Artikelen Managing Social Capital Samenvatting
Lecture 1 : Introduction
Strategy, human resource management and performance : Sharpening line of sight
Paul F. Buller, Glen M. McEvoy
This article states that both human capital and social capital are determinants for a firm's
performance.
LOS = Line of sight, which means that an employee understands the strategic goals of a
firm as well as the actions necessary to accomplish them. It is focused on employees'
perceptions of the link between their job performance and firm-level incentives, such as
profit sharing compensation plans. Employees' actions and their knowledge, behavior and
strategic priorities are all determinants for positive outcomes of the firm.
LOS made some concepts :
1 P-O fit = Person organization fit = focuses on the alignment of employee values with
organizational culture
2 Goal congruence = when employees' goals are aligned with those of the supervisor,
employees have better attitudes and higher retention.
3 AMO = ability, motivation, opportunity. This framework purports that employees who
have the opportunity to participate in high performance work systems, have the skills and
motivation, will perform better.
1 increases trust, 2 increases motivation
Strategy is conceptualized at three levels :
– Corporate level → business or range of business the firms wishes to compete in.
– Business level → strategy is concerned with the question how to compete for the hearts
and minds of the customers
– Departmental level → How do you function and control area such as finances,
accounting, marketing, production and R&D?
The importance of human resource management to effective implementation of
strategy has been recognized for some time. Porter (1985) explicitly acknowledged that
human resource management was an essential support activity that, when integrated with
other value chain activities, is necessary for a firm to achieve and sustain competitive
advantage.
Black box = A distinction between HRM practices and performance outcome.
– One group focusses most on the role of the practices in developing human capital that
directly influences performance outcomes. There were studies which proved that some
practices such as recruitment, selection and internal employee development are related to
organizational performance.
– Other group focussed more on the role of HRM practices in developing social capital as
a means for enhancing performance. The nature of the relationships.
Line of sight knows 3 levels : Organizational, group and individual. They're viewed as
building blocks with capabilities and culture. Their actions are reciprocal and can also
influence adjustment in strategy.
,Organizational culture = An important determinant for performance. Culture can be very
dynamic
OCB = Organizational Citizenship Behavior.It stands for the employees' own willingness to
be committed to the organization. It can be presented in 3 different levels in the
organization.
1 Organizational → collective, shared set of assumptions, beliefs, values and context
2 Group → job specific competenties and norms are the component. People have similar
responsibilities.
3 Individual → that you internalize the culture of the organization in your own behavior.
Leonard Barton argued that organizational innovation is the result of 4 interrelated
characteristics :
1 Egalitarism
2 Shared knowledge
3 Continuous experimentation
4 Openness to knowledge from outside the firm
The negative effects of social capital in organizations: A review and
extension. International Journal of Management Reviews
Pillai, K.G., Hodgkinson, G.P., Kalyanaram, G. & Nair, S.R. (2017).
Positive effects of social capital =
1 Greater career success and executive compensation
2 Knowledge access
3 The effectiveness of workgroups
4 Superior managerial and organizational performance
Negative effects because of social capital =
1 Diluton of the dialectal process
2 Inhibition of individual learning
3 Groupthink
4 Postponement of structural adjustments
5 Non-rational escalation of commitment
6 Blurring of firms' boundaries
The negative sides of social capital on social and economic communities.
Portes said Social Capital can yield 4 negative consequenses (social community):
1 Exclusion of outsiders
2 Excess claims on group members
3 Restriction on individual freedoms
4 Downward leveling norms
Locke argued there are also negative consequences in organizational setting
because of Social Capital:
1 Loss of objectivity
2 Exclusion of potentially new actors and ideas
3 No intellectual capital
Knowledge is discovered at individual level, disseminated at the social level and utilized at
organizational level.
, Negative consequences on interorganizational level :
– social identification can lead to a blurring of firms’ boundaries.
– Our multilayered account, centered on social identification processes, thus links these
various effects
Structural Social capital = Means the ties/patterns between people. It leads to
cohesiveness and hinders the flow of information emanating from beyond the group
Relational Social Capital = Menas the trust and obligations people feel among the team.
It engenders norms of obligation, commitment, and reciprocity. It can also promote
adherence to extant belief systems
Social identification = Means that you like to identify yourself with people in a group you
think you belong to. This leads to group polarization, which means that group norms are
perceived as more stereotypically extreme. We infer that such polarization will lead to
pressure to conform to the opinions of prototypical members of the group or network, an
assertion supported by the finding that less powerful individuals in organizations are likely
to feel pressure to accept the perspectives and viewpoints of individuals who are more
powerful.
Groupthink = Means that a group has this homogenous idea they don't want to let go of
easily. The opinion of a group mostly points in one direction and the entire group follows
the rest because that what people naturally do in groups. We follow the crowd.
Escalation of commitment = When you have a certain opinion, you start looking for
information in the environment which corrects your opinion so you keep getting more sure
of your own opinion. You gain commitment about your own opinion even if it is false.
Lecture 2 : Social Capital Theory
Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices
Carrie R. Leana, Harry J van Buren III.
Organizational social capital is defined as a resource reflecting the character of social
relations within an organization. It is realized through members' levels of collective goals
orientation and shared trust, which create value by facilitating successful collective action.
It's an asset which can benefit the organization and its members.
Social capital = asset that inheres in social relations and networks. It's an attribute of
individual actors who realize advantages owing to their relative status of location in a
group. On macro level it is an attribute of communities, nations and industry networks.
Social capital in two views :
Public good → macro level, shared identity and trust
Private good → focusses on the individual and their social assets, such as prestige,
educational credentials and social clubs or bonusses.
Balancing individual interests and the collective can be done by employment
practices:
– Give and take → cooperation among firms increases stability and knowledge of all
