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Quiz: Recognition, Alignment, and Innovation

Test your understanding of how organizational analytics surfaces hidden achievements, measures strategic alignment, tracks innovation, and assesses inclusion with these review questions.

1. What distinguishes a recognition event modeled in a graph database from a recognition event stored in a traditional HR system?

  1. Graph-modeled recognition events connect to the recognized person, recognizer, project context, and competencies demonstrated through relationships
  2. Graph-modeled recognition events include sentiment scores while traditional systems do not
  3. Traditional HR systems cannot store recognition events at all
  4. Graph-modeled recognition events are automatically generated by NLP while traditional events are manually entered
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. When recognition events are modeled as nodes in a graph database, each event is linked through relationships to the recognized person, the recognizer, the project context, and any competencies demonstrated. This connected structure transforms a standalone data point into a rich story — showing not just who was recognized, but by whom, in what context, and for which capabilities. Traditional systems store recognition as isolated records without these structural connections.

Concept Tested: Recognition Events

2. A Cypher query identifies an engineer named Raquel who has the highest betweenness centrality in the engineering organization but has received zero formal recognition events in the past 12 months. What type of contribution does this pattern reveal?

  1. A performance management gap requiring a corrective action plan
  2. A data quality issue in the recognition event recording system
  3. A hidden achievement — a significant structural contribution invisible to traditional recognition systems
  4. An indication that Raquel should be promoted to a management position
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Raquel is a textbook hidden achiever. Her high betweenness centrality means she serves as the primary bridge between departments, making the network function through structural contributions like brokering conversations and connecting otherwise isolated groups. Traditional recognition systems miss this type of work because they track individual output, not the connective tissue that holds teams together. Graph analytics makes these invisible contributions visible.

Concept Tested: Hidden Achievements

3. In the strategy alignment graph model, what does the strength property on an ALIGNS_WITH relationship between a project and a strategic objective represent?

  1. The percentage of the project budget allocated to that strategic objective
  2. How directly the project supports the strategic objective on a scale from 0 to 1
  3. The number of employees working on tasks that support the objective
  4. The priority ranking of the strategic objective relative to other objectives
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The strength property on the ALIGNS_WITH relationship is a value between 0 and 1 indicating how directly a project supports a strategic objective. A value of 0.9 represents strong direct alignment, while 0.3 indicates tangential support. This granularity matters because not every project needs to be a direct strategic hit, but leadership should understand the distribution of effort across alignment strengths.

Concept Tested: Alignment Analysis

4. A department-level alignment analysis shows the Operations team at 37.2% alignment with strategic objectives. Which interpretation is most appropriate?

  1. The Operations team is failing to execute on organizational strategy
  2. The alignment analysis methodology is flawed for operational departments
  3. Operations should immediately redirect all unaligned tasks toward strategic priorities
  4. Operations handles essential recurring work that may not map to annual strategic objectives, warranting a conversation rather than a judgment
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Low alignment percentages in departments like Operations and Legal do not necessarily indicate misalignment. These teams handle essential recurring work — infrastructure maintenance, compliance, administrative processes — that may not map to annual strategic objectives. The correct response is to prompt a conversation: is the team aware of strategic priorities? Could discretionary work be redirected? Are strategically critical tasks sitting unassigned? Context determines whether the number is a problem or a feature.

Concept Tested: Strategy Alignment

5. An analyst uses NLP topic modeling to trace when the concept "predictive maintenance" first appeared in organizational communications and how it spread through the network over six weeks. What analytical technique is this?

  1. Ideation tracking
  2. Sentiment trend analysis
  3. Communication tone analysis
  4. Knowledge concentration mapping
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. Ideation tracking uses NLP-derived topic analysis combined with graph pathfinding to follow the lifecycle of ideas as they move through an organization's communication network. By tracing when a novel concept first appears, who introduced it, and how it propagates through subsequent communication hops, ideation tracking reveals the social dynamics of innovation — making visible the diffusion pathways that ideas follow through the organizational graph.

Concept Tested: Ideation Tracking

6. What does a high novelTopicScore property on a message indicate in the context of building an idea flow network?

  1. The message contains more named entities than the organizational average
  2. The message has a strongly positive or negative sentiment score
  3. The message was sent to recipients in multiple departments simultaneously
  4. The message introduces genuinely new conceptual material rather than rehashing established topics
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. The novelTopicScore property, computed by the NLP pipeline, indicates how much new conceptual material a message introduces to the conversation. A score above 0.6 suggests the message brings a genuinely novel idea rather than repeating established topics. This metric is the foundation of idea flow networks — it distinguishes innovation highways (edges carrying novel concepts) from routine coordination channels (high communication volume but no new ideas).

Concept Tested: Idea Flow Networks

7. The cross-boundary flow metric reveals that 90% of novel concepts in an organization travel within departments and only 10% cross department boundaries. What does organizational behavior research suggest about this pattern?

  1. The NLP pipeline is miscounting cross-boundary flows due to shared terminology between departments
  2. This is a healthy pattern showing strong departmental expertise and specialization
  3. This indicates a structural innovation problem because innovation most often occurs at boundaries between disciplines and teams
  4. The organization should increase internal communication to further strengthen within-department innovation
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Research in organizational behavior consistently shows that innovation is more likely to occur at the boundaries between disciplines and teams than within homogeneous groups. When 90% of novel concepts travel only within departments, the organization has a structural innovation problem that no amount of hackathons will fix. The cross-boundary flow metric quantifies whether the communication network supports the kind of diverse idea exchange that drives creative breakthroughs.

Concept Tested: Innovation Metrics

8. In a centrality equity analysis, Group D has an average betweenness centrality one-third that of Group A. What does this disparity reveal about the organizational network?

  1. Group D members are less productive than Group A members
  2. Group D members sit on fewer information pathways and have less structural access to influence and opportunity
  3. Group D members have shorter average tenure in the organization
  4. Group D members prefer to communicate through channels not captured in the analysis
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The correct answer is B. Centrality represents access — to information, influence, opportunity, and social capital. When one demographic group's average betweenness centrality is significantly lower than another's, it means people in that group sit on fewer information pathways and have less structural influence. If this inequity correlates with demographic characteristics, it reveals structural barriers in the collaborative network that create inequitable access to career-advancing opportunities regardless of individual capability.

Concept Tested: Network Centrality Equity

9. An organization has strong diversity headcounts but inclusion analytics reveals that employees from underrepresented groups consistently occupy peripheral network positions with few connections to high-centrality colleagues. How should this finding be characterized?

  1. The diversity initiative has succeeded because representation goals are met
  2. The peripheral positioning will self-correct as employees gain tenure and build connections
  3. The network analysis is unreliable because peripheral employees may contribute through channels not captured in the data
  4. The organization has achieved diversity at the front door but failed at inclusion in the collaborative network
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Inclusion is distinct from diversity. An organization can be diverse in headcount while being exclusionary in network structure. When employees from underrepresented groups consistently end up in peripheral positions with few connections to influential colleagues, the diversity initiative has succeeded at hiring but failed at integration. Inclusion analytics moves the conversation from intentions to structural evidence, showing whether people from all backgrounds are truly embedded in the collaborative fabric or merely present.

Concept Tested: Inclusion Analytics

10. A combined query reveals that one demographic group has three times as many unrecognized high-centrality contributors as another group. An analyst must present this finding to leadership. Which framing best reflects the chapter's guidance on using these analytics responsibly?

  1. Present the data as evidence of intentional discrimination requiring immediate legal review
  2. Withhold the finding until additional qualitative research confirms the pattern
  3. Present the data as evidence of a systemic recognition gap found through structural analysis, prompting investigation and action rather than blame
  4. Aggregate the data further to remove demographic group identifiers before presenting
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. The chapter emphasizes that graph analytics provides structural evidence that should prompt investigation and action, not assumptions about intent. A systemic recognition gap correlated with demographics is a finding "with data, not assumption" — it demands attention but should be framed as a structural pattern requiring examination of processes, not as an accusation. Withholding the data (B) or removing demographics (D) would undermine the equity-oriented purpose of the analysis, while jumping to legal conclusions (A) oversteps the analytical role.

Concept Tested: Hidden Achievements