Sociomapping

WHAT IS SOCIOMAPPING?

Sociomapping is a method that helps in the processing and presentation of data. In other words, it transforms figures and numbers into images or "sociomaps". As implied by its name, the method uses the metaphor of a landscape to illustrate and clearly visualize data.

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIOMAPS:

• You get an overview of key relationships and changes.
• You can identify hidden structures and relationships inside complex systems.
• You can see change dynamics.
• You can see both the general picture and details (zooming in and out).
• You can use and analyze data.

WHEN TO USE SOCIOMAPPING?

Sociomapping allows us to visualize relationships and structures within teams and monitor their development. It helps us diagnose relationships in work teams and entire organizations. The method can be used to map communication, (lack of) collaboration, knowledge distribution, subjective quality of work output and work efficiency, benefits to teams and other factors. We learn about the reputation of the entire team, its strengths and weaknesses. Sociomapping is also a very powerful tool for improving collaboration and communication in teams - thanks to its clear and impressive form and repeat options, participants are motivated to change their behavior towards other team members and the entire team.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

A sociomap can show each element of the system (e.g. employees) as a spot. The height of the spot represents the selected variable (e.g. quality of communication, position in the company, importance, etc.) while the distance between spots represents their mutual relationship (e.g. degree of similarity, mutual relations, frequency of collaboration, etc.). A system of contour lines and other graphic options can be used to illustrate sub-systems (e.g. coalitions, parts of the organization, population sub-groups, etc.) and their mutual relations.

Sociomapping monitors important aspects of relationships among the elements such as the stability of these relationship (frequency of internal conflicts and disputes), communication flows or weaknesses in the social system structure. Sociomaps also illustrate the dynamic changes in the system and allow clients to make short-term predictions about future behavior of the systems (e.g. occurrence of conflicts, misunderstandings, etc.) and development trends.