Social networks in organizations

Abstract

This chapter explores how and why the social networks influence health, and the means by which they might be influenced. Social capital is a concept that is highly topical, especially with policy leads in the government. The chapter also explores what social capital means and highlights how it may reflect a means of making sense of complex responsive processes at a community level. Within any organization, community or society, it is possible to consider six capital groups: physical capital, financial capital, natural capital, human capital, cultural capital, and social capital. Social capital is a means of measuring something within social networks or communities. However, the reification of a complex system such as a community to measure something like capital must lose meaning and sense in its process. Trust is a key measure of social capital, but the current emphasis in modern health care systems is on accountability.