Valdis krebs biography of mahatma
The most influential figures were not always those at the top of the hierarchy but rather those who served as bridges between departments. These connectors were crucial for the flow of information and collaboration. Armed with this insight, the agency could restructure their communication strategies, ensuring that these key individuals were recognized and empowered.
The impact was profound: information flowed more freely, collaboration improved, and the agency became markedly more effective. He saw the potential of network analysis to transform policy-making itself. By mapping the networks within and between governmental bodies, NGOs, and other stakeholders, he could identify where collaboration was strong and where it was weak.
This allowed policymakers to address gaps and strengthen alliances, leading to more coherent and effective policies. One notable example was his work with a coalition of NGOs focused on public health. By mapping their networks, Krebs identified critical points of connection and potential bottlenecks. This enabled the coalition to streamline their efforts, share knowledge more effectively, and ultimately deliver better health outcomes to the communities they served.
In FebruaryGandhi cautioned the Viceroy of India with a cable communication that if the British were to pass the Rowlatt Acthe would appeal to Indians to start civil disobedience. The satyagraha civil disobedience followed, with people assembling to protest the Rowlatt Act. On 30 MarchBritish law officers opened fire on an assembly of unarmed people, peacefully gathered, participating in satyagraha in Delhi.
People rioted in retaliation. On 6 Aprila Hindu festival day, Gandhi asked a crowd to remember not to injure or kill British people, but to express their frustration with peace, to boycott British goods and burn any British clothing they owned. He emphasised the use of non-violence to the British and towards each other, even if the other side used violence.
Communities across India announced plans to gather in greater numbers to protest. Government warned him not to enter Delhi, but Gandhi defied the order and was arrested on 9 April. On 13 Aprilpeople including women with children gathered in an Amritsar park, and British Indian Army officer Reginald Dyer surrounded them and ordered troops under his command to fire on them.
The resulting Jallianwala Bagh massacre or Amritsar massacre of hundreds of Sikh and Hindu civilians enraged the subcontinent but was supported by some Britons and parts of the British media as a necessary response. Gandhi in Ahmedabad, on the day after the massacre in Amritsar, did not criticise the British and instead criticised his fellow countrymen for not exclusively using 'love' to deal with the 'hate' of the British government.
The massacre and Gandhi's non-violent response to it moved many, but also made some Sikhs and Hindus upset that Dyer was getting away with murder. Investigation committees were formed by the British, which Gandhi asked Indians to boycott. With Congress now behind Gandhi, and Muslim support triggered by his backing the Khilafat movement to restore the Caliph in Turkey, [ ] Gandhi had the political support and the attention of the British Raj.
Gandhi expanded his nonviolent non-co-operation platform to include the swadeshi policy — the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that khadi homespun cloth be worn by all Indians instead of British-made textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day spinning khadi in support of the independence movement.
Gandhi thus began his journey aimed at crippling the British India government economically, politically and administratively. The appeal of "Non-cooperation" grew, its social popularity drew participation from all strata of Indian society. Gandhi was arrested on 10 Marchtried for sedition, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
He began his sentence on 18 March With Gandhi isolated in valdis krebs biography of mahatma, the Indian National Congress split into two factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru favouring valdis krebs biography of mahatma participation in the legislatures, and the other led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patelopposing this move.
Muslim leaders left the Congress and began forming Muslim organisations. The political base behind Gandhi had broken into factions. He was released in February for an appendicitis operation, having served only two years. After his early release from prison for political crimes inGandhi continued to pursue swaraj over the second half of the s.
He pushed through a resolution at the Calcutta Congress in December calling on the British government to grant India dominion status or face a new campaign of non-cooperation with complete independence for the country as its goal. The British did not respond favourably to Gandhi's proposal. British political leaders such as Lord Birkenhead and Winston Churchill announced opposition to "the appeasers of Gandhi" in their discussions with European diplomats who sympathised with Indian demands.
This day was commemorated by almost every other Indian organisation. Gandhi then launched a new Satyagraha against the British salt tax in March He sent an ultimatum in the form of a letter personally addressed to Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, on 2 March. Gandhi condemned British rule in the letter, describing it as "a curse" that "has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration It has reduced us politically to serfdom.
This was highlighted by the Salt March to Dandi from 12 March to 6 April, where, together with 78 volunteers, Gandhi marched kilometres mi from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself, with the declared intention of breaking the salt laws. The march took 25 days to cover miles with Gandhi speaking to often huge crowds along the way.
Thousands of Indians joined him in Dandi. According to Sarma, Gandhi recruited women to participate in the salt tax campaigns and the boycott of foreign products, which gave many women a new self-confidence and dignity in the mainstream of Indian public life. On 5 May, Gandhi was interned under a regulation dating from in anticipation of a protest that he had planned.
The protest at Dharasana salt works on 21 May went ahead without Gandhi. A horrified American journalist, Webb Millerdescribed the British response thus:. In complete silence the Gandhi men drew up and halted a hundred yards from the stockade. A picked column advanced from the crowd, waded the ditches and approached the barbed wire stockade Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off blows.
They went down like ninepins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whack of the clubs on unprotected skulls Those struck down fell sprawling, unconscious or writhing with fractured skulls or broken shoulders. This went on for hours until some or more protesters had been beaten, many seriously injured and two killed. At no time did they offer any resistance.
After Gandhi's arrest, the women marched and picketed shops on their own, accepting violence and verbal abuse from British authorities for the cause in the manner Gandhi inspired. This campaign was one of Gandhi's most successful at upsetting British hold on India; Britain responded by imprisoning over 60, people. Among them was one of Gandhi's lieutenants, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Indian Congress in the s appealed to Andhra Pradesh peasants by creating Telugu language plays that combined Indian mythology and legends, linked them to Gandhi's ideas, and portrayed Gandhi as a messiaha reincarnation of ancient and medieval Indian nationalist leaders and saints. The plays built support among peasants steeped in traditional Hindu culture, according to Murali, and this effort made Gandhi a folk hero in Telugu speaking villages, a sacred messiah-like figure.
According to Dennis Dalton, it was Gandhi's ideas that were responsible for his wide following. Gandhi criticised Western civilisation as one driven by "brute force and immorality", contrasting it with his categorisation of Indian civilisation as one driven by "soul force and morality. After he returned to India, people flocked to Gandhi because he reflected their values.
Valdis krebs biography of mahatma
Gandhi also campaigned hard going from one rural corner of the Indian subcontinent to another. He used terminology and phrases such as Rama -rajya from RamayanaPrahlada as a paradigmatic icon, and such cultural symbols as another facet of swaraj and satyagraha. The government, represented by Lord Irwindecided to negotiate with Gandhi.
The Gandhi—Irwin Pact was signed in March The British Government agreed to free all political prisonersin return for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement. According to the pact, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table Conference in London for discussions and as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists.
Gandhi expected to discuss India's independence, while the British side focused on the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than on a transfer of power. Lord Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdontook a hard line against India as an independent nation, began a new campaign of controlling and subduing the nationalist movement. Gandhi was again arrested, and the government tried and failed to negate his influence by completely isolating him from his followers.
In Britain, Winston Churchilla prominent Conservative politician who was then out of office but later became its prime minister, became a vigorous and articulate critic of Gandhi and opponent of his long-term plans. Churchill often ridiculed Gandhi, saying in a widely reported speech:. It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal palace Churchill's bitterness against Gandhi grew in the s.
He called Gandhi as the one who was "seditious in aim" whose evil genius and multiform menace was attacking the British empire. Churchill called him a dictator, a "Hindu Mussolini ", fomenting a race war, trying to replace the Raj with Brahmin cronies, playing on the ignorance of Indian masses, all for selfish gain. It gained Churchill sympathetic support, but it also increased support for Gandhi among Europeans.
The developments heightened Churchill's anxiety that the "British themselves would give up out of pacifism and misplaced conscience. During the discussions between Gandhi and the British government over —32 at the Round Table ConferencesGandhi, now aged about 62, sought constitutional reforms as a preparation to the end of colonial British rule, and begin the self-rule by Indians.
The British negotiators proposed constitutional reforms on a British Dominion model that established separate electorates based on religious and social divisions. The British questioned the Congress party and Gandhi's authority to speak for all of India. Ambedkar as the representative leader of the untouchables. The Second Round Table conference was the only time Gandhi left India between and his death in Gandhi declined the government's offer of accommodation in an expensive West End hotel, preferring to stay in the East Endto live among working-class people, as he did in India.
After Gandhi returned from the Second Round Table conference, he started a new satyagraha. Gandhi was arrested and imprisoned at the Yerwada JailPune. While he was in prison, the British government enacted a new law that granted untouchables a separate electorate. It came to be known as the Communal Award. InGandhi resigned from Congress party membership.
He did not disagree with the party's position, but felt that if he resigned, Gandhi's popularity with Indians would cease to stifle the party's membership, which actually varied, including communists, socialists, trade unionists, students, religious conservatives, and those with pro-business convictions, and that these various voices would get a chance to make themselves heard.
Gandhi also wanted to avoid being a target for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily accepted political accommodation with the Raj. InGandhi returned to active politics again with the Nehru presidency and the Lucknow session of the Congress. Although Gandhi wanted a total focus on the task of winning independence and not speculation about India's future, he did not restrain the Congress from adopting socialism as its goal.
Gandhi had a clash with Subhas Chandra Bose, who had been elected president inand who had previously expressed a lack of faith in nonviolence as a means of protest. Gandhi declared that Sitaramayya's defeat was his defeat. Gandhi opposed providing any help to the British war effort and he campaigned against any Indian participation in World War II.
Gandhi's opposition to the Indian participation in World War II was motivated by his belief that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom while that freedom was denied to India itself. As the war progressed, Gandhi intensified his demand for independence, calling for the British to Quit India in a speech in Mumbai.
InGandhi now nearing age 73, urged his people to completely stop co-operating with the imperial government. In this effort, Gandhi urged that they neither kill nor injure British people but be willing to suffer and die if violence is initiated by the British officials. Gandhi's arrest lasted two years, as he was held in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.
During this period, Gandhi's longtime secretary Mahadev Desai died of a heart attack, his wife Kasturba died after 18 months' imprisonment on 22 Februaryand Gandhi suffered a severe malaria attack. Gelder then composed and released an interview summary, cabled it to the mainstream press, that announced sudden concessions Gandhi was willing to make, comments that shocked his countrymen, the Congress workers and even Gandhi.
The latter two claimed that it distorted what Gandhi actually said on a range of topics and falsely repudiated the Quit India movement. Gandhi was released before the end of the war on 6 May because of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the nation. Gandhi came out of detention to an altered political scene — the Muslim League for example, which a few years earlier had appeared marginal, "now occupied the centre of the political stage" [ ] and the topic of Jinnah's campaign for Pakistan was a major talking point.
Gandhi and Jinnah had extensive correspondence and the two men met several times over a period of two weeks in September at Jinnah's house in Bombay, where Gandhi insisted on a united religiously plural and independent India which included Muslims and non-Muslims of the Indian subcontinent coexisting. Jinnah rejected this proposal and insisted instead for partitioning the subcontinent on religious lines to create a separate Muslim homeland later Pakistan.
While the leaders of Congress languished in jail, the other parties supported the war and gained organisational strength. Underground publications flailed at the ruthless suppression of Congress, but it had little control over events. At this point, Gandhi called off the struggle, and aroundpolitical prisoners were released, including the Congress's leadership.
Gandhi opposed the partition of the Indian subcontinent along religious lines. Jinnah rejected Gandhi's proposal and called for Direct Action Dayon 16 Augustto press Muslims to publicly gather in cities and support his proposal for the partition of the Indian subcontinent into a Muslim state and non-Muslim state. Thousands of Hindus and Muslims were murdered, and tens of thousands were injured in the cycle of violence in the days that followed.
Archibald Wavellthe Viceroy and Governor-General of British India for three years through Februaryhad worked with Gandhi and Jinnah to find a common ground, before and after accepting Indian independence in principle. Wavell condemned Gandhi's character and motives as well as his ideas. Wavell accused Gandhi of harbouring the single-minded idea to "overthrow British rule and influence and to establish a Hindu raj", and called Gandhi a "malignant, malevolent, exceedingly shrewd" politician.
The British reluctantly agreed to grant independence to the people of the Indian subcontinent, but accepted Jinnah's proposal of partitioning the land into Pakistan and India. Gandhi was involved in the final negotiations, but Stanley Wolpert states the "plan to carve up British India was never approved of or accepted by Gandhi". The partition was controversial and violently disputed.
More than half a million were killed in religious riots as 10 million to 12 million non-Muslims Hindus and Sikhs mostly migrated from Pakistan into India, and Muslims migrated from India into Pakistan, across the newly created borders of India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Gandhi spent the day of independence not celebrating the end of the British rule, but appealing for peace among his countrymen by fasting and spinning in Calcutta on 15 August The partition had gripped the Indian subcontinent with religious violence and the streets were filled with corpses.
At p. There, he died about 30 minutes later as one of Gandhi's family members read verses from Hindu scriptures. Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more.
Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country. Godse, a Hindu nationalist, [ ] [ ] [ ] with links to the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] made no attempt to escape; several other conspirators were soon arrested as well.
The trial began on 27 May and ran for eight months before Justice Atma Charan passed his final order on 10 February The prosecution called witnesses, the defence none. Eight men were convicted for the murder conspiracy, and others were convicted for violation of the Explosive Substances Act. Savarkar was acquitted and set free. Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death by hanging [ ] while the remaining six including Godse's brother, Gopal were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Gandhi's death was mourned nationwide. The engine of the vehicle was not used; instead, four drag-ropes held by 50 people each pulled the vehicle. Gandhi was cremated in accordance with Hindu tradition. His ashes were poured into urns which were sent across India for memorial services. InTushar Gandhi immersed the contents of one urn, found in a bank vault and reclaimed through the courts, at the Sangam at Allahabad.
On 30 Januarythe contents of another urn were immersed at Girgaum Chowpatty. Another urn is at the palace of the Aga Khan in Pune where Gandhi was held as a political prisoner from to [ ] [ ] and another in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles. These are said to be Gandhi's last words after he was shot. Gandhi's spirituality was greatly based on his embracement of the five great vows of Jainism and Hindu Yoga philosophy, viz.
Satya truthahimsa nonviolencebrahmacharya celibacyasteya non-stealingand aparigraha non-attachment. Some writers present Gandhi as a paragon of ethical living and pacifism, while others present him as a more complex, contradictory and evolving character influenced by his culture and circumstances. Gandhi dedicated his life to discovering and pursuing truth, or Satyaand called his movement satyagrahawhich means "appeal to, insistence on, or reliance on the Truth.
It was the satyagraha formulation and step, states Dennis Dalton, that deeply resonated with beliefs and culture of his people, embedded him into the popular consciousness, transforming him quickly into Mahatma. Gandhi based Satyagraha on the Vedantic ideal of self-realisation, ahimsa nonviolencevegetarianism, and universal love. William Borman states that the key to his satyagraha is rooted in the Hindu Upanishadic texts.
Bruce Watson states that some of these ideas are found not only in traditions within Hinduism, but also in Jainism or Buddhism, particularly those about non-violence, vegetarianism and universal love, but Gandhi's synthesis was to politicise these ideas. Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities.
Gandhi summarised his beliefs first when he said, "God is Truth. The essence of Satyagraha is "soul force" as a political means, refusing to use brute force against the oppressor, seeking to eliminate antagonisms between the oppressor and the oppressed, aiming to transform or "purify" the oppressor. It is not inaction but determined passive resistance and non-co-operation where, states Arthur Herman, "love conquers hate".
It arms the individual with moral power rather than physical power. Satyagraha is also termed a "universal force", as it essentially "makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe. Gandhi wrote: "There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant.
Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause. This end usually implies a moral upliftment or progress of an individual or society. Therefore, non-co-operation in Satyagraha is in fact a means to secure the co-operation of the opponent consistently with truth and justice. While Gandhi's idea of satyagraha as a political means attracted a widespread following among Indians, the support was not universal.
For example, Muslim leaders such as Jinnah opposed the satyagraha idea, accused Gandhi to be reviving Hinduism through political activism, and began effort to counter Gandhi with Muslim nationalism and a demand for Muslim homeland. Although Gandhi was not the originator of the principle of nonviolence, he was the first to apply it in the political field on a large scale.
Although Gandhi considered non-violence to be "infinitely superior to violence", he preferred violence to cowardice. Gandhi was a prolific writer. His signature style was simple, precise, clear and as devoid of artificialities. The book was translated into English the next year, with a copyright legend that read "No Rights Reserved".
Later, Navajivan was also published in Hindi. Gandhi also wrote letters almost every day to individuals and newspapers. Gandhi also wrote extensively on vegetarianism, diet and health, religion, social reforms, etc. Gandhi usually wrote in Gujarati, though he also revised the Hindi and English valdis krebs biographies of mahatma of his books. Gandhi's complete works were published by the Indian government under the name The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi in the s.
The writings comprise about 50, pages published in about volumes. Ina revised edition of the complete works sparked a controversy, as it contained a large number of errors and omissions. Gandhi is noted as the greatest figure of the successful Indian independence movement against the British rule. He is also hailed as the greatest figure of modern India.
The word Mahatmawhile often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma meaning Soul. Innumerable streets, roads, and localities in India are named after Gandhi. These include M. As ofover countries have released stamps on Gandhi. Florian asteroid Gandhi was named in his honour in September Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements.
In his early years, the former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was a follower of the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. This legacy connects him to Nelson Mandela Gandhi's life and teachings inspired many who specifically referred to Gandhi as their mentor or who dedicated their lives to spreading his ideas. Inphysicist Albert Einstein exchanged letters with Gandhi and called him "a role model for the generations to come" in a letter writing about him.
Mahatma Gandhi's life valdis krebs biography of mahatma stands unique in political history. He has invented a completely new and humane means for the liberation war of an oppressed country, and practised it with greatest energy and devotion. The moral influence he had on the consciously thinking human being of the entire civilised world will probably be much more lasting than it seems in our time with its overestimation of brutal violent forces.
Because lasting will only be the work of such statesmen who wake up and strengthen the moral power of their people through their example and educational works. We may all be happy and grateful that destiny gifted us with such an enlightened contemporary, a role model for the generations to come. Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.
Farah Omara valdis krebs biography of mahatma activist from Somalilandvisited India inwhere he met Gandhi and was influenced by Gandhi's non-violent philosophy, which he adopted in his campaign in British Somaliland. Lanza del Vasto went to India in intending to live with Gandhi; he later returned to Europe to spread Gandhi's philosophy and founded the Community of the Ark in modelled after Gandhi's ashrams.
Madeleine Slade known as "Mirabehn" was the daughter of a British admiral who spent much of her adult life in India as a devotee of Gandhi. In addition, the British musician John Lennon referred to Gandhi when discussing his views on nonviolence. His reply was in response to the question: "Who was the one person, dead or live, that you would choose to dine with?
He inspired Dr. King with his message of nonviolence. He ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics. Gandhi's ideas had a significant influence on 20th-century philosophy. It began with his engagement with Romain Rolland and Martin Buber. Jean-Luc Nancy said that the French philosopher Maurice Blanchot engaged critically with Gandhi from the point of view of "European spirituality.
American political scientist Gene Sharp wrote an analytical text, Gandhi as a political strategiston the significance of Gandhi's ideas, for creating nonviolent social change. Recently, in the light of climate change, Gandhi's views on technology are gaining importance in the fields of environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology. Time magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in Nelson Mandelathe leader of South Africa's struggle to eradicate racial discrimination and segregation, was a prominent non-Indian recipient.
InGandhi was posthumously awarded with the World Peace Prize. Gandhi did not receive the Nobel Peace Prizealthough he was nominated five times between andincluding the first-ever nomination by the American Friends Service Committee[ ] though Gandhi made the short list only twice, in and That year, the committee chose not to award the peace prize stating that "there was no suitable living candidate", and later research shows that the possibility of awarding the prize posthumously to Gandhi was discussed and that the reference to no suitable living candidate was to Gandhi.
Gandhi could do without the Nobel Peace prize, whether Nobel committee can do without Gandhi is the question. Indians widely describe Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. India, with its rapid economic modernisation and urbanisation, has rejected Gandhi's economics [ ] but accepted much of his politics and continues to revere his memory. Reporter Jim Yardley notes that "modern India is hardly a Gandhian nation, if it ever was one.
His vision of a village-dominated economy was shunted aside during his lifetime as rural romanticism, and his call for a national ethos of personal austerity and nonviolence has proved antithetical to the goals of an aspiring economic and military power. Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is a national holiday in IndiaGandhi Jayanti. His image also appears on paper currency of all denominations issued by Reserve Bank of Indiaexcept for the one rupee note.
There are three temples in India dedicated to Gandhi. Gandhi's children and grandchildren live in India and other countries. Grandson Rajmohan Gandhi is a professor in Illinois and an author of Gandhi's biography titled Mohandas[ ] while another, Tarun Gandhi, has authored several authoritative books on his grandfather. Another grandson, Kanu Ramdas Gandhi the son of Gandhi's third son Ramdaswas found living at an old age home in Delhi despite having taught earlier in the United States.
Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Indian independence activist — For other uses, see Gandhi disambiguation. New DelhiDominion of India. British Raj until Dominion of India from Leadership of the campaign for India's independence from British rule Nonviolent resistance.
Kasturba Gandhi. Harilal Manilal Ramdas Devdas. Karamchand Gandhi Putlibai Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi's voice. Early life and background. Vegetarianism and committee work. Civil rights activist in South Africa — Europeans, Indians and Africans. Struggle for Indian independence — See also: Indian independence movement. Main article: Champaran Satyagraha.
Main article: Kheda Satyagraha. Main article: Khilafat Movement. Main article: Non-co-operation movement. Main article: Salt Satyagraha. Main article: Quit India Movement. Partition and independence. See also: Indian independence movement and Partition of India. Main article: Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Principles, practices, and beliefs. Contents move to sidebar hide.
Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. References [ edit ]. Retrieved 25 January During the s and s, with the availability of mainframe computers, social scientists began to model and measure social networks mathematically. Networks contain rich information about the structure of human systems.
Unfortunately, this information is usually hidden from the untrained eye. Network diagrams and their underlying mathematical analyses can reveal many invisible dynamics -- at the individual, group and system level. Comparing snapshots of the networks over time can reveal their evolution and adaptation. Figure 1, a map of important Russian cities in the 12th century, contains much information about the future of the nodes it models.
The links that Release 1. Figure 1 By the 15th century, Moscow had emerged as the capital of Russia and the hub of trade in the region. From the diagram alone, it is hard to see Moscow's centrality in the graph. When we measure the network using a process and software tool described on page 11Moscow pops out at the top of the list in centrality -- it is between l the most cities.
Moscow is well placed because it connects two major river systems in the middle of the network, and it seems to be on the route between many cities. A structural advantage becomes a social and economic advantage. Trust is the glue and the grease that ensures networks operate at their peak. Trust is the foundation of three known advantages of networks.
Release 1. All unforeseen situations and their consequences do not need to be specified ahead of time see Release 1. In an atmosphere of trust, participants share a common context and base of knowledge; they exchange rich information more freely; and they explore solutions to a given problem more efficiently and effectively. Relations that feature personal trust are more adaptable and will survive greater stress.
The key job for the manager and entrepreneur is to build links based on trust within the organization as well as with customers, suppliers and partners outside. People don't need to like each other to trust each other, as people who have dealt with ethical competitors know. Tie strength Network ties are generally grouped into two categories: strong and weak.
The strength of a tie depends on the level, frequency, and reciprocity of interactions between two people. Ties can vary from simple, one-purpose relations to multiple, all-purpose relations. In business, tie strength is usually estimated by frequency of contact since determining actual intensity is intrusive and time-consuming. Strong ties are high-trust ties -- ones that you can count on.
The likelihood that information will flow from one person to another is directly proportional to the strength of the tie between them. Very sensitive or valuable information typically flows along the strongest ties or is paid for. The advantage of strong ties is that communication along them is faster and easier. The messages they convey are more believable.
People find strong emotional and social support from their strong relationships. Unfortunately, strong ties can lead to a homogeneity of outlook within clusters of strongly linked individuals. With everyone connected to everyone else in a cluster there is little room for dissent and little time or motivation to nurture ties outside of the group.
Everyone in this cluster knows what everyone else knows at the same time. Information can become trapped within these social boundaries and grow stale. If the group doesn't have a few boundary spanners people connected outside the group that bring in fresh informationit will lose touch with its environment. Respecting boundaries too much leads to missed opportunities and less innovation.
For example, the VP of sales and the VP of marketing may have strong ties in the work network but no ties in any of the voluntary networks, such as the grapevine. An imbalance of roles or expectations can be quite destructive. They may not provide you the information you seek -- there may not be enough trust built up. A weak tie may pass you only "safe" information.
Strong ties are more likely to provide you information when you need it -- they are more dependable. Weak ties can be deceptive. They have a hidden strength: 3 the ability to connect clusters within a network. Strong ties are usually found within clusters, whereas weak ties are found between clusters, connecting them. In most networks of any size, weak ties greatly outnumber strong ties.
In fact, it is their frequent appearance that makes up for their lower propensity to transmit information compared to strong ties. The strength of weak ties is found not in their individual efficiency to transmit information, but rather in their overwhelming numbers. The Net's effects The Internet and online services are creating an explosion of new ties through the variety of tools they make available, including electronic mail, mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups, Internet Relay Chat and other, newer ones see Release 1.
In the forums these tools offer, new social networks form and dissolve, often around people's common interests. An early study of computer-mediated communications noted the startling power of such tools at bringing groups together. The group was first studied without electronic communication tools, then with them. This and other studies indicate that online connectivity may lead to social networks that are an order of magnitude larger or more than has been common up until now.
How many hops? Network ties are also direct or indirect. Direct ties are your immediate contacts -- with strong and weak ties -- but they only take you so far. The real power in networks is the "multiplier" effect of indirect ties, which enable network members to increase their reach substantially, gaining access to new information and resources in distant parts of the network.
Social scientists have discovered that visibility and influence drop off precipitously after the second link your contacts' contacts. They refer to this as one's "horizon of observability. A redundant tie one that leads back to the same sources of information you already have may not be worth cultivating. Left to normal evolution, networks grow fat with redundant ties.
Contacts introduce you to their colleagues, who introduce you to their colleagues. Your tie count grows quickly, but many of these contacts point back to each other: These are all colleagues of colleagues of colleagues who know each other. Your business network is less efficient when you cultivate redundant ties that lead back to your current connections.
On the other hand, redundant ties are worth cultivating within your "home" cluster or any other key cluster. These clusters may be your immediate work group or for a senior executive the board of directors. Here the drawbacks of redundancy do not outweigh the benefits of integration with the group. Non-redundant ties are critical in business networks -- especially in a fluid environment such as the current marketplace.
Non-redundant ties bring new network benefits and information access; they provide access to parts of the network that you currently have no connection to. With proper planning, every new direct connection includes indirect ties that bring you added benefits. Your network's efficiency and effectiveness increase. Given two networks of equal size, the one with more non-redundant contacts provides more benefits.
As more individuals and groups expand the reach of their network, the company can benefit. Research has found that ties across internal and external organizational borders result in greater diffusion and adoption of innovation. Distributed ties are key to operating well on the edge of chaos. Figure 2 shows how non-redundant ties can lead to greater access to network resources.
The left-hand diagram shows a person with four ties to a rather closed group of 15 nodes that is replete with redundant ties. Since ties take time to maintain, the person might use three of the four ties to link to less redundant resources. In the right-hand diagram, the same person now reaches 28 nodes with four ties. Non-redundant ties increase your reach into the network.
You have a broader perspective on what is happening. You may also have more influence. Reach is measurable. For human networks, it is defined as the number of nonredundant nodes that you can reach in two steps. This not only defines one's horizon of observability but also affects one's sphere of influence. If node A and node B share multiple alternate paths of strong ties, within the two-step limit, they can probably exert considerable influence over each other.
In contrast, few paths of weak ties between the two nodes would not support the flow of influence. In other words, how often do you have to go through node X to get from any point in the network to any other point? If node X is frequently between other nodes on the network, node X can control what flows between these nodes, as Moscow's merchants did in the 12th century.
Nodes receive high control scores when they connect parts of the network that were not previously connected. If getting from any node in group A to any node in group B requires that you go through node X, node X is in a position to be a broker or a bottleneck. A broker brings together unconnected parts of the network for mutually beneficial endeavors; a bottleneck plays the position of control for all of the power that it provides.
The player with control demands high tolls to pass through his booth on the network, leading to monopoly profits in the extreme case. In stable economies, control was the ticket to market dominance: Find the bottleneck, reinforce it, squash all new comers, charge higher tolls. IBM held sway for quite a long while this way. Microsoft and Intel have since replaced IBM in that role, but with the increased pace of industry change, they may not rule as long.
All of them are masters of network control. Any newcomers to their markets had to connect to the dominant node -- it was often the only way in. Each new connection increased the dominant player's centrality even more. This was lock-in by control. With the Internet and other technologies providing room for selforganization among all players large and small, it may no longer pay to control.
Adaptation may be the death of control. Those that attempt to control may face a self-organized backlash. Is Java popular just because it is great and timely technology? Or is some of the fervor behind Java a backlash against Microsoft's software dominance? Yesterday's strategy: be between. Today's strategy: be among. Another approach Access is the ability to reach other nodes in a network quickly.
It's a function of path length and traversal cost. A node that has to traverse many links and pass many bottlenecks will have poor access; the information it receives will be late and distorted. Access is a great asset to offer potential partners. Netscape appears to be trying a new approach: the access school of network benefits. First, Netscape provided smooth access to the Web by giving away its browser.
Next, it provided other vendors access to the Internet marketplace and to the Netscape customer base through its plug-in architecture. The vendors writing plug-in modules for the Netscape browser will continue to support Netscape as long as Netscape provides them a pipeline to the marketplace they could not get on their own. Instead of gaining lock-in by controlling access to resources and the market, Netscape is gaining lock-in by providing access to the market.
It has chosen to be a broker instead of a bottleneck. As long as Netscape is seen as the link to the market, newcomers will want to hitch their wagons to Netscape, thus increasing Netscape's centrality even more. This is lock-in by access. Sun Microsystems seems also to be following the access philosophy with its Java language. Java is seen as a Web tool, but its potential to run on a broad variety of networks and devices expands its horizon tremendously -again, so long as Sun does not become a bottleneck.
This section and the following one explain how to visualize the emergent dynamics within and between organizations using examples from firms in North America and Europe some of which have requested anonymity. For example, Figure 3 below shows the emergent work flow within a small firm. It shows individuals the nodes in their departments the larger boxes.
The two nodes not inside a departmental box are senior executives. The links represent emergent work relationships, with the thicker lines indicating strong ties. When reviewing these diagrams with our clients we ask them to keep two questions in mind: Release 1. These three departments worked together only through intermediaries in the executive ranks and in Finance and Production.
Can this company respond quickly to sudden changes in the marketplace? Probably not. The client was shocked. Once he saw the gaps, he realized that just hiring great people was not enough. His talented employees had to be well interconnected to be able to react quickly to market changes. Before we examine other organizations, let's back up a bit and walk through the whole process of visualizing the emergent organization.
Data collection Data for these analyses is usually collected in one of three ways. The most popular method is a survey that asks employees whom they interact with on various job-related topics. For example, the question we asked to generate the emergent work flow in Figure 3 above was: "With whom do you work [exchange information, documents and resources] to get your job done?
Participants can usually complete the surveys in minutes. The main benefit of the survey approach is its minimal interference with the organization. Surveys provide good not great data without great effort. To minimize false reporting of data, software matches both sides of a link: Do Person A and Person B agree on their interaction? Another method, often used by ethnographers and anthropologists, is to gather the social and work data through direct observation.
This takes longer but the data accuracy is better. There is also some concern about whether direct observation interferes with the system being observed. The third method of individual data collection is the use of activity logs. During the work day, each participant logs whom they interact with, about what and for how long. This method is rarely used because it interferes with the normal flow of things and the data gathered is judged to be not much better than that collected through surveys.
This data needs to be translated and filtered to indicate which nodes are related and the "value" of those relationships -- usually measures of frequency or probability. Research to discover patterns of use, resource sharing and emergent communities of shared interest on the Release 1.