Relational Analytics: Guidelines for Analysis and Action

This guidebook goes beyond people analytics to provide a research-based, practice-tested methodology for doing relational analytics, based on the science of relational coordination. We are witnessing a revolution in people analytics, where data are used to identify and leverage human talent to drive performance outcomes. Today’s workplace is interdependent, however, and individuals drive performance through networks that span department, organization and sector boundaries. This book shares the relational coordination framework, with a validated scalable analytic tool that has been used successfully across dozens of countries and industries to understand, measure and influence networks of relationships in and across organizations, and which can be applied at any level in the private and public sectors worldwide. Graduate students and practitioners in human resource management, health policy and management, organizational behavior, engineering and network analysis will appreciate the methodology and hands-on guidance this book provides, with its focus on identifying, analyzing and building networks of productive interdependence. Online resources include data appendices and statistical commands that can be used to conduct all these analyses in readers’ own organizations.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: From People Analytics to Relational Analytics; Chapter 2: The Theory of Relational Coordination; Chapter 3: Evidence About the Outcomes and Predictors of Relational Coordination; Chapter 4: Choosing a Research/Evaluation Design to Answer Your Questions; Chapter 5: Measuring Relational Coordination; Chapter 6: Constructing Relational Coordination Variables; Chapter 7: Visualizing and Analyzing Relational Coordination with Matrices and Networks; Chapter 8: Measuring the Organizational Structures that Shape Relational Coordination; Chapter 9: Analyzing the Outcomes and Predictors of Relational Coordination; Chapter 10: Leveraging Relational Analytics to Create Positive Change; Chapter 11: Moving Forward with Research and Action; References; Appendices available at http://www.rcsurveyhelp.info.

About the Author :
Jody Hoffer Gittell is Professor of Management at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. She founded the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative (now the Relational Coordination Collaborative) in 2011 to bring people together to advance the research and practice of relational coordination, and currently serves on its Board of Advisors. Hebatallah Naim Ali is a PhD Candidate at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research focus is job crafting practices and relational coordination among staff in the health and human service sectors.

Review :
It is rare that a book is of equal relevance and value to both the practice and research communities. Relational Analytics is one such book. Grounded in the theory, research and measures of both relational coordination and social network analysis, its major contribution will be in bringing practitioners and researchers closer together in co-producing knowledge to improve organizational performance. Stephen M. Shortell, Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Research Emeritus and Dean Emeritus, School of Public Health, UC-Berkeley Relational Analytics offers a fresh interpretation of people analytics; it shows how managers can use analytics to specify role interdependencies and with whom employees need to interact most critically to achieve strategic objectives. This outstanding book should be read by organizational and HR scholars as well as by organizational leaders, HR Directors, and line managers. Katherine C. Kellogg, MIT Sloan School of Management Relational Analytics is a wonderful explanation of the power of relationships in driving successful outcomes and a powerful counter to the disproportionate attention given to individual contributions. It organizes the broad literature related to this topic in ways that help students understand it and practitioners use it. Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management, Director, Center for Human Resources, The Wharton School, and Professor of Education, University of Pennsylvania This is a quite amazing book. It is written for both practitioners and researchers, and accessible to both. It helps practitioners use relational coordination to improve organizational performance and helps researchers and would-be researchers study its effectiveness. It is comprehensive. It includes the fundamental theory of relational coordination and a systematic review of a large number of studies using the approach that strongly establishes its scholarly credentials. It also gives illustrations of how the approach has been used and gives guidance on how it can be used to intervene. Relational Analytics is the first book in decades (perhaps since Hackman and Oldham’s Work Redesign in 1980) to give such a comprehensive and accessible treatment of a construct and approach that are important in both theory and practice. It should be a valuable teaching tool for masters and PhD students in the social sciences and a stimulus for creating and studying positive relational interventions in organizations. I strongly recommend it. Jean M. Bartunek, Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair, Boston College Relational coordination has been my go-to explanatory frame for interdependence and coordination since the early 2000’s, and I have used the relational coordination scale to understand the quality of coordination and teamwork in several real world interdisciplinary care contexts. But how to help students focusing on applied health services research understand and successfully apply the theory, and quickly master the mechanics of properly calculating relational coordination measures? Relational Analytics is an expansive and refined text that lays out the necessary theoretical and practical detail for young scholars to successfully delve into the complexity of coordination. What a welcome addition to the suite of doctoral training tools! Jill A. Marsteller, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Relational Analytics is firmly grounded in the premise that relationships form the fabric of organizations. While most methods analyze organizations at the group or individual level, Gittell and Ali provide the framework and tools to assess and change the quality of work relationships. With this book, readers will be well-armed to delve into where the action really is. Researchers and practitioners alike will find the “how-to” aspect to be invaluable. The authors go beyond describing the typical RC Survey deployment, for example, to helping readers customize the survey to their own context. Readers are shown the multiple innovations developed by those who have preceded them. They are guided to create and make sense of data visualizations that are essential for assessing the current state and advancing organizational change. All tools are integrated at the end of the book into the Relational Model of Organizational Change. Anyone should feel comfortable taking these tools and running with them in any context where they’re trying to make an impact. John Paul Stephens, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University Relational Analytics addresses very important principles in a very competent way - it is rich in details and gives the reader new inspiration, general guidelines, and hands on suggestions for conducting research and action learning. Carsten Hornstrup, Director and Chief Consultant, Joint Action Analytics We’re developing a master’s degree in strategic human resource analytics and Relational Analytics is exactly the type of book we’ve been looking for. Well done! Daniel J. Brass, J. Henning Hilliard Professor of Innovation Management, LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis, Gatton College of Business & Economics, University of Kentucky Relational Analytics takes us a step beyond existing methods by offering a powerful tool for analyzing the systems of interdependencies that constitute our work environments. Beginners and seasoned scholars will glean new insights from this accessible guide. Gittell and Ali complement step by step instructions for design and analysis with a rigorous review of empirical applications of the relational coordination model. The rich examples incorporated in this text highlight a signature strength of the instrument - namely the granularity of the data is especially valuable for informing systemic interventions. This analytical approach thus makes a significant contribution towards the integration of scholarship and practice. Njoke Thomas, Assistant Professor of Management and Organization, Boston College