This article is about to discuss and understand the Social Networks and Communities of Practice and to differentiate both with real life examples.
3.1 - Review of Communities of Practice and Social Networks in literature
Knowledge is widely recognized as a critical organizational resource irrespective of economic sector or type of organization (Davenport & Prusak 1998). It is difficult, if not impossible, to maximize the value of this resource without adequate understanding of how to influence and share knowledge throughout the organization. Therefore this blog try to promote this Understanding by examining the emerging role of Social Networks and Community of Practice (CoP).
3.1.1 - What are Communities of Practice?
There has been a growing focus on the role of communities of practice (CoP) within the KM domain. CoP have been described as,
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”. (Wenger 1998).
They are different from teams and functional units as they are self-organizing systems whose lifespan is determined by its members, based on the intrinsic value that membership brings. Such communities are not constrained by time and space and therefore can span organizational boundaries (Wenger 1998).
According to the Wikipedia Communities of Practice can be defined by following steps,
There will be Groups of people who come together to share and to learn from one another face-to-face and/or virtually.
They are held together by a common interest in a body of knowledge and are driven by a desire and need to share problems, experiences, and best practices.
Members deepen their knowledge by interacting on an ongoing basis.
This interaction leads to continuous learning and innovation.
What do communities of practice look like?
Communities develop their practice through a variety of activities. The following table provides a few typical examples:
Mainly there are two extreme of Communities of practice based on how they interact with each other in order to exchange Knowledge,
Face-to-face (Physically) -------------- Virtual Networks
Virtual Networks
In a virtual community a group of people who come together to share and to learn from one another via a communication media such as email, Blog, Forum, Discussion Boards, Wiki, videoconferencing and the services typically provides a way for members to contact friends of other members in order to share knowledge.
Note:
I will discuss this issues in detail in section 3.2 – In Critical Analysis.
Below table shows some examples for the Face-to-face and
Virtual Communities of practice at Ericsson.
Source: Magnusson & Davidsson 2004
I will discuss one of this example in details in section 3.3 – Reflection from practice.
3.1.2 - What is Social Networks?
Before step into the term “Social Networks”, first I would like to differentiate the term “Community” and “Networks”.
Siemens (2006) defines a network as connections between entities to create an integrated whole. He defines a community as the clustering of similar areas of interest that allows for interaction, sharing, dialoguing and thinking together.
Lave and Wenger (1991) point out that community does not mean necessarily co presence, a well-defined, identifiable group or socially visible boundaries. It does imply participation in an activity system about which participants share understanding concerning what they are doing and what that means in their lives and for their communities. As a special type of community, they introduce the concept of Communities of Practice (CoP).
Wenger (1998) also notes “communities and networks are everywhere. We all belong to a number of them; at work, at school, at home, in our hobbies. Some have a name and some do not. We are core members of some and we belong to others more peripherally”.
So what is Social Networks?
Professor J. A. Barnes first coined the term “Social Networks” in the 1950s – according to him “An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby” (cited from www.pcmag.com), he defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people.
Social Networks can also be divided in to two based on how they interact with each other.
1. Through face to face
2. Through Digital Media
Here I can give an example for face-to-face Social Networks, which is said by a one of the member of our class (Prof. Mark Woodman, 2008) cited in Knowledge Management (waseem) blog. According to him “a party after a successfully hosted event in a hotel. The conversations and connections between people after such a party can form a social network, ……”
According to the Wikipedia A social network is “a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, idea, financial exchange, friends, dislike, conflict, trade, web links, sexual relations or disease transmissiones”
Example For Social Network tools (Also called as S/N Services or S/N Softwares),
Name Description/Focus
Broadcaster.com Video sharing and web cam chat
Classmates.com School, college, work and the military
Del.icio.us Online social bookmaking.
Digg community-based news article popularity website
Facebook General. Popular in Canada, UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
YouTube Video sharing.
Flickr Photo sharing
GuildCafe Online games
Hi5 General. Latin American and Asian teens.
LibraryThing Book lovers
lifeknot Shared interests, hobbies
LinkedIn Business
LiveJournal Blogging
MEETin General
MySpace General. Popular Worldwide.
MyYearbook General
WAYN Travel and lifestyle
Windows Live Spaces Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces)
3.2 – Critical Analysis
3.2.1 What is Communities of Practice in my perspective?
In my perspective Communities of Practice can be defined as “connecting people (it could be face-to-face and/or virtually) so that they collaborate, share ideas, and create knowledge for a common interest to an extended period”
In CoP they don’t have a certain goals but the do have a purpose.
Communities of practice are a more focused version of formal/informal network, and managers should regard them as company assets and look for ways to protect them. We discover how to do our jobs through informal learning; observing others, asking the person in the next cubicle, calling the help desk, trial-and-error and simply working with people in the know. Informal learning is however not restricted to a corporate context. Our academic learning also comes from different informal channels; for example, through sports event, research, experiments, story-telling and discovery. Outside the classroom boundaries, we use Google, communicate with peers, join online communities, and work on problems together, share learning resources, etc.
Comparison between Communities of practice and other kinds of groups.
Communities of practice are not a new kind of organizational unit. Rather, they are a different cut on the organization's structure–one that emphasizes the learning that people have done together rather than the unit they report to, the project they are working on, or the people they know. Communities of practice differ from other kinds of groups found in organizations in the way they define their enterprise, exist over time, and set their boundaries. The following table provides a few comparisons between them.
To differentiate between CoP and Network, Wenger (1998) states that a CoP is different from a network in the sense that it is about something; it is not just a set of relationships. It has an identity as a community, and thus shapes the identities of its members. A CoP exists because it produces a shared practice as members engage in a collective process of learning.
3.2.2 What is Social Networks in my perspective?
In my perspective Social Networks can be defined as “group of people who set up a relationships (face-to-face and/or virtually) in order to share their knowledge, ideas, informations and interest ( common or uncommon).
Interactions can be done through face to face or via some kind of Digital Technology and Telecommunication media” such as Chat, VoIP, Mobile, Technologies, Wikis, Email Video/Phone Conferencing, blogs, etc.
Social Network Tools can be divided in to two main elements.
Internal Social Networks
This is closed/private community that consists of a group of people within a company, association, society, educational institute and organization.
Ex: Wiki, Chat Room, Blogging, E-mail, Video Conferencing
The universities Oasis Plus web site (Which consist of discussion board, chat, email, etc) and Our Knowledge Management Blogs can be a proper example for this.
External Social Networks
This is open/public community and available to all web users.
Ex: Facebook, YouTube, Hi5, WAYN
Relationship between CoP and Social Networks
According to the above diagram Physical CoP and Physical S/N are both totally different activities. But nowadays-Social technologies help us to do these physical social interactions (P-CoPs or P - S/Ns) via web based without physically present. By using these social networking sites we can do virtual communities of practice as well as social networking in order to share information and knowledge.
Note: I will discuss some of these examples in details in my next article. Article 04
3.3 – Reflection from practice
3.3.1 – Real life example for CoPs
Example 01:
Here I would like to explain more on how Competence Group use Face-to-face Communities of practice at Erricson
In this scenario the main objective of this group is to improve knowledge sharing between Flow Control centers worldwide that responsible for order fulfillment and complete order flow. As I mentioned in the table they have 200 members in 14 different countries. In each country they have one Competence Group leader. These CG leaders meet once a month and all CG members meet 3-4 times a year at 2-day seminar in order to develop common terminology, processes and to discuss process improvement. In this seminar all members discuss about ongoing work and state new suggestion in order to improve their business process. By having this kind of communities of practice the Ericcson Group have improved their processes within the Flow Control centers.
Example 02: (Cap Gemini – NCN MS Electronic Community- Virtual Community)
Cap Gemini was Europe's largest information technology (IT) services and management consulting company with more than 40 offices and 4,500 employees in the Nordic region. The main objective of Cap Gemini – NCN MS Electronic Community is to provide a forum to their 345 programmers who working with Microsoft products in order to help each other to solve day-to-day problems. When the programmers come a cross particular problem they post questions on the forum in order to get a solutions from others. This forum helps each other to share their knowledge and to solve problems through posting questions.
Example 03:
Based on my organization we have an informal staff meeting every Monday morning in order to discuss, solve problems regarding any matter what we faced in previous week. (Here we mainly talk about patient care and to improve it) There all the members from different department irrespective to their job were participate to discuss their problems. Therefore by having this type of CoP it will lead to establish a good patient care environment within our organization.
3.3.2 – Real life example for Social Networks
Example 01- Our Knowledge Management Blogs
Our Knowledge Management Blog is a good example for social networking in practice. Here we post an article regarding some theory or research, and then Commenting on blog posts makes the interaction between blog-author and reader possible and this leads to interesting discussions. Then new blog-reader can join the discussion by commenting or writing a post on his or her own blog with a reference to the blog post that they want to comment on. Track backs detect these remote references and enable to establish a distributed discussion across multiple blogs. Consequently, a social network from people with similar practices or interests can be form in order to share knowledge.
Example 02 – YouTube (Video sharing)
YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips.
In YouTube web site users can simply upload important videos about conferences or presentations regarding some common topic (will say Knowledge management). Then who has similar interest in this topic can view all these videos by simply clicking on them. This can be used by organizations in order to gain and share knowledge.
Good example is, On 15 February 2008 we looked at one of the presentations by David Weinberger regarding Enterprise 2.0 - the Collaborative Technologies Conference, held on 05 June 2007 in Boston MA in our knowledge management class. Although we haven’t heard about this author and not physically presented on that day the YouTube gave the opportunity view this video and share knowledge about Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0/ Business 2.0.
3.4 - Reflections on learning together:
- Learning out come 01: What is Communities of Practice and Social Networks
First I have learned what are Communities of Practice and Social Networks and their similarities and differences when compared to an organization, teams.
§ Then we compared the CoP and S/N in order to differentiate. There I have learned that CoP has a purpose, similar interest to achieve some things and doesn’t have a certain goals.
§ After having all our argument Prof. Mark explain this by giving a good example (University). He said within the university there could be no of CoPs and each CoPs have their own purpose. But university as a whole they have a one organizational goal or purpose. And he explained to have a good CoP then the university should support with appropriate Technology, Social background (By motivation, consider the culture and the values), and by having good incentives. By viewing this example I got clear idea about the two.
§ And in CoP the no of participate is smaller when compared to S/N. S/NS are widely spared through out the globe.
§ Then we have looked some examples for each and how these example help for knowledge management. (Hi, MySpace, Facebook) - Learning out come 02: Type of CoPs and S/Ns with real life examples
By doing research and readings I have learned different type of of CoPs and S/Ns with real life examples.
In our seminar we looked at one of the presentations by David Weinberger in Enterprise 2.0 - the Collaborative Technologies Conference, Boston MA, June 18-21, 2007. That presentation gave me an opportunity to learn underlying concepts of Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0/ Business 2.0.
References - Davenport and T H & Prusak (1998) Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
- Etienne Wenger (1998) Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge Universit
- Siemens, G. (2006) Knowing Knowledge and ISBN: 978-1-4303-0230-8.
- Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Wikipedia Retrieved February 28, 2008, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community
- Waseem, I. (2008): Web blog, Retrieved February 28 , 2008, from https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3197783362314060796&postID=5919312277231957366
No comments:
Post a Comment