The Social Capital Imperative

Social capital--the resources and goodwill of network contacts--can be activated to enhance employees' performance, leadership effectiveness, careers, and overall organizational functioning. Despite years of research highlighting networks' role in addressing business challenges, organizational solutions still overwhelmingly focus on enhancing individual knowledge and skills or changing formal organizational structures and processes. Shifts in the business environment make adding a social capital lens to the historical human capital lens no longer just 'nice to do' but an imperative. Employees and organizations will benefit from carefully considering network connections and intentional efforts to foster their development and use. By prioritizing intentional connections, organizations can create a virtuous cycle of opportunities and prevent a vicious cycle of overwhelm. This book guides practitioners in revealing novel insights using network analysis and creating impact by developing and leveraging organizational networks. The opening section provides readers with a strong foundation in network science. The remainder of the book includes review chapters and case studies in strategic application areas. Review chapter authors provide readers with a strong scientific grounding explaining why networks are important for each application area and the likely implications of revealing, developing, and leveraging networks. Case authors provide inspiration and opportunities to learn from their real-life experiences, sharing challenges faced, actions taken, and lessons learned from applying network science within organizations. This book aims to provide clearer links between insights, actions, and outcomes practitioners can expect when revealing, developing, and leveraging organizational networks, demonstrating the powerful perspective that a social capital lens adds.