For managers: Strengthen social capital

When you want to work with social capital, it is about starting from the cooperation you already have. As a manager, you can influence the framework that creates social capital.

Benefits of a high level of social capital

Social capital exists at all workplaces. You should base efforts to increase your social capital on your existing collaborative culture. As a manager, you can help build social capital through influencing the overall framework for:

  • Daily operations, and how you plan, coordinate and distribute work.
  • Overall leadership and management, including how you set and develop goals, visions, strategies and values.
  • Daily management, for example when ensuring tasks are completed.
  • Human resource management, for example when you give feedback and support and when you resolve conflicts.

High quality and productivity

Studies show that a workplace with a high level of social capital goes hand in hand with good psychosocial working conditions and high performance. As a manager, you will find that a high level of social capital leads to high quality and productivity because:

  • A feeling of fairness promotes motivation and willingness to collaborate, and employees work to realise the organisation’s goals and to perform their best. Fairness also has strong influence on stress because unfairness can be a stress factor.
  • Trust is important for job satisfaction and engagement, and consequently for productivity. Trust is crucial for the quality of the work performed, for job satisfaction and for employee health. Trust is also vital when a manager or the organisation wants to implement changes and new initiatives, because lack of trust can lead to conflict.
  • The higher the level of social capital and sense of fairness, the better the health of employees. A high level of social capital therefore leads to fewer sick days among staff.

Here is what you can do

  • Focus on the core tasks: How do we improve sales and our customers’ shopping experience?
  • Look at how you plan, coordinate and distribute work: Is it a fair allocation? Have you thought of everything? Do staff feel that everything is being appropriately and responsibly managed?
  • Establish structures and frameworks to underpin collaboration: Do we know each other’s tasks? Do we respect each other’s work and effort?
  • Build good relations across the hierarchy, between managers and employees and across departments and functions, etc.: Do we talk enough with each other? Do we have good relationships with one another?

More about core tasks

Focussing on core tasks will boost your social capital and improve quality and productivity. Together you can create better overview of core tasks, pull in the same direction and ensure a common understanding of what is quality, what your specific goals are, and how you will reach them. For example, you can:

  • Determine goals and expectations together, both expectations from management and from employees.
  • Determine together what creates quality and what is inexpedient or superfluous.
  • Sharpen your workplace profile and make the services you deliver clearer.
  • Focus on skills development.
  • Focus on specific work tasks and carry out workflow analyses.

Measure your social capital

If you want to raise your social capital, a good place to start is by mapping your current level of social capital.

If you have a health and safety group, it would be obvious to involve them in work to raise your social capital. Read more about methods and tools to measure social capital under Health and safety group.


Last revised at 04. July 2023