Encyclopedia of Graphs

This is a communications network of 36 employees of a small enterprise, specifically a sawmill. It has an edge connecting two employees when one frequently discusses work matters with the other.

Background:

All employees of the sawmill were asked to indicate the frequency with which they discussed work matters with each of their colleagues on a five-point scale ranging from less than once a week to several times a day. Two employees were linked in the communication network if they rated their contact as three or more. We do not know whether both employees had to rate their tie in this way or that at least one employee had to indicate a strength of three or more.

In the sawmill, the employees are Spanish-speaking (H) or English- speaking (E), which, of course, is relevant to their communication. The sawmill contains two main sections: the mill (M), where tree trunks are sawn into logs, and the planer section (P), where logs are planed. Then there is a yard (Y) where two employees are working, and some managers and additional officials. Vertex labels indicate the ethnicity and the type of work of each employee, e.g. HP-10 is an Hispanic (H) working in the planer section (P).

Network image:

History:

• Original author: Judd H. Michael (Associate Professor, Wood Products Business Management, School of Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA 16802; jhm104@psu.edu ; University Park 0305, Forest Resource Lab University Park, PA 16802).
• Data compiled into Pajek data files by W. de Nooy, 2001.

References:

• J.H. Michael & J.G. Massey, 'Modeling the communication network in a sawmill' (Forest Products Journal, 47 (1997), 25-30).
• W. de Nooy, A. Mrvar, & V. Batagelj, Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), Chapter 6.

More information:

• http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/data/esna/sawmill.htm
• http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/book/esna2.htm