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Social CapitalA kind of Intellectual Capital, that can be a valuable intangible asset if carefully nurtured. Social capital refers to the ability of groups to collaborate and work together. Well functioning human networks facilitate exchange of ideas, problem solving and creation of new knowledge. Social capital is a function of trust. Trust enables decisions to be taken more quickly and implemented more smoothly. So, social capital reduces transaction costs. The quality of knowledge is also high because when there is trust, ideas can be debated in a transparent way, with less defensive reasoning and without hidden agendas dominating. Social capital is an intangible asset that is highly contextual and strongly shaped by the organizational culture. So it cannot be easily imitated by competitors. Social NetworksIn most organizations, work gets done less through standardized processes and formal structures and more through informal networks of relationships. These networks must be both actively encouraged and carefully nurtured. Yet the power of these invisible groups is often underestimated by many organizations. Improving the functioning of social networks is not merely about increasing connectivity. While expanding network connectivity, companies need to determine exactly what they want to accomplish through informal networks and, the kind of connectivity needed to help them achieve their goals. Indiscriminate expansion of the network can take a toll on employees. Connectivity must be promoted only where it benefits an organization or individual. Connectivity that is not needed should be reduced. According to Rob Cross, Jeanne Liedtka and Leigh Weiss60, all informal networks help organizations do two things — recognize opportunities or challenges and coordinate appropriate responses. Based on their unique value propositions, three different archetypes can be identified:
The essence of networking is building trust, strengthening human relationships and improving the richness of knowledge transferred. Much can be done by organizations to nurture social networks. Collaborative behavior should be an important criterion during recruitment. Helping employees develop an awareness of who knows what in the organization allows them to know whom to turn for help. Skill profiling systems, expertise locators and communities of practice can all go a long way in strengthening relationships and improving collaboration. Performance appraisal systems can also promote collaborative behaviour. Leadership and culture have a profound influence on social networks. Leaders must send out clear signals that they support a collaborative culture. Experiential learning must be encouraged through mechanisms such as “after action review”. Mentoring, coaching and learning from failure should be actively encouraged across the organization. High performing knowledge workers actively manage their networks. They know they receive a lot of information through network contacts. So they are careful to reciprocate with information and nourish network relationships. A variety of social networking software is also now available to form and nurture social networks. But software can only complement, not replace people-to-people connections. (See also: Social Software) Social Networking AnalysisA useful technique for understanding the informal networks which exist outside the formal structure of an organization, or for diagnosing the limitations of the existing formal structure. First, information is collected on who communicates with whom. Specialized software is then used for analysis. Typically, the interactions are plotted graphically. The graph will indicate clearly whether the network is excessively dependent on some people. In that case, the structure needs to be corrected to “democratise” the information flows. Social SoftwareSoftware that can help connect up people, provide them collaboration tools and create various records of interactions. Though not completely new, it is only now that social software is developing the robust capabilities needed. Social software includes traditional tools like e-mail and bulletin boards, as well more recent innovations like instant messaging, blogging, wikis and social network analysis tools. One area where social software looks likely to play a crucial role is exception handling. Massive enterprise applications generate various exceptions that must be handled by people. The right people to handle the exception must be identified and brought together. These people have then to be provided the relevant information and analytical tools to come up with an effective resolution. This also demands a good understanding of the context. More often than not, exceptions are handled in ad hoc fashion. Once the transaction is completed, records are not properly maintained. So the next time the same exception arises, the entire resolution must be repeated from scratch. As John Hagel III and John Seely Brown mention in their book, The Only Sustainable Edge, exceptions can actually be a major source of business innovation. Employees are forced to address unexpected challenges. Consequently, they often make significant refinements in the business processes involved. Social software can provide the tools that help reduce the cost of exception handling. It can also create a repository that documents the exceptions, the people involved in resolving the exceptions and the resolutions themselves. The repository can play a key role in disseminating business innovations across the organization. One company which has made good use of social software to improve its business processes is Xerox. Social software has helped service engineers to tackle unexpected repair needs for printers and copiers. Till a few years back, the company’s standardized procedures only explained what happened when a single fault in the equipment occurred. But many malfunctions involved two or more faults simultaneously. So Xerox introduced Eureka, a social network that mobilized tips contributed by the service engineers as they reported on their experiences while handling unexpected problems. Engineers who began to contribute tips became highly respected among peers. Within years, Xerox captured 30,000 tips resulting in savings of $100 million per year and Eureka rapidly emerged as an important learning tool. Service engineers can use Eureka to sharpen their trouble shooting skills. Product designers can consult Eureka while trying to improve product performance. Experiences of engineers were transformed into knowledge that could be shared across a geographically distributed work force. 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