generalist

Examples of generalist in the following topics:

• Density

  • We have used an attribute or partition to divide the cases into three sub-populations (governmental agencies, non-governmental generalist, and welfare specialists) so that we can see the amount of connection within and between groups.
  • Governmental generalists (block 1) have quite dense in and out ties to one another, and to the other populations; non-government generalists (block 2) have out-ties among themselves and with block 1, and have high densities of in-ties with all three sub-populations.

• Node attributes

  • Ecological theory of organizations suggests that a division between organizations that are "generalists" (i.e. perform a variety of functions and operate in several different fields) and organizations that are "specialists" (e.g. work only in social welfare) might affect information-sharing patterns.
  • In Netdraw, we used the Transform>mode attribute editor to create a new column to hold information about whether each organization was a "generalist" or a "specialist. " We assigned the score of "1" to "generalists" (e.g. the Newspaper, Mayor) and a score of "0" to "specialists (e.g. the Welfare Rights Organization).
  • We then used Properties>nodes>shape>attribute-based to assign the shape "square" to generalists and "circle" to specialists.

• Biogeography

  • Other species are generalists, living in a wide variety of geographic areas.
  • Plants can be endemic or generalists.
  • Endemic plants are found only in specific regions of the earth, while generalists are found in many regions.

• Group-external and group-internal ties

  • Here's a sample of the dialog with Network>Cohesion>E-I Index in which we examine the Knoke information network that has been partitioned according to the attribute of organizational type (group 1 = governmental generalists, group 2 = non-governmental generalists, group 3 = welfare specialists).
  • Governmental generalists (group 2) appear to be somewhat more likely to have out-group ties than either of the other sub-populations.

• The Evolution of Humans

  • The turnover pulse hypothesis states that extinctions due to environmental conditions hurt specialist species more than generalist ones.
  • While generalist species spread out when environmental conditions change, specialist species become more specialized and have a greater rate of evolution.

• Biogeography and the Distribution of Species

  • Other species are generalists: species which live in a wide variety of geographic areas; the raccoon, for example, is native to most of North and Central America.

• Location, location, location

  • This drawing was created using NetDraw's Layout>Random on the graph that we had previously "colored" (blue for non-government, red for government; circles for welfare specialists, squares for generalists).
  • Figure 4.6 shows the same graph using Layout>Circle, and selecting the "generalist-specialist" (i.e. the circle or square node type) as the organizing criterion.

• The Importance of Leverage

  • The concept of delegation enables managers to minimize their own time commitment to specific elements of a process, as well as improve quality and efficiency through the use of specialists (managers are typically generalists).

• Ouchi's Theory Z

  • For this reason, Theory Z stresses the need for the workers to become generalists, rather than specialists, and to increase their knowledge of the company and its processes through job rotations and constant training.

• Creating Sales Force Structure, Territories, and Goals

  • Figure out the right mix of generalists, product, market, or activity specialist with the objective of balancing sales force productivity.