The problem and the solution. This article initiates a critical management studies evaluation of social capital in an HRD context by drawing on insights from Foucault and Habermas.This article presents alternative interpretations of three seminal social capital concepts—weak ties, structural holes, and social resources. Pragmatic, albeit critical, insights for HRD theory and practice are illustrated to counterbalance the managerialist appropriation of social capital in pursuit of largely economic ends. It is argued here that social well-being is as relevant to HRD practice as economic well-being. Ethical dimensions are noted and avenues of reflexivity for HRD practitioners are suggested.
Adler, P. (2002). Critical in the name of whom and what? Organization, 9(3), 387—395.
2.
Adler, P.S., & Kwon, S. (2002). Social capital: Prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 27(1), 17—40.
3.
Alvesson, M. (2004). Knowledge work and knowledge intensive firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4.
Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. (2000). Doing critical management research. London: Sage.
5.
Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39(5): 619—644.
6.
Baker, W.E. (1990). Market networks and corporate behavior. American Journal of Sociology, 96(3), 589—625.
7.
Barrie, J., & Pace, R.W. (1998). Learning for organizational effectiveness: Philosophy of education and human resource development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 9(1), 39—54.
8.
Belliveau, M.A., O'Reilly, C.A.I., & Wade, J.B. (1996). Social capital at the top: Effects of social similarity and status on CEO compensation. Academy of Management Journal,39(6), 1568—1593.
9.
Brooks, K., & Nafukho, F.M. (2006). Human resource development, social capital, emotional intelligence: Any link to productivity?Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(2), 117—128.
10.
Burt, R.S. (1992). Structural Holes: The social structure of competition . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11.
Burt, R.S. (1997). The contingent value of social capital. Administrative Science Quarterly,42(2), 339.
12.
Coleman, J.S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital . American Journal of Sociology, 94(Suppl. Organizations and Institutions: Sociological and Economic Approaches to the Analysis of Social Structure), S95-S120.
13.
Coleman, J.S. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
Cook, S.D.N., & Brown, J.S. (1999). Bridging epistemologies: The generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing. Organization Science, 10(4), 381—400.
15.
Cross, R., & Prusak, L. (2002). The people who make organizations go or stop. Harvard Business Review, 80(6), 104—111.
16.
Cunningham, I. (2002). Developing human and social capital in organisations . Industrial and Commercial Training, 34(3), 89—94.
17.
Deetz, S. (1995) Transforming communication, transforming business: Building responsible and responsive workplaces. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
18.
Forester, J. (1992). Critical ethnography: on fieldwork in a Habermasian way. In M. Alvesson & H. Willmott (Eds.), Critical management studies . London: Sage.
19.
Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things: An archaeology of human sciences . London: Tavistock.
20.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings by Michel Foucault, 1972—77 ( C. Gordon, Ed.). Brighton, UK: Harvester.
21.
Foucault, M. (1981). The history of sexuality: Vol. 1. The will to knowledge. London: Penguin.
22.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: Free Press .
23.
Garavan, T.N., & McGuire, D. (2001). Competencies and workplace learning: Some reflections on the rhetoric and the reality. Journal of WorkplaceLearning , 13(4), 144—164.
24.
Garavan, T.N., McGuire, D., & O'Donnell, D. (2004). Exploring human resource development: A levels of analysis approach. Human Resource Development Review, 3(4), 417—441.
25.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the later modern age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
26.
Granovetter, M.S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360—1380.
27.
Granovetter, M.S. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481—510.
28.
Grieves, J. (2000). Navigating change into the new millennium: Themes and issues for the learning organization. The Learning Organisation , 7(2), 54—74.
29.
Gubbins, M.C., & Garavan, T.N. (2005). Studying HRD practitioners: A social capital model . Human Resource Development Review, 4(2), 189—218.
30.
Habermas, J. (1984) The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of society, Vol. 1. (T. McCarthy, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity.
31.
Habermas, J. (1987a). The theory of communicative action: The critique of functionalist reason, Vol. 2. (T. McCarthy, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity.
32.
Habermas, J. (1987b). The philosophical discourse of modernity. (F. Lawrence, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity.
33.
Habermas, J. (2003). Truth and justification. (B. Fultner, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
34.
Henriksen, L.B., Nørreklit, L., Jørgensen, K.M., Christensen, J.B., & O'Donnell, D. (2004). Dimensions of change — Conceptualising reality in organizational research. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
35.
Hoffman, J.J., Hoelscher, M.L., & Sherif, K. (2005). Social capital, knowledge management and sustained superior performance. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(3), 93—100.
36.
Holms, L. (1995). HRM and the irresistible rise of the discourse of competence. Personnel Review, 24(4), 16—28.
37.
Johanson, J.E. (2000). Formal structure and intra-organisational networks: An analysis in a combined social and health organization in Finland. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 16(3), 249—267.
38.
Jørgensen, K.M. (2004). Creating value-based collaboration: Life forms and power in a change project. M@n@gement, 7(3), 85—107.
39.
Jørgensen, K.M. (2006). Conceptualising intellectual capital as language game and power. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 7(1), 78—92.
40.
Jørgensen, K.M. (2007). Power without glory. Copenhagen : Copenhagen Business School Press.
41.
Kessels, J.W.M., & Poell, R.F. (2004). Andragogy and social capital theory: The implications for human resource development. Advances in DevelopingHuman Resources, 6(2), 146—157.
42.
Kuchinke, P. (1998). Moving beyond the dualism of performance versus learning: A response to Barrie and Pace. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 9(4), 377—385.
43.
Leana, C.R., & van Buren, H.J. (1999). Organizational social capital and employment practices. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 538.
44.
Leenders, R. Th. A. J. & Gabbay, S. M. (Eds.). (1999). Corporate social capital and liability. Boston: Kluwer.
45.
Lin, N. ( 1982). Social resources and instrumental action. In P. V. Marsden & N. Lin (Eds.), Social structure and network analysis (pp. 131—145). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
46.
Lin, N. ( 2001). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
47.
Lin, N., Ensel, W.M., & Vaughn, J.C. (1981). Social resources and strength of ties: Structural factors in occupational status attainment. American Sociological Review, 46(4), 393—405.
48.
Loury, G.C. (1992). The economics of discrimination: Getting to the core of the problem. Harvard Journal of African AmericanPublic Policy, 1, 91—110.
49.
McGuire, D., O'Donnell, D., Garavan, T.N., Saha, S.K., & Murphy, J. (2001). The cultural boundedness of theory and practice in HRD. Cross Cultural Management, 9(2), 22—44.
50.
O'Donnell, D. (1999). Habermas, critical theory and selves-directed learning. Journal of European Industrial Training, 23(4/5), 252—261.
51.
O'Donnell, D. (2004). Theory and method on intellectual capital creation: Addressing communicative action through relative methodics. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 5(2), 294—311.
52.
O'Donnell, D. (2007). On critical theory in a truthless world. Advances in DevelopingHuman Resources, 9(1), 111—119.
53.
O'Donnell, D., & Henriksen, L.B. (2002). Philosophical foundations for a critical evaluation of the social impact of ICT. Journal ofInformation Technology, 17(2), 89—99.
54.
O'Donnell, D., McGuire, D., & Cross, C. (2006). Critically challenging some assumptions in HRD . International Journal of Training and Development, 10(1), 4—15.
55.
Oh, H., Kilduff, M., & Brass, D.J. (1999, August 8—11). Communal social capital, linking social capital, and economic outcomes. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago, IL.
56.
Peltonen, T. (2006). Critical theoretical perspectives on international human resource management. In G. K. Stahl & I. Bjorkman (Eds.), Handbook of research in international human resource management (pp. 523—535). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
57.
Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1), 1—24.
58.
Portes, A., & Sensenbrenner, J. (1993). Embeddedness and immigration: Notes on the social determinants of economic action. American Journal of Sociology, 98(6), 1320—1350.
59.
Putnam, R.D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
60.
Putnam, R.D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital . Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65—78.
61.
Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
62.
Rorty, R. (1979). Philosophy and the mirror of nature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
63.
Samra-Fredericks, D. (2000). Doing `boards-in-action' research—An ethnographic approach for the capture and analysis of directors' and senior managers' interactive routines. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 8(3), 244—257.
64.
Samra-Fredericks, D. (2003). A proposal for developing a critical pedagogy in management from researching organizational members' everyday practice. Management Learning, 34(3), 291—312.
65.
Sandefur, R.L., Laumann, E.O., & Heinz. ( 1999). Chicago Bar. In R. Th. A. J. Leenders & S. M. Gabbay (Eds.), Corporate social capital and liability (pp. 68—87). Boston: Kluwer.
66.
Seibert, S.E., Kraimer, M.L., & Liden, R.C. (2001). A social capital theory of career success. Academy of Management Journal, 44(2), 219—237.
67.
Simmel, G. (1955). The web of group affiliations. In K. Wolff (Ed.), Conflict and web of group affiliations. (pp. 125—195). Glencoe, IL: Free Press. (Original work published 1922)
68.
Sorensen, A.B. (1977). The structure of inequality and the process of attainment. American Sociological Review, 42, 965—978.
69.
Storberg, J. (2002). The evolution of capital theory: A critique of a theory of social capital and implications for HRD. Human Resource Development Review, 1(4), 468—499.
70.
Townley, B. (1993). Foucault, power/knowledge, and its relevance for human resource management. Academy of Management Review, 18(3), 518—545.
71.
Tymon, W.G., & Stumpf, S.A. (2003). Social capital in the success of knowledge workers . Career Development International, 8(1), 12—20.
72.
Wakefield, S.E.L., & Poland, B. (2005). Family, friend or foe? Critical reflections on the relevance and role of social capital in human promotion and community development. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 2819—2832.
73.
Willmott, H. (2005). Organization theory as a critical science? Forms of analysis and new organizational forms. In H. Tsoukas & C. Knudsen (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory, (pp. 88—112). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
74.
Wittgenstein, L. (2001). Philosophical investigations (3rd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell. (Original work published 1953)
75.
World Bank. (1999). “What is Social Capital?” PovertyNet. Retrieved July28, 2006, from http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/whatsc.htm
