Knowledge Matters™

I’ve just spent the past week in Melbourne working on a $3 billion vehicle acquisition project called Project Overlander. What little free time I had I used to catch up on some reading for my doctorate. I read Professor Ronald Burt’s book “Structural Holes: the Social Structure of Competition ”, which was written in 1992. This is a seminal publication and a must read for anyone interested in network theory. When I have read his other book – “Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital ” – I will post some book reviews, but I digress. For me the most interesting theme was the notion of tertius gaudens.

Tertius gaudens means ‘the third who benefits’. It is a person who draws benefit from brokering relationships between others. Consider the network diagram below, which is from my doctorate. As usual I have removed all labels to preserve organisational anonymity. The nodes are shaped and coloured by business unit and sized by ‘betweenness centrality’, which is a measure that signals an actor’s potential as a go-between for other actors in the network. There is one exception – tertius gaudens. Tertius gaudens is the yellow node, and belongs to the red business unit as shown by the shape of the node.

Now this is interesting because Tertius is clearly the bridge across a major structural hole between the two business units. This gives Tertius an information advantage which is disproportionate to his position in the red business unit, and opens two distinct strategies for Tertius. Tertius can play one business unit off against the other by providing incomplete or misleading information. Alternatively Tertius can strengthen his standing by providing accurate information, but acting as a gatekeeper. Tertius can also broker introductions between blue business unit members and red business unit members.

Tertius’s light blue contact (Tertius Minor) also has a tertius gaudens role, and is also a gatekeeper. In this case the node is slightly smaller because more transactions occur from Tertius to Tertius Minor. Nevertheless Tertius Minor is also essential to the stability of the network, and the flow of information between business units. Tertius and Tertius Minor both control the network and have a tie of exclusive access. They can, and do, monitor activities across the organisation, and do so more effectively than the bureaucratic formal lines can. They are the true knowledge brokers of the organisation!

Who are Tertius and Tertius Minor in your organisation? How strong is their influence? Is their influence positive? Is there an opportunity to weave your network? I suggest if you are serious about knowledge management knowing who Tertius and Tertius Minor are matters!

Regards, Graham