Friendlier Workplace and Positive Relationships
The Forbes article discusses different ways to make the workplace a friendlier space across a multigenerational group. The article states the difficulties workers in different generations have with interacting with one another as there can be generational rifts among workers. The generational rifts can cause workers to have a difference in opinion on topics and how things should be done, which can lead to tension and negative relationships in the work place. The article offers insight into different ways to improve the network among workers.
One of the suggested ways to improve the workspace environment was to “appoint a ‘culture captain’”, which is in charge of highlighting co-workers’ birthdays and other important events, which ultimately brings together the whole group. Ultimately, the ‘culture captain’ should attempt to bring about positive relationships among the workers. In class, we discussed the structural balance property which states that a network is balanced if the edges between every set of 3 nodes contain either 3 or 1 positive node. If the ‘culture captain’ is able to bring about closeness and friendship into the group, which results in everyone being friends, then all the edges are positive, which yields a balanced triangle. The article also suggests that workers should attempt to connect on a personal level. That could also bring about a friendlier workplace as if one person creates a strong bond with two other people, then those two people will be more likely to be friends or at least have a weak tie to one another since they have a friend in common due to the triadic closure principle.