The Strength of Weak Ties: In the Workplace
In this class we have talked about the strength of weak ties between people in a social network. Basically this concept says that a group of people (i.e. students going to Cornell) should all have strong ties, people they interact with more frequently. Strong ties can create weak ties when a good friend introduces you to one of his/her acquaintances. Although you and your friend’s acquaintance may not know each other well, your network size increases. This can work to your benefit; as you increase the size of your network – you will have access to different resources.
In this Forbes article, Jacob Morgan applies the notion of weak ties to the workplace. He argues that every employee should be building weak ties. He says that most people focus on building strong ties because they seem like the most beneficial; however, he claims that weak ties may be more valuable within the workplace. Strong ties in the workplace are usually your co-workers, people in the same department or even just the people that sit next to you. Generally these people will have the same or similar network as you within the company. Therefore, when you need access to something outside of your network, your strong ties typically will not have access to what you need. This is where the weak tie plays in. Weak ties act as a bridge to an area where you do not have access to the same people and information your weak tie has. For example, if you were in the marketing department and needed help with something related to finance, you could ask one of your weak ties that you are connected with on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. This could help you out tremendously whether it’s for personal gain or for your job. In the end, it turns out to just be a numbers game. Go out there and make those weak ties! 🙂