Whether you are mapping your personal or professional connections, relationship maps are simple and helpful tools for understanding our interconnected world. These visual representations have a wide range of applications across various industries and functional areas. Relationship maps are particularly beneficial in team environments as they help in understanding communication patterns and promote collaboration among individuals and teams.

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Relationship Map
A Comprehensive Guide to Relationship Mapping

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Introduction
In a world full of connections
and interactions, understanding
the relationships between things
is important.
Relationship Map 2

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Relationship Map
A helpful tool for understanding the
connections within personal, professional,
and systemic components.
It makes it easy to understand how
individual elements relate to each
other within any given context.
Relationship Map 3

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Applications
Relationship maps can be adapted to meet the needs of various fields and
contexts including . . .
Relationship Map 4
Organizational
Personal Professional Social Systemic

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Example - Mapping Your Network of Professional Connections
Creating a visual relationship map of your
professional connections can be useful as
it helps in a better understanding of your
professional network.
This visual map can later be used to
identify potential collaboration
opportunities within your professional
community and enables you to build a
strong support system.
Relationship Map 5

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Uses
Relationship maps have many uses, especially in situations that don’t align
into traditional hierarchical structures.
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Relationship maps can also be used in decision making, creative thinking and
process management.
Project Management
Mapping relationships
between activities,
team members,
and stakeholders.
Problem-Solving
Mapping
relationships
between factors to
identify the most
significant ones.

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Benefits
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Encourages multidirectional
exploration and allow the visualization
of complex relationships.
Enhances relationships and team
dynamics, contributing to improved
morale and productivity.
Offers a holistic view of the situation
and helps in understanding the
logical connections between ideas,
factors, or issues.
Helps in understanding
communication patterns and
promote collaboration among
individuals and teams.

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Types
The family of relationship maps includes various diagram types . . .
A
B C
BC
AC
AB
ABC
Relationship Map 8

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Venn Diagram
Illustrates the logical relationships between sets. It uses closed curves or circles to
represent the range of sets.
Relationship Map 9
The diagram indicates
the countries that are
within the Greater
Middle East as part of a
paper published by the
Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace
Middle East
Africa
Europe Asia

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System Map
Displays the relationships within an organization or system. It illustrates how the
elements interact to achieve a specific objective.
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Admin
staff
Students
Faculty
members
ABC University
Accreditation
body
Alumni
Families
Employers &
community
How a
university
system works
in general

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Concept Map
Shows how ideas relate to each other around a central concept. It helps in organizing
thoughts and simplifying complex information.
Relationship Map 11
Hand and
Foot
Body
Head and
face
Others
Types of PPEs
for the facility
Safety gloves
Safety shoes
Coveralls and aprons
High-visibility clothing
Reflective vests
Hard Hats
Safety glasses & goggles
Face shields
Earplugs and earmuffs
Safety harnesses
Respirators
Skin creams

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Mind Map
Organizing ideas and thoughts around a topic or problem. Mind maps reflect the way
human think and organize information.
Relationship Map 12
Activities
Engage
in regular
physical activity
Enjoy
Nature
Plants and
natural decor
Relaxing
Space
Soft
lighting
Comfortable
seating
Positive
atmosphere
Favourite
colours
Decoration
Clean and
organized space
Improving
mood and
boosting
morale
Connect with
loved ones

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Tree Diagram
Illustrates hierarchical relationships among different elements. Examples of its
applications include organizational charts, work breakdown structures, fishbone
diagrams, fault tree diagrams and decision trees.
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Satisfied
customer
Pleasant
surrounding
Good
food
Good
service Professional waiters
Quality ingredients
Promote attention
Good table presentation
Pleasing decor
Good recipe

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Interrelationship Diagram
Displays the cause-and-effect relationships involved in a process or problem. It is one
of the seven management and planning tools.
Relationship Map 14
Incorrect order
Late delivery
Understaffing
Poor communication
between kitchen staff &
room service team
Repeated
complaints
Staff training

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Flowchart or Process Map
Illustrates the sequential and logical relationships among the different steps in a
process within the context of process analysis.
Relationship Map 15
Add sugar?
NO
YES
Start
Boil water Add tea Add sugar
End
Stir drink
Additional
information can
be added to
each step such
responsibilities
and time.

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Dependency Map
Displays the connections between activities in a project or process. It helps in the
identification and prevention of bottlenecks and delays.
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G
E
F I
H
A C
B
D
Additional
information can
be added to each
activity such as
durations &
resources

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IT Industry
Several relationship maps are used to visually represent and understand
complex IT connections and structures.
Relationship Map 17
These visuals support IT professionals in system design, optimization, troubleshooting, and
overall IT management.
IT workflow diagrams
Network Diagrams
Cloud infrastructure mapping Security infrastructure mapping
System architecture diagrams Database relationship diagrams

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Team and Collaborative Environments
Relationship maps help in understanding communication patterns and
promote more collaborative interactions among teams and team members.
Relationship Map 18
Collaboration Maps
Visually represent the
connections within an
organization and across
different departments or
projects.
Team Relationship Maps
Focus on team
interactions in
order to enhance
communication
and collaboration.
Additionally, customer relationship maps help visualizing interactions with customers to
meet their needs.

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Example - Examine Indirect Influence Patterns within a Team
Demir
Sara
Amira
Sami
Zakaria
Chadi
Peter
Ali
Adam
Relationship Map 19

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In Personal Life
Relationship maps provide visual ways to understand and strengthen
connections with family and friends.
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For example, you may use your social
network map to analyze your relationships
and identify where to ask for guidance or
seek support.

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Relationship Map Exercise
Typically, the exercise of relationship mapping follows an idea generation or
data collection activity.
Relationship Map 21
Collect or Generate Connect

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Relationship Map Components
These maps mainly use nodes and lines to represent the connections
between elements.
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Each node can be linked with one or more
nodes to indicate a direct relationship.
The lines can indicate various types of
relationships and can be in any direction.
Line thickness can be adjusted to indicate the
strength of the relationship.
Node
Line

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