Course Format

This course is organized as a research seminar. This means that you are primarily responsible for discussing the readings. You are expected to do all of the readings for each session and to be prepared to discuss and comment on the readings. The underlying notion of the class is interaction, not passivity. Consequently, class participation will be considered significantly in grading. The course focuses on management, engineering, and computer science perspectives of network analysis. The goal is to provide students an appreciation for network and complex systems thinking in the organizational and management science. Readings will consist of a range of theoretical, empirical, case study, and practitioner articles. An EndNote reference library of all required and suggested readings can be downloaded from the course webpage. Throughout the semester, we will have several guest speakers who will provide practical relevance and provide their views on network-related topics. It should be noted that this is not a network methods course (although some of the basic methods and tools will be discussed) and so no hands-on empirical analyses will be conducted. However, we will look at a variety of scholarly papers that will expose us to some of the methodological issues that arise.

Course Requirements

The course is designed for doctoral students from all backgrounds and advanced graduate and MBA students interested in studying networks and enterprises. Students should have some familiarity with basic statistics and data analysis techniques. Specific course requirements include:

• Read all class materials, attend and participate in class discussions.
• Lead at least one of the class discussion sessions; sign up in advance.
• Write a research paper on a topic related to the class and present it in class during the final session.

Readings & Conversation Starters

Be prepared to summarize the main points of each reading and discuss the following questions:

• What is the research question of this article? What is the main contribution?
• What were the most important insights you obtained from the reading?
• What do you know now that you didn't know before?
• What do you now think about differently?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each article?
• What didn’t you understand?
• What type of data and research method was used?
• How do the articles relate to each other and to others read in previous weeks?

For each session’s reading, you should prepare a “conversation starter” with a set of “bullets” (maximum one-page) highlighting interesting, intriguing, or perhaps confusing aspects of the assigned reading. We will use these pages to drive the discussion in each class meeting. Conversation starters are due each week Sunday before the session by 9pm and should be submitted by email to the instructor.

Discussion Leadership

Each student will take on the task of leading/moderating one session during the semester. Depending on class enrollment, multiple students may moderate one session. I will pass a signup sheet around the first week of class. The moderation entails coming up with thought provoking discussion questions and leading the discussion of the articles, and assist in selecting additional papers (where necessary). The discussion should integrate the insights from different readings and place them in the context of research in the field. Discussion questions should help integrate across the readings, rather than discuss them one by one. The moderator(s) need to submit a plan of the session moderation to the instructor three days (Friday) prior to the session.

Attendance

Since this seminar convenes only once a week, attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. Please do not plan to be absent. I expect you to arrive on time and to be prepared to discuss the session's readings. This is not a lecture course, but an active learning opportunity built around assigned readings, exercises, and intense engagement in research.

Grading

• Conversation Starters, Class Preparation and Participation (25%)
• Discussion Leadership (25%)
• Research Paper (50%)
  

Honor Code

Each student must read and abide by the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code (www.honor.gatech.edu).