Relational Structure Beyond the Firm

• In Event: Measurements and Methods for Understanding Dynamics in Occupations, Work, and Organizations

Abstract

Drawing on a mixed-method network study of Toronto-based professional jazz musicians, this paper demonstrates two empirical contributions that social network analysis makes to organizational analysis. First, network analysis increases the breadth of organizational inquiry by making the structure of work visible and thus accessible to empirical inquiry in professional fields that lack a formal organizational hierarchy. By mapping who performs with whom, this study shows how work is organized even when there are no formal reporting lines or official structures. Second, network analysis increases the analytic depth of organizational analysis by providing tools to account for the relational dynamics that shape occupational outcomes across both informal and formal professional contexts. Findings indicate that relational position structures opportunity and professional visibility in ways that formal roles alone cannot explain. This shows that network analysis is essential for understanding how inequality operates both within and beyond formal organizations. Ultimately, this paper emphasizes that relational structure—rather than formal hierarchy—is the more general mechanism through which work and inequality are organized.

Author

• Michelle Nadon Bélanger, University of Toronto