Task 3B - Theories relating to networking

Do the concepts prompt you to think differently about yourself and professional networks?
How might they provide inisghts into your current situation or future needs?
Are there other perspectives or theories that have value to you?
The focus of this task is about the value you get from engaging the ideas of others.

An interesting view taken from the reader (BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Arts) 3730 Reader 3 The Networked Professional) that i find intersting is,

'Your effective engagement of your Professional Network may well impact on your success, promotion and development, your sense of worth and fulfilment, and even enjoyment in your working life'.

I think if you are in a positive mindsight and at a good place the above can be totally accurate, but I am interested to understand the theories behind this.

In order to answer and think about the above questions I am going to briefly outline the 4 theories discussed in the reader and view how they will affect my networking practice.

Cooperation
Do we cooperate or not?  A strategy has been discussed for cooperation that understands the benefits, drawbacks and processes inherent in cooperation across a professional network.  We can therefore consider our interactions as random, or we can see patterns that manifest within them.  Assocaited with the game theory, where one player succeeds at the others expense, a way of prediciting how people respond to specific events.

I have just read up on the prisoners dilema that got its name from the hypotheitcal dilema based on 2 criminals, please see link below.
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PRISDIL.html

To be totally honest, I think both the game and the prisoners dilema on first impression are slightly dramatic theories in terms of linking them to professional networking.  Cooperation is a task in my field that I could not ignore, I need to cooperate to fulfil my job role efficiently and I do not cooperate at the expense of someone else falling. 
I appreciate the games strategy in terms of looking at compeitiors and markets, when my company succeeds or is up on the week it is normally undeniably due to the less successful week of another company/a competitor - this is the nature of business!

Affiliation
'Affiliation therefore can be explained as a social press that provides us with a network of support that will help us when we are in need'  (Crisp & Turner 2007 pp266).
Affiliation within each of us does differ, we each have our own levels of affiliation, how close we form these relationships is up to us.  This is linkled to privacy, 'where the individual seeks to maintain privacy at preferred levels (Hofstede 1980);
An interesting concept taken from the reader is 'Is professional networking an extension of our inate capacity and need to affiliate to both develop our careers?'  Suggesting that a successful career requires effective professional networking.  Whatever professional status we all engaage in the need to affiliate.

I agree with the general need of us all engaging to affiliaite be it personally or professionally.
I am inclined to agree that effective affiliation can help develop a career, as the more people you are affiliated with in a positive manner can only lead to more possible opportunities.
As Hofstede states the amount each individual affiliates is very personal and this can be very obvious in different situations depending on the type of person you are.

Social Constructionism
Taken from the reader - One of Social Constructionism's key principles is that through social interation, humans 'construct' meanings of the world and their experiences of it .  The world is of course 'objectively' out there, but how we come to understand it is a construction or creation of our own making.

Linking the above to task 3a, with the question 'what would your ideal network look like, and why?' (I view this question as 'in this moment in time') the numerous interactions we make may subconsciously affect the way we professionally network, values and priorities change which can affect how future networks are made as they are not predetermined.

Connectivisim
Taking a Connecitivist perspective, we might suggest that a professional network is a system with which we can interact to learn.

Connectivism in my opinion is a theory that is positiviely linked to professional networking, as it provides an explanation about how networks both learn and provide the means for individuals to connect and learn - professionally, this can only be seen as a good thing!

In my role working for the buying team I use all of the above theories - cooperation and affiliation I use everyday in my role.  I subconsciously use social constructionism and consciosuly use connectivism when I am monitoring blogs, websites social networking sites, contributing to my constant learning.  I have therefore been networking professionally by many different means for a long time without actually evaluating.
I used to see professional networking as standing amongst a group of people all a smiles chatting about the 'industry', discussing who i'd worked for or what directors I'm trying to get seen by, but my perception after doing this task has compeltely changed and actually encouraged me to actively network, and helped me understand my professional practice even further.