Professor David Krackhardt

The Power of Simmelian Ties in Organizations
Professor David Krackhardt, Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University

Description

Semester: 
Winter 2007
Lecture Time: 
Friday, January 19, 2007 (All day)
Lecture Location: 

Room 4212, School of Education

Abstract

The Power of Simmelian Ties in Organizations Network analysis of informal organizations has led to many insights and explanations of a variety of behavior inside organizations. However, the majority of this work is premised on the assumption that a network is best represented by aggregating dyadic relationships among the actors. Borrowing from Simmel’s theory of importance of the triad as the fundamental unit of analysis, I will propose that any single network can be usefully decomposed into three networks, each comprised of different types of ties. These mutually exclusive and exhaustive sets of ties are: asymmetric ties, sole-symmetric ties, and Simmelian ties. Each set of ties reveals a different aspect of organizational life, making different kinds of predictions and explaining different phenomena. Moreover, I show that by merging these three types of ties into one network (which is what we most commonly do in network research), we often arrive at distorted or even fallacious conclusions about the effects of networks in organizations. I will demonstrate the power of this Simmelian decomposition with a series of empirical examples.

Recording & Additional Notes

Introducer: Eric Neuman, Management & Organizations