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Social Capital and Organizational Change in High‐Involvement and Traditional Work Organizations
Author(s) -
Gant Jon,
Ichniowski Casey,
Shaw Kathryn
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of economics and management strategy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1530-9134
pISSN - 1058-6407
DOI - 10.1111/jems.2002.11.2.289
Subject(s) - business , social capital , knowledge management , work (physics) , sample (material) , human resource management , set (abstract data type) , organizational culture , human capital , industrial organization , line management , marketing , public relations , economics , sociology , computer science , engineering , economic growth , political science , mechanical engineering , social science , chemistry , chromatography , programming language
We present new evidence indicating that changing from a traditional human resource management (HRM) environment to an innovative one entails a change not only in formal work practices, but also in the informal networks and patterns of interaction among employees. We focus on differences in the social capital of these workplaces and measure differences in the structure of interactions and information transfer among employees across a sample of manufacturing lines with a common production technology and different HRM systems. We then consider the implications of these differences and show that the change from one form of workplace practices to the other is therefore not just a matter of paying for the direct costs of a new set of HRM practices. Rather, it would involve a disruptive overhaul in the entire network of interactions among all workers at the plant.