Building Communities of Practice from Online Social Networks

Transforming the 21st Century Enterprise

by Thomas E. Simon, Founder, Prism USA, LLC Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for presentation at Collaborate East, Haynes Convention Center, Boston, June 25th 2002.

In its report, U.S. Competitiveness, 20011, the United States Council on Competitiveness described growing capabilities for innovation in many parts of the world which are intensifying competitive pressures on U.S. industry. The report presented a “roadmap” for strengthening competitiveness that included the formation of geographically localized “clusters of innovative capability.”

The World Wide Web changes the dynamic of competitiveness. Instead of “geographically localized clusters” we project formation of Economic Events Networks2 between dispersed clusters. In this way local and regional business units can be aligned as Communities of Practice with counterparts in dispersed global regions. Economic Events Networks can then align production capacity, talent and financial resources, thereby linking people, products, services and markets more efficiently as illustrated and described by the Gartner Group below:

“The 21st-century enterprise will be agile, virtual and resilient. Being agile, it will have speed and grace. Being virtual, it will work seamlessly across distances, organizations and business boundaries. ” – Diane Tunick-Morello, Gartner Group

Collaboration is the glue

We are focused on the strategic advantages of the World Wide Web in forming collaborative clusters of innovative capability beyond geographic and organizational boundaries. Our experience over the last 5 years, especially with EFMD and MCE,3 demonstrates how people can progress beyond online Social Networking to form Communities of Practice based on migration to mutually profitable economic events, as illustrated in Figure 2:

Knowing when to co-operate and when to compete is what determines the transition points from Social Networking through the stages outlined above. Social Networking can lead to a form of cooperative competition that fits the description the Council on Competitiveness has for what it calls “Business Clusters.” According to the report, business clusters can include companies and related organizations working together along with universities, polytechnics, expert advisers, suppliers and customers linked in a value adding chain.

The Council suggests government should invest in the creation of these clusters. But we feel this is not a likely scenario. We suggest clusters will form as interlinked corporate “Communities of Practice.” A description of how this can occur follows.

3 EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) based in Brussels, is Europe's forum f or information, research, networking and dialogue on innovation and best practice in management development. Prism hosted EFMD's eLearning event sponsored by IBM Europe Spring 2001

MCE (Management Centre Europe) is the European headquarters of the American Management Association based in Brussels. Prism Software developed and hosted E-Train, in April 2001 to help MCE faculty develop concepts and practices for online learning and training.

Social Networks - The Basis for Collaboration

Social Networks are the foundation for collaboration. Social Networks on the World Wide Web have a long tradition going back to “virtual communities” like ’The Well.’ Social Networks are defined as both informal and formal communities which gather over time around ongoing events, shared ideology or an attraction to thought leaders, or personalities. They are a step beyond news groups, message boards or online events which have a narrow focus and short span of participation.

Our experience reveals that participation in a Social Network is an important step in a progressive transition that engages people to build trust and form bonds that will allow meaningful economic relationships and events. This paper outlines the process, tools and methods to accomplish this.

Transition to Community of Practice

A Community of Peers is a formal Social Network that aligns people into relationships via affiliation, peer encouragement, recognition. An example is Howard Rheingold’s Brainstorms Community4 which is organized around online topics hosted by volunteers and paid associates. Such hybrid Social Networks are formed as a way to promote books or business interests of the thought leaders who form them, or to contribute some economic value to the organization that hosts them. Our experience in these communities suggests economic motivations replace purely social motivations, moving a Community of Peers to form more specialized Communities of Purpose and Communities of Practice.

A Community of Purpose aligns dispersed people around a shared purpose or commitment. An example of a Community of Purpose would be engineers from the US engaged in deep-water drilling aligning as an informal Internet forum with other engineers in Australia, Denmark and Russia, using the Internet to share data, ideas, experience and application specific software.

Communities of Purpose can occur informally, outside of governmental, organizational and other perceived boundaries. Such activity is encouraged by employers since there is economic value to be derived as members can share their experience and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to solving problems. In addition inter networking with potential clients is a known value that can be derived.

However, no Community of Purpose can survive without leadership and few leaders are able to support a Community of Purpose without driving it toward sustaining economic events. Professionals in such Communities may see the potential for their intellectual capital, or that of their employers, to be compromised. So they will then move toward a more formal alignment of shared purpose. In most cases this involves economic instruments such as Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) and Memoranda of Understanding (MOU).

When collaborative economic value is recognized, it must be supported in order for the collaboration to be sustained. To attract support a Community of Purpose must organize as a formal “corporate” entity. Our definition of a Community of Practice (CoP), therefore, is distinctive from Wenger5 In our definition a Community of Practice is a formal “corporate” entity whose end objective is to sell or deliver products and services that are produced as a result of practice member collaboration.

Basic Form of a Community of Practice

Each Community of Practice (CoP) will be formed around the purpose that unites members as described previously. But our experience suggests a replicable form can be described. This would include 5 distinct areas of focus as shown.

Each of the areas of focus or nodes connects with the business unit that serves a specific function. For example, the Facilitator Node connects with the “Community of Support.” This may include HR/OD and Help Desk services. It is a hybrid Community which is focused on supporting management in the implementation of change involved in transforming the organization into a Collaborative Workplace.

The initiation of such a model requires a process of transformation as suggested on the previous pages in which a filtering occurs aligning the right people into distinct Communities of Practice. Our experience suggests a C-Level Sponsor is necessary, at least initially, to legitimize a CoP. Our experience also suggests that an initial CoP as modeled above can then spawn the creation of a value adding chain within the organization.