Perspective Chapter: Human-Centred Organisational Agility – Culture, Competence and Social Capital in Small and Medium Enterprises

The chapter examines the role of human-centred organisational development in fostering agility and sustainable competitiveness within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Starting from the sociological interpretation of contemporary capitalism as characterised by structural uncertainty, flexible labour relations, and accelerated technological change, the study argues that traditional organisational paradigms based on stability, hierarchy, and economic rationality are increasingly inadequate for interpreting and governing transformation. In this context, organisational agility is conceptualised not merely as operational flexibility, but as a dynamic capability grounded in cultural, relational, and value-based resources. By integrating sociological theory with organisational studies, the chapter proposes an anthropocentric framework in which the drivers of organisational development are human capital, social capital, and shared values. SMEs are interpreted as suitable environments for such an approach because of their structural characteristics: shorter decision chains, closer proximity between entrepreneurs and workers, and territorial embeddedness. Within these contexts, distributed responsibility, collaborative governance, and practices of coopetition emerge as mechanisms through which organisations respond to instability while preserving strategic coherence and identity. The concept of the “integral enterprise” is developed as a model in which economic performance and social value creation are pursued through responsible governance, investment in competences, and the cultivation of trust-based relationships with stakeholders and communities. The idea of a renewed organisational humanism capable of reconciling competitiveness with social sustainability is proposed, as the suggestion that in knowledge-based and uncertainty-driven economies, the resilience of SMEs depends on their capacity to mobilise culture, competence, and social capital as strategic resources for development.