A week ago I introduced “Tertius Gaudens ”. Today I want to introduce “Tertius Iungens” – the true knowledge broker. You may recall Tertius Gaudens means ‘the third who benefits’. Tertius Iungens means ‘the third who joins the two’, and is a brokerage theory developed by Professor David Obstfeld . Both Gaudens and Iungens draw benefit from brokering relationships between others. The difference between them is subtle, but important for knowledge management.

Consider the network diagram below, which is from my doctorate, and I used as the illustration in my “Who is Tertius Gaudens? ” blog. Recall 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. The exception is Tertius Gaudens, who is shown as the yellow node. But is this node Tertius Gaudens or is it Tertius Iungens?

To answer this question we must first clearly understand the differences between Gaudens and Iungens. Gaudens is ‘the third who benefits’. Gaudens is the character who plays one business unit off against the other by providing incomplete or misleading information, or strengthens his standing by providing accurate information, but acting as a gatekeeper. In both cases Tertius Gaudens acts because he directly benefits.

On the other hand Iungens is ‘the third who joins the two’. The role is one of mediation where the third party gathers benefits, which are possibly indirect, by uniting the disconnected parties. In this example Iungens brokers introductions between blue business unit members and red business unit members. Iungens is the true network weaver, looking to strengthen the knit of the network.

So how do I know whether the yellow node is Tertius Gaudens or Tertius Iungens? The answer is I can’t tell from the diagram – all I know is the person belongs to the Tertius family. I have to apply further analysis and I have to deeply understand my data, the organisation in question, and the roles of the people in the organisation. In this example Tertius has a tie of exclusive access from one business unit to another. Tertius monitors activity across both business units, and knows more about the organisation as a whole than most. I know this person sometimes acts as a Tertius Gaudens and sometimes as a Tertius Iungens, with a stronger tendency to the gatekeeper role.

Last week I said if you are serious about knowledge management knowing who Tertius Gaudens is matters! I stand by that assertion. I suggest if you identify a Tertius Gaudens one management objective might be to provide incentives to change their behaviour to an Iungens role. Another might be to take on an Iungens role yourself, weave the network, and lessen the influence of Gaudens. Either way knowing who has Tertius behaviours matters!

Regards, Graham