Task 3b - Theories relating to networking

Task 3b: Theories relating to networking

The concept of cooperation involves a choice within an individual as to how they chose to conduct themselves in their professional life.

          Almost everybody wants to succeed; that is, do well in their profession, improve, be respected professionally and ‘climb the professional ladder ie. Promotion/ pay increase/ more responsibility. Some people chose to consciously manipulate people and situations to their professional benefit. They do not leave success to chance. Robert Axelrod explains the concept of cooperation as one where an individual fully cooperates within this profession, until he reaches the stage at which he feels he has attained his professional peak with that company, and then he should ‘defect’ (abandon cooperation)

          The idea of this concept is not one that I particularly identify with. I, like most people want to improve within my profession, but I don’t like the idea of pre-empting how and when I will fully cooperate and when I will start to no longer cooperate. I can’t help but feel that this is a very hard, calculated and selfish approach to work. It is certainly not an approach that works being employed in a school. I think that anyone who is this driven by success, should not be working in education. Teaching is about the joy of learning, sharing your knowledge and genuinely wanting to teach. There are plenty of other jobs that can guarantee promotion, incentives and pay increases other than teaching.

          Having said this, I am by no means suggesting that teaching is purely about the love of the job. Teachers are, after all, still human. They have families to support, mortgages to pay and ambitions to realise. In my professional practice, I do want to ‘succeed’, but not in a way that I would consider ‘using’ people.

          Axelrod noticed that this type of cooperation actually happens within biological evolution. It is similar to the process of natural selection- the ‘good’ go on to reproduce and the ‘bad’ do not survive. The concept of is parallel with the professional individual playing ‘Mother Nature’, and killing off the species/ companies that are no good to you.

          The concept of ‘networking’ within my professional practice was initially one that left me slightly anxious. Only after writing about it in task 3a, did I realise it was something I was already a part of quite successfully. I think that what I wasn’t keen on was the idea of having to surround myself with vast numbers of people so that I could some day ‘use’ to advance my career. I am the sort of person who would rather surround myself with a smaller group of ‘good’ friends/ colleagues, rather than lots of ‘aquaintences’.

          This leads me on to the concept of ‘affiliation’ and how humans benefit from associating themselves with others. Crisp and Turner (2007) explain that through affiliation, we provide ourselves “with a network of support that will help us when we are in need”. This is something that particularly appeals to me as I have always preferred to work along side others so that I can both give and receive support when necessary.

          O’Connor and Rosenblood (1996), comment that one of the principles of affiliation theory is that of homeostasis. Homeostasis is a biological system in which the body controls important conditions such as water content, body temperature and blood glucose concentration. If the body recognises that it is dehydrated, for example, less water is lost through urine and if the body has excess water, more urine will be released. It is the natural way in which the body regulates itself to ensure a consistent balance is maintained.

          O’Connor and Rosenblood suggest that we can regulate the correct balance of people needed around us too, to maintain a desired level. I found this concept to be true. During my professional day, I am surrounded by a constantly large number of people. There are around 1000 people in the school and I would say that my desired level is rather on the high side! During the evenings I do not have the desire to network with many people and the opposite is true when I have spent a day alone.

          This concept has definitely led me to understand how important affiliation is. It reminds me of the ‘It’s not what you know but who you know’ saying. I am aware that who I currently affiliate myself with is based upon genuine friendship as opposed to strategy. I would find it very difficult to affiliate myself with someone I did not particularly like, just to help me out professionally, although I do see the benefit and importance.

          I have understood from the Reader, the concept of Social Constructionism and found it really insightful. I find it fascinating to realise that ‘meaning is not discovered but constructed’ (M. Crotty, 2005). Of course this is true, but it is something we as humans, often have trouble comprehending. Everything in the universe already out there, exists. This only becomes apparent to us though, when we have ‘discovered’ it and acknowledged it. Crotty also mentions that ‘we do not create meaning. We construct meaning.’ This concept has made me realise that I can really benefit from listening and learning from others. My networking circle is small, as I have already mentioned, so I would probably gain more knowledge and insight, by including more people in to my professional and indeed social network.

          Connectivism is a concept that I feel I can relate to right now. Before starting on the BAPP course, I would say that the vast majority of my knowledge and learning had come from the educational system – primary school, secondary school and college. Since starting this course, I have realised that there is a whole world of information available to access through the internet, my peers, television and much more. Driscoll (2002) says that learning is ‘a persisting change in human performance…[which] must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world’. I have recently been gathering knowledge from sources on the Readers, fellow students, course advisors and websites. I feel that I have truly been connecting with a wider variety of information.

          I do see that finding information out through certain sources can be dangerous. In the Reader, it queries whether the source can be reliable or not. Websites such as ‘wikipedia’ can not be considered a source of fact, and some sites that may appear very knowledgeable, may well be untrue. However, this can (alarmingly) be true of the knowledge given by teachers! Last year, I attended a history lesson in which the pupils were given completely incorrect information about Anne Boleyn. It is a common myth that she had six fingers, but the teacher taught this as fact. This leads me to conclude that any information, regardless of where it is from, can not be taken as gospel, and it is up to the individual to seek out fact from fiction. This is why I particularly like Driscoll’s quote about the individual experiencing and interacting with the world, because then you can personally discover and experience without having to merely rely on others.

          The last concept that is talked about in the Reader is called Communities of practice.  I actually found this one the most difficult to understand because I don’t think that I relate to it very much. The concept involves the idea of gaining knowledge through social and informal interaction within a group of people who share a common practice. I see how this can be beneficial as people bounce ideas off each other and come up with new concepts, based on combination of individual ones. I’m not sure that this relates to me though, as I work in a government run establishment. The national curriculum is very structured and is based on targets, grades and deadlines. Unfortunately it is, in my opinion, very difficult to be able to suggest any new ideas into a system that is so structured and controlled.

          In conclusion, I have learnt that networking is much vaster than simply ‘knowing a lot of people’ that might help me gain a promotion. There are a number of very beneficial concepts that I will be trying to adopt in the future. I believe that they can not only benefit me professionally but also personally. There is so much to learn and the bigger my network, the stronger the possibility that I can learn and prosper in every way.