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Abstract:
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Statistical process control charts have traditionally been applied to manufacturing processes; however, more recent developments highlight their application to social networks. Although recent papers emphasize the use of SPC for detecting changes in the communication levels of a network or subnetwork, methods for detecting changes in the structural tendencies of a graph are lacking. Structural balance theories have been well studied in the social sciences literature, where the "balance" of a network is most often assessed via the relationship between the reciprocal and transitive tendencies of a graph. For example, networks having low reciprocity and high transitivity tend to be hierarchical, and are often associated with increased network centralization. Further, the root cause of increased centralization can often stem from conflict or crisis affecting the organization. Armed with this understanding, we propose two useful control-charting strategies for quickly detecting shifts in the structural tendency of a directed network over time. Such strategies might be useful to organizational managers for quickly detecting the onset of conflict or crisis within the organization.
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