Intellectual Capital, Communication, and Information in Organisations and Communities

Abstract

The focus here is on die relation of informatic systems to intellectual capital in work organisations. Intellectual capital is frequently viewed as having several ingredient capitals, for example: human capital, internal structure capital, external structure/customer capital, and innovation capital (for example, Edvinsson & Malone, 1997). Edvinsson and Sullivan define intellectual capital as knowledge that can be converted into value (1996: 358). I argue mat intellectual capital in organisations and other collectivities includes three sets of assets: core capitals of organisational actors, communication capital, and community or social capital. Informatic systems enhance intellectual capital by facilitating the development and use of core knowledge and motivation capitals and the communication and community capitals that are the principal ingredients of intellectual capital as viewed here. Defining the relatively hidden assets of knowledge, motivation, communication, and communities of practice as capital that is essential to the competitive advantages and other successes of organisations underscores the fiduciary responsibility of organisational actors, executives and managers, system designers and operators, and, ultimately, all stakeholders to empower, encourage, and reward value-adding intellectual capital in organisations. The intellectual capital perspective provides a way to conceptualise the always present and often hidden factors which need to be designed, developed, renewed, and otherwise managed in socio-technical systems. The general idea of intellectual capital applies to collectivities of any scale or scope, from small groups through work enterprises to settlements, communities, and whole nations.