ABSTRACT
This chapter describes examination methods that are evolving to meet the challenge of investigating the complex flows of tangible and intangible value across networks. These methods help make sense of the relationships and interactions within a network so as to diagnose specific problems and opportunities and identify target points for change. The chapter begins with a summary of questions being used in traditional survey- and interview-based assessments and then provides introductions to three emerging tools that are derived from the perspective of networks:
Organizational network analysis (ONA):A method based on social network analysis methods for collecting relational information about people and organizations. This data is analyzed statistically and presented visually using software tools. ONA provides insight into the structural qualities of a network and gives both visual and data-derived views of the current state of relationships in the network;164
Value network analysis (VNA): A participative method that elicits information from stakeholders in a network about the tangible and intangible exchanges of value between and among them. VNA provides insight into the dynamics of value exchanges in a network;
Complexity-based sensemaking:A framework and methods that draw on complexity theory to generate distinctions between the complex and the noncomplex to generate insights and aid in problem solving.
