At this point in our life, we have all worked in groups in one shape or form. Whether it is for a group project for your least favorite class, or working in your dream job to accomplish a life-changing project. Either way, you must bond with your group. Now picture this, you took charge of the group either as a leader or even a boss. Is it better to force the group to establish strong ties or to let them continue their actions and let the group decide what ties are going to be established? Personally, my boss thought that forcing all the co-workers to have strong ties would be most beneficial. Although scholars can see benefits from strong ties, this instance it held the team back from reaching our full potential. Here is why weak ties can be more important to group health than forcing the development of strong ties. Ian Leslie wrote an article that shows the importance of weak ties and how they can boost happiness and create a greater sense of belonging.

Caroline Haythornthwaite focused her studies on Media Multiplexity or the understanding that “Strongly tied pairs use more media to sustain their relationships than weakly tied pairs” (161).  The tie strength is the “degree of connection between people determined by the amount of time spent together, emotional intensity and intimacy”(161). A strong tie is essentially when people invest a significant portion of their time and energy to a specific bond. In addition, a weak tie is like a friend we see from time to time that we have only met once or twice and occasionally wave. Although an individual needs strong ties for good friends and romantic partners, all of their ties do not need to share this same level of involvement. Ian Leslie believes that “by engaging in a wide variety of conversations with weak ties people can learn about how to cope with the various difficulties of life”. Although strong ties can create deeper relationships, forcing these ties make individuals burn out

Strong ties are meant for only a select few people in your life. Personally, I believe these ties should remain for the individuals you truly care about in your life like your family, close friends, and romantic partners. In the case above, my boss thought that the closer the tie between the group would be beneficial, and in many ways, I agree with him. A group with a stronger tie can lead to the group working more efficiently, and work better with one another. But in this case, it is like trying to hold a boulder from falling off of a cliff with a thin rope. The rope can hold this weight for only so long, but inevitably the rope is going to break causing the boulder to roll uncontrollably down the cliff. Strong ties take a lot of energy to keep and actually takes a significant amount of effort from all parties involved to keep strong. Forcing this tie caused the rope to fray and no one in the group had the strength to keep it all together. Our group fell apart. In hindsight, if the boss never forced these ties instead let us figure out who we wanted to be close with and who we wanted to keep on the outside of our circle, I believe the group would have been stronger. I know the idea of weak ties making a group stronger sounds weird, but remaining the strong ties that very few individuals wanted made the group grow apart from each other.

Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think