Professor Sven Horak, St. John’s University New York, works in the area of global management, organization and leadership. His research examines the important role informality plays in managing globally. More specifically, he explores informal structures and the drivers and ideals of informal networking. His work helps global managers to connect and to improve their networking capabilities in a responsible way. Professor Horak’s work enhances our theoretical and practical understanding of how informality and informal networking affects and influences the practice of global management.
“Informal networks can be a major obstacle to the effectiveness of managers. At the same time though, they can enable and facilitate business activities and support the efficiency and effectiveness of managerial actions. Since informal ties and networks can have a bright and a dark side, it is important for international managers to understand the way they work in the respective cultural context.”
Informal Networks in International Business
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Research & Insights:
Informal Network Leadership—Proactive Versus Reactive Strategic Choices
Global managers know that developing networks in a host country can be a tedious endeavor. Whereas developing friendly work relationships locally is often regarded as less problematic, developing informal networks is challenging but important for business success. The function of informal networks becomes relevant for transactions under ambiguity that…
How to turn leader favoritism into something better
How empathy‐based favoritism can help to develop organizational social capital // The question of how to treat subordinates fairly and justly is a central ethical challenge for responsible leaders. Typically, leaders encounter challenges between differentiating their interactions with employees to build a more personal relationship and leveling their interactions…
The use of leader humor in the East and West
When and how to use humor in East Asia and North America // Research on humor generally tends to assume that the use of humor by a leader towards his or her subordinates has positive effects and is widely regarded as an indicator of the leader having likable characteristics.…
Informal networks in international business
The dark and bright sides of informal networks // While the coordination of business activities through interpersonal ties and networks has been researched in the management and organization studies, using informal networks for managing and organizing in an international context is a rather new research field. Informal networks, known…
Access denied – When informal networks limit expatriate effectiveness
The inability to integrate into informal networks when doing business abroad can become a risk for the organization // Owing to increased business activities by multinational corporations (MNCs) as well as to the further opening of new and large overseas markets (e.g., China, India, Brazil), the use of the…
Remote work: How to network informally?
With far less face to face, real-life interaction, maintaining informal relationships at work is challenging // Today, many of us are working from home. While this can still mean good productivity, it does mean that our connections with other people such as our colleagues can be somewhat limited. In…
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