Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Nelly Todorova
Human capital represents the value of the skills, tacit knowledge and capabilities of the individuals
associated with an organization. Individuals in organizations possess general or public knowledge
(generic human capital), occupation-specific human capital and industry-specific capital. Occupationspecific
and industry-specific knowledge relate to established knowledge domains in professions,
sometimes they are obtained through certification with a professional body and hold more value to the
individuals and the organizations. Finally, employees as a result of their work experience in an
organization gain firm-specific knowledge such as unique processes, documentation or trade secrets.
Such knowledge is only applicable and valuable to a particular organization. Therefore, the acquisition
of firm-specific knowledge increases the value of human capital to the organization and reduces the
employee mobility. However, research shows the issues of sharing knowledge increase with
increased proportions of firm-specific knowledge (Lepak&Snell 2003). As employees gain more of
what is uniquely valuable to the organization, they are more reluctant to share it as they perceive this
capital as a valued asset. From organizational perspective, knowledge increases and its value
increases with the number of users and moving it to the organizational level. Organizations face a key
issue of selecting KM practices which enable and encourage sharing.
Structural capital is a component of intellectual capital and refers to the value of the processes and
packages that allow human capital to be used effectively to create value (Smith & McKeen, 2003,
p356). It relates to the knowledge that has been captured/institutionalised within the structure,
processes and culture of the organization (Petrash, 1996). Structural capital has embedded in it
socially validated and useful knowledge and it can be classed as a knowledge asset (Boisot, 1998,
p117; Bowman & Swart, 2007)
Customer capital is another component of intellectual capital and represents the value of the
relationships of an organization with the people with whom they do business (Smith & McKeen, 2003
p356, Ravald & Gronroos, 1996, p23, Petrash, 1996)
Social capital
Social capital is based on the assumption that social relationships have value. It is a know-who, an
informal organization, a social structure that exists in parallel to the formal hierarchy of an
organization (Smedlund, 2008). Social capital is both a resource and a value driver. Relationships
between employees and contacts from outside the organization are considered a resource. Internal
network structures based on trust and common beliefs and norms allow organizations to acquire,
integrate and release resources, which is one of the most important value drivers (Smedlund, 2008).
Social capital is the sum of the actual and potential resources available that derive from the
relationships possessed by an individual or in a social unit (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). The
structural, cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital influence the combination and
exchange of intellectual capital which then directly affects the creation of new intellectual capital.
There are different perceptions of the components of social capital but they all fall in three categories-
networks, norms and beliefs. McElroy et al (2006) in their synthesis of the social capital literature
argue that all major forms of social capital are effectively different forms of knowledge. Therefore
knowledge management plays an important role in development of social capital. They propose that
knowledge management should care and feed the social capacity of groups and organizations to
learn and solve problems.
Human capital and social capital are parallel and complementary and they reflect different aspects of
a socially constructed wealth creating activities and resources. Similarly, IC is parallel to HC as it
focuses on group activity in contrast to the HC perspective which focuses on individual level activity.
Social capital provides the social relations and structures necessary to create and enhance HC and
IC ((Manning, 2010)
In conclusion the subject of value creation is made complex by its subjective nature, multiple levels of
analysis and the theoretical discipline scholars use to study it. As outlined in this section, value
creation studies focus on value outcomes such as organizational performance and profit, activities
that create value, dynamic capabilities of the organization and VRIN resources. The following section
will focus on how these main areas of value research are represented in the context of IT-based
initiatives.
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