Organisation vs. Networks vs. Communities of Practice

In this post are the results of my research on the meanings of the terms; Organisation, Networks and Community of Practice, the relationship between these terms if any, and my application of the terms as understood.

Organisation
It may be hard to provide one uniform definition of an organisation. My opinion of a simple yet complete definition states that an Organisation
“... is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment” (Wikipedia, 2009)

Some key words stand out for me in this definition and these words make up the essential elements of an Organisation: Social arrangement, Goal and Controlled Performance. More here on types of organisation.

My Group as an Organisation
A requirement in my Knowledge Management Module is to form Organisations. Let’s look at my organisation called The Eagles and made up of Francis, Christos, Yemi, Azam, Joanna and I.

Social arrangement?
We went through introductions and got to know each other, discovering backgrounds, experiences and expectations. We created a network through our individual blogs. We meet at least once a week.

Purpose or goal?
The goal of the group is to gain and apply knowledge of Knowledge management strategies and to excel in the module. To meet this goal, a strategy to share individual knowledge as well as support members through comments and critique has been put in place.

Controlled performance?
A leader was selected to offer direction plus each individual in the team has a responsibility which is controlled by deadlines and checked by other members.


Social Networks
A simple definition of a Network which made sense to me is that it is a group of people with similar interest who interact for mutual assistance (The free dictionary, 2009)

A network in an organisation will create the ability for individuals within the Organisation to share up to date ideas and information. Social networks allow a user to create, join and maintain a networks of close friends, business associates or other individuals with common interests for social or professional reasons. (O’Muchu et al 2004). A social network could simply be close friends who know each other through friends.

In recent years and with the dominance of the internet and the World Wide Web, ability to send and retrieve information across geographical borders has changed the paradigm of networks. The possibility of a borderless community now exists. E.gs of online social networks are; Facebook, myspace, Linkedin, Tribe, Cyworld and an endless list of others.

My understanding
Social networks have existed long before the well known virtual platforms we have today, an illustration of this is the social networking system which exists in the some of the major tribes in Nigeria. It is called the age grade system. A range of three to five years is what often marks the boundary for each age grade. Members offer mutual assistance and share ideas towards making the society better. There is also a feeling of belonging for the individuals. This social network is a very strong one and is maintained through out the lives of the members.

Communities of Practice
From my understanding of networks, it is possible to have a network of individuals who share a practice but are not known to each other? Furthermore, where part of this network of practice begin to develop tighter clusters and start to reciprocate the sharing of ideas then it is referred to as a Community of practice (Stenmark D. 2002).

A Community of Practice according to Wenger E. (1998) defines itself along 3 main dimensions which are; What it is about (a joint enterprise), How it functions (the relationship that bind members to a social entity) and what capability it has produced (shared communal resources which members will develop over time. A CoP is different from a social network or a geographical community because neither has to do with a shared practice, which is the core of a CoP.

Illustration of theory
Wenger, E (1998) states that a CoP has three essential components which are Domain, the Community and the Practice.

To illustrate this, I would use Goal keepers in football clubs as an example of a CoP. Goal keepers from European clubs meet once a month to interact and share ideas.

The domain here represents the shared interest, which is goal keeping, in football and this is the identity of the Community. Consenting to membership of this community by each goal keeper indicates commitment to the Community.

The Community is the actual meeting, coming together, sharing experiences, knowledge and ideas on the interest. In the community, relationships are built and members can engage in joint activities and learn from each other. Communication by e-mail or other non-physical form does not constitute a CoP. It the actual interaction once a month of these goal keepers that is important.

The Practice means that this shared interest is practiced by members. Therefore, individuals who are not goal keepers but come together to discuss issues in goalkeeping do not constitute a CoP. The actual goal keepers practice this interest in their clubs and therefore can be said to be a CoP.


Relationship between Org, net & CoP
Can these three work to the benefit of each other? work for or against each other? If CoPs have been proven to facilitate learning and sharing of ideas and skills, can organisations take advantage of CoPs that may exist within or even outside of its boundary? Can social networks also enhance organisational learning? We’ll find out in a minute.

CoPs can and do exist within an Organisation and because they are bound by the practice and not the organisation affiliate, they can cut across Organisations and business units. In today’s organisation, there is no doubt as to the importance of knowledge. After all, “Knowledge is power” quoting the words of Sir Francis Bacon. A CoP provides an ideal platform for learning and knowledge

Illustration of theory
using a scenario where a CoP exists within an Organisation, I would use my organisation as an illustration. Guaranty trust bank (GTB) is a bank made up teams divided into marketing and operations teams. Each team is made up of 3 to 4 officers including a team leader. GTB uses a local area network (social network) which forms a network of all staff and teams within the bank. Through this network, staff within some marketing teams decide to meet every Friday to share experiences and ideas gained from their daily activities (CoP created), ranging from how to manage a difficult team leader, marketing experiences, difficult customer issues. Member share experiences which resulted in signing on major accounts or tips on how similar situations were handled. Knowledge shared within this CoP will then filter back to member teams and subsequently on to other teams thereby transforming the organisation as a whole.




Lesser E.L. and Storck J (2001) found that Organizational performance was influenced by activities of CoPs in the following areas:

Decreasing the learning curve of new employees:
Let’s assume a new officer is assigned to one of the units and joins the existing CoP, it will be easy for him to settle nicely into their new role and consequently become more productive quicker than if there was no such CoP.

Responding more rapidly to customer needs and inquiries: CoP members in GTB may provide the best answers to client issues. Officers who have encountered similar issues will gain the knowledge to solve the issue thereby responding to the client’s need quickly.

Reducing rework and preventing “reinvention of the wheel”:Learning from shared experiences within the CoP will ensure that teams do not make mistakes that have already been made by other teams who have members in the CoP.

Spawning new ideas for products and services:The CoP in GTB can serve as a platform for innovative ideas. When members share their different views on a common issue, it enables the emergence of innovative ideas on the bank’s products and services.

Conclusion
It is clear from the above how well an Organisation can perform giving the existence of a social network and an active CoP. Every Organisation that supports and stimulates CoP and social networks within it will enhance organisational learning and competitive advantage consequently.


References:
Lesser E.L. and Storck J. 2001. Communities of practice and organisational performance. IBM system journal, Knowledge management 40 (4) 2001.

O’Murchu I., Breslin J.G and Stefan Decker. 1984, Online Social and Business Networking Communities DERI – Digital Enterprise Research Institute.

Stenmark, D. 2002 Information vs. Knowledge: The Role of intranets in Knowledge Management, Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE.

Wenger,E. (1998): Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Online references:
Wikipedia (2009) online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation (accessed February 2, 2009)

The free dictionary (2009) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/network (accessed February 2, 2009)