contours of a sociocognitive perspective of organizational dynamics, we present a highly flexible, but reproducible methodology that allows us to uncover and quantify differences in the content of organizational reference frames. We then demonstrate how the resulting indices of cognitive content may be merged with standard sociometric data, creating a network matrix that measures the sociocognitive connectedness of an organization's participants and enables us to identify and monitor barriers to organizational innovation and change.