Task 3b: Theories Relating to Networking

“Professional Networks and their effective engagement could produce benefits for you personally and the things that matter to you” (Reader 3, 2013).

Within the work place, especially in the performing arts, it would almost seem it’s part of one’s instinct to ‘get to the top’ no matter what that takes. ‘Co-operation’ and ‘Affiliation’ are two different networking theories exploring how different people will take what they want from a given situation to get where they want to be. 

Co-operation

When  think about ‘co-operation’ and how I use it within daily life, and particularly my working life, I think about getting on with people (whether I like it or not). In most cases, it is just something you have to do and without yet thinking about ‘game theory’ you will co-operate to achieve something. For example, working in a dance company, each member would work together as a team to put on the best performance possible. Robert Axelrod is an influential researcher in this field who identified the benefits of “co-operating fully, until you reach a point of maximum benefit, and then defect” (Reader 3, 2013). A representation  of this can be seen in “Prisoners Dilemma” which involves two contestants who each must make a choice without knowing what the other will do. From this game theory, Axelrod inferred, “The temptation is to defect. But, the dilemma is that if both defect, both do worse than if both had co-operated.” (Axelrod, 1984). From this, I came to the conclusion, that whilst eventually, one would defect in order to gain the most one can, equally, it pays to cooperate and consequently, the longer you co-operate, the more you can achieve. Arguably, co-operating for too long, can leave you worse off if the opponent defects before you. Within the theory, Axelrod also points out that a “tit-for-tat” pattern is created and we should “take advantage of networks for our own benefit and that of the wider network”. (Axelrod, 1984, p. xi-xiv).

It could be argued that the usefulness of the actual game, on the other hand, could be that this model is fundamentally flawed. It is based on a scientific scale, few social situations could be modeled accurately by a single transaction, and as the reader states, it’s “a very simple model”.

When reading through other blogs posted about this task, one opinion I saw was that Axelrod’s game theory, to them, was just ‘using’ someone. I could relate to this as I thought this too at first, however, I would challenge this by saying; it is very rare that a person will give without gaining something themselves. For example, within my workplace, I will co-operate because I gaining from the experience to support my PGCE application yet at the same time, the department is gaining from me, new choreography that the students have used for their assessment. I believe, in order for co-operation to work, all persons involved should be getting something out of it and benefit from it, whether that be for themselves or someone else. There may be situations, for example, in auditions, where people follow Axelrod’s theory and co-operate up to a certain point, and then defect.

Affiliation

Although I can see it sharing similarities with the traits of ‘co-operation’, in terms of ‘getting on’, when I think of ‘affiliation’ I associate it with friendships you make and this theory would seem a lot more intimate than that of co-operation. As humans, it is in our nature “to form close relationships” (Crisp and Turner, 2007). Everyone has affiliations and some rely on them more heavily than others, which links to the affiliation theory of ‘homeostasis’ where we each seek to balance our affiliations to a preferred level (O’Connor and Rosenblood, 1996). In other words, finding a balance of associations which is right for you at a particular time. Within this concept comes the idea of ‘having friends in the right places’, and is all part of professional networking. 

Another key aspect of ‘affiliations’ is trust. Those you affiliate with, both professionally and socially, are people you trust and trust information and knowledge they pass onto you. With this also comes the risk of putting trust in the wrong person and with that, the ethics behind that information getting leaked. 

References:

The Evolution of Co-operation, (Axelrod, R, 1984)

Essential Social Psychology (2nd ed), (Crisp, Richard J. and Turner, Rhiannon N, 2007)

Task 3c: Sources of Information

There are many different sources and networks that we all use both professionally as well as socially. All networks are appropriate and valued for different reasons but there are some I would tend to turn to more frequently.

Google

Whether it be for BAPP, a new teaching idea or even what time a shop opened, I would most commonly just type it into google. Most of the time it will provide me with the information I was looking for, however, with it offering thousands of options, there is always that question of the authenticity of the site you on are on and the accuracy of the information it is offering. This is why it is always a good idea to to cross-check the information with another source.

YouTube

To me this is a sort of “visual google” and something on which I rely heavily on both inside and out of the teaching environment. YouTube is perfect for giving me inspiration when choreographing, but also, showing the students performances of different dance styles. For example, the other week we were studying the jazz style of, ‘Fosse’ so I used YouTube to show them a clip of professional fosse dances. While this visual aid is highly beneficial would always watch the video before showing it to the class as ‘YouTube’ is a site where anyone could upload anything so I like to check it is appropriate before showing it. Also, with a site like this available, especially in dance, it makes it very easy to just copy someone else’s work so another thing to be aware of.

Networking in the Workplace

The information I gain from other teachers and staff members, with whom I work with in the school, is invaluable to me. Being new to this profession, there is know better way to learn than from people who have years of experience in this field, in my opinion. Equally, I currently spend a lot of time with a girl who is undertaking her PGCE at the moment, so it’s very interesting to see what she is having to do, what her course entails, and also her opinion of it. One thing to bare in mind is that this information is entirely opinionated and possibly biased and so not necessarily ‘the truth’ about this profession. This idea of networking within the workplace is not something I had considered a ‘network’ until reading other people’s blogs (based on task 3a). It was only on completion of the task that I reflected and thought, why? I had just decided in my head that networking meant only connecting via online sites. Looking back this now seems silly but enhances the importance of sharing ideas.

BAPP

This links in nicely to the point I just made above. Whilst undergoing this course, I am forever flicking from blog to blog, reading what other people have written and from what angles they have approached the different tasks. On one hand, this is a good way of sharing ideas across a wider network (like I learnt in task 3a). As well as this, it would seem that many BAPP students are all hoping to go down the teaching route and this is another way in why the blogs useful because you find a lot of relevant feelings and ideas. Yet, on the other hand, something I often feel, is reading a task and feeling like I have done it wrong. I am aware that on a course such as this, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but I still find that it puts doubt in my mind of my ability. Although I sometimes get concerned with regards to the blogging, I find when everyone comes together for the BAPP campus sessions really helpful. Everyone sharing ideas and ‘bouncing’ off one another really helps me to develop own ideas.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

I probably would not regard these as ‘important’ for me personally, however, I still wanted to discuss them because they are sites I use a lot and I am aware that for some people, they are relied on for a different source of information. I know on Facebook, there are groups such as, ‘The Hustle’ from which people can gain knowledge of upcoming auditions or events. I personally, do not tend to write status’ or ‘tweets’ or upload pictures very often and tend to go on them more because I am nosey. So while I can gain information about different people by doing a bit of “stalking” this is also a downfall of sites like these. They are not particularly private and you have to set any of these privacy settings yourself. This is why when I do post, I have to be very careful of what I put on. I think this is also especially relevant within the teaching profession because, let’s be honest, we have all typed in a teachers name on Facebook thinking it will be hilarious to see what their page is like..! For this reason, all my privacy setting are on on all my social networking sites.

Task 3a: Current Networks

It took me a while to understand the concept of this task and how it differed to tasks set as part of the first section, particularly 1b. I broke down the question and picked out the key words which I believed were, “current”, “professional” , “networks”. 

‘Current’: belonging to the present time; happening or being used or done now

‘Professional’: engaged in a specified activity as one’d main paid occupation rather than an amateur 

‘Network’: a group or system of interconnected people or things

(Oxford English Dictionary)

Networking is very important in any profession but I would argue that it is even more relied on in the performing arts industry. There is a particularly strong sense of “it’s all about who you know”, and often teachers in college would tell us how they had just been speaking to a choreographer or director asking about how a past student worked and whether they were reliable etc. So if we are using this as an example, the network used here was most likely to be via phone or email.

When I think about my own networks that I use professionally I would initially think about my blogging site which is obviously important to help me develop throughout my studies, but also if a prospective employer was to type in my name on ‘Google’ this would come up above social networking sites and (hopefully) show me off in an intelligent manner. When I first started thinking about this as network and how it fits in with task I thought that despite it being a ‘Current’ and ‘Professional’ , it lacked the aspect of communication that you would expect in a network. But then I realized that, actually, me commenting on other blogs and others commenting on my blog, is communication, thus making it a very useful ‘Network’. 

Another site that I had heard about but never looked into, was “LinkedIn”. When I first came across it I just thought it was like Facebook and so discounted it but after discussing it with family friends I became aware that, although a similar set-up to Facebook, it was, in fact, a networking site used by professionals to articulate there skills and achievements and connect with past, present and potentially future employers or employees. Like on Facebook, in order to connect to people you have to send them a request which can either be accepted or ignored. Furthermore, if you wanted to get in contact with someone, you have to do it through the messaging service ‘LinkedIn’ provide and the persons email does not show up so you would have to personally ask for it. This makes it a safer environment to display information as you only have to show details that you are happy to be seen and only with the people you accept.

Sites that are more commonly known to me are ‘Twitter’, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Instagram’ and as well as used socially to share pictures or thoughts they are both used by the majority of celebrities as a way of promoting themselves. These sites, however, are very informal and you do not have as much control over them as you would with ‘LinkedIn’ and as a result you tend come across a lot of spoof accounts and often you hear about “hacking” going on. Whilst you can make your page ‘private’ (and that does seem to be happening a lot more) you have to activate this setting yourself, posing a risk to the safety of private details.

More and more people are joining these examples of current networks but equally, I hear of more and more people deleting there accounts as they don’t want people they don’t know looking at their site. However, for professional use they are an ideal way of making contacts and networking and there are even examples of professionals being offered jobs through these sites or sharing job opportunities/auditions through ‘open groups’. Especially with the way technology is advancing and the majority of people owning a smart phone or tablet, an increasing number of people are using the internet and online networking sites to connect.