There are two pertinent reasons that HRD scholars and practitioners ought to read Kilduff and Tsai' s Social Networks and Organizations. First, the relatively compact book (172 pages) is a crisp and easy-to-understand primer on social networks and associated research in organizations. Kilduff and Tsai provide a clear road map of the history and future trajectory of social network research, explain in clear terms how to do social network research in organizations, and examine the different foci of research that are possible using this relatively new method, which is uncommon in HRD. Second, HRD scholars and practitioners should read this book to understand the future trajectory of social network research. The authors offer a creative and convincing argument that the future of social network analysis in organizations should include more focus on the individual. In other words, the future of social network analysis research holds the promise for understanding more about the relationships between actions of individuals and the structure of the organization, that is, linking structure with agency. Kilduff and Tsai add, "Social network research has the potential to contribute far beyond the range of issues that currently preoccupies the field" (p. 11), and they offer several provocative suggestions for network research on pluralism, fluidity, subjectivity, and society as text.
This novel and provocative contribution to network analysis, which the authors term a poststructuralist approach, in tandem with traditional structuralist assumptions about social network analysis, offers HRD scholars and practitioners a comprehensive way to understand the complex dynamics of the informal social networks in organizational life. Because HRD is a contested discipline (Fenwick, 2005) that is adapting and evolving, researchers need more research tools that will legitimize different ontological perspectives (for example, structural and agency or postpositivist and social construction). There seems to be potential for enhancing the field of HRD by using Kilduff and Tsai' s perspectives and to begin to use both traditional and poststructural conceptions of social network analysis. With this double-edged sword of a tool, we are given the opportunity to study both organizational structure and individual action and their impact on phenomena of interest to HRD scholars and practitioners.
Because of the limited exposure of social network in HRD, research is needed on the relationships between social networks and organization development, training and development, and career development.