Consulting Testimonials

Procter & Gamble’s multinational business and global R&D work force necessitates the need for people to connect across business units, regions and locations. In addition, the breadth of P&G’s technology has culminated with the creation of multiple Communities of Practice (CoP) which span our 8,000 R&D employees around the globe.

The question we asked was “how to leverage these informal networks to better leverage natural ties, or promote weak ties, to improve our business results?” To this end, we employed Rob Cross and the Network Roundtable to analyze our inter-CoP connections. Although the task of mapping over 4,000 respondents and 17,000 ties seemed daunting, Rob never wavered and relished the challenge to tackle what might be the largest SNA ever conducted in the private sector. Rob’s expertise, energy and dedication was a key component of our ability to complete our in-depth analysis, as well as working with top CoP leaders to help develop action plans on how we can use our SNA data and conclusions to strengthen our innovation productivity across R&D. At this point, we expect SNA, Rob Cross and the Network Roundtable to be a continued asset and resource in our journey to maximizing our connections and productivity across R&D.

Brice Westring
Internal Connect & Develop Leader, Global R&D, The Procter & Gamble Company

The rapid infiltration of social network analysis into the business environment has been primarily by Rob Cross. It's rare to find a person with a blend of outstanding academic knowledge and strong practical business acumen...Rob is one of those people. His strong business perspective and personable approach is infectious. Our company's use of social network analysis in organizational design, change management, knowledge management and leadership development were stimulated by our interactions with Rob....always available, consultative, and insightful with his advice.

Vic Gulas
Chief People and Knowledge Officer, MWH Global

As the International Finance Corporation started to move towards a decentralised structure, the Environment and Social Development department decided to investigate the implications of moving from a traditional department model to a "network". We asked Rob Cross to help us understand the impact of decentralisation on information flows, so that we could minimise the potentially disruptive effect of relocating staff on existing informal networks and turn a potential threat into an opportunity. As Rob worked with us to design the survey and analyse the data, we were able to hone in a number of strategic areas, such as awareness of expertise, the onboarding of staff and cross-unit collaboration - and define priorities for action accordingly. The survey was most helpful in translating the sometimes abstract concepts of collaboration and knowledge management into concrete, measurable dimensions. The results of the survey will inform the Department's strategy moving forward.

Giulio Quaggiotto
Programme Officer, IFC

Our Knowledge Management group at Pfizer started to get involved in organizational network analysis about 10 months ago for a collaboration project run with Microsoft. Rob Cross was mandated by Microsoft to help us get started on gathering information and run our very first social network analysis. The experience was both enlightening and exhilarating, thanks to Rob's willingness to spend time with us and provide a wealth of practical advice on how to conduct a survey and analyze its results. We found precious resources on The Network Roundtable Web site (unique in the world of academia), that enabled us to very quickly progress our project to a successful outcome. Through his multiples activities—teaching, doing research and collaborating with industrial companies and coaching the Network Roundtable—Rob has showed us the potential of ONA and helped us on our way to establish it as recognized internal service within Pfizer. I look forward to a continued collaboration with Rob and his team so that we can develop this service further.

Patrice Chollet
Global Research and Development, Pfizer

We conducted a novel feasibility study to determine if actionable organizational network information could be derived from analysis of email traffic patterns in a large IT department. The department wanted a view into both the level of communications among individuals in various roles (e.g., architect, support, project management) within the department and communications between the department and members of its principal customer groups within the company and external vendors. Rob Cross's participation in this project was invaluable in several ways. First, he recommended a number of additional analyses and presentations of the data which provided important insights into the department's networks. Second, he provided comparison of our results to those he has obtained in the large number of survey-based ONAs he has done in many companies, thus illuminating areas of potential intervention. Finally, he discussed with the department's management team some of the interventions suggested by the analyses.

Sheila Ash
Glaxo Smith Klein

As Keane began the process of transitioning from a branch centric organization to a matrix structure, organizational network analysis was useful in understanding the mappings connecting individuals and groups across regions, business units, and geographies. Rob Cross introduced leading-edge research about the importance of leveraging social capital to drive organizational change and performance. Rob was highly involved in the ONA survey creation and helping us interpret the data. He provided research-based interventions linking social networks to innovative business opportunities. This analysis was eye-opening as it provided insight about the invisible organization. The results of the study guided our thinking and actions about ways to break down silos, push decision making to lower levels in the organization, and improve strategically important global connections.

Lois James
Keane, Knowledge & Learning