User:JordanHaviland

Introduction

In organizational sociology, ‘weak ties’ refers to a special relationship between members of networks. A ‘tie’ is defined as an interpersonal relationship that is measured by “a combination of time, emotional intensity, the intimacy, and the reciprocal services which characterize that tie.”  Typically, people live in tight clusters that share access to common information (people with ‘strong ties’). People who live outside of these clusters, people with whom one has only a marginal connection with, have access to entirely different information. This section will explain the value of these ‘weak ties’ in greater detail and outline how it is they are leveraged in career attainment.

Studies on Weak Ties

Several studies of demonstrated the value of weak ties within one’s network. In 1974 Mark Granovetter conducted a study of 282 workers in a Newton, Massachusetts. Through his interviews he determined that men who had used interpersonal connections to get their job tended to be happier and have better jobs. Nan Lin asserts that Granovetter’s conclusions “challenge the taken for granted and attributed value given to strong ties… Granovetter alerted us that weak ties, promoting access to different and new information, are socially valuable as well.” An additional study, conducted by Nan Lin in 1978 expanded on the value of these weak ties. In this study, participants were asked to forward a packet of information along to people that they knew on a first name basis with the eventual goal of reaching a target individual. Lin concluded that successful chains inevitably moved upwards to higher status individuals before moving down to the target. The strength of weak ties would thus also lie in its ability to give vertical access to people higher in the social hierarchy. These people, it is argued, have a better view of the social hierarchy in general due to the pyramidal nature of most social structures.



Weak Ties and Job Attainment

Weak ties and social networks have special relevance to job hunting and job attainment. To understand this we will consider the job hunt of Person A. Person A has a strong tie with his roommate in college, Person B.  Current theory suggests that people with whom someone has a strong tie will most likely have access to the same information that the first person does. That is to say, any job opportunities that Person B might know of will most likely be known to Person A as well. Let us assume that Person C is a professor at Yale University and is acquainted with Person A’s college professor at Harvard University. Person C would be much more likely to provide information that leads to Person A getting a job. This is because she is a weak tie and thus has access to information not available to Person A. Additionally, Person A would be reaching vertically upwards in the social hierarchy (assuming that professors hold higher statuses than students). Person C has a better view of social networks from her position at the top and would be better fit to make a connection that leads Person A to getting a job.