Communities Of Practice Teigland

Across the border with Communities of Practice September 2007 Dr. Robin Teigland Stockholm School of Economics robin.teigland@hhs.se

A world of rapidly growing knowledge …. > A person’s lifetime 18th century One week 2007 Fisch 2007

… that becomes quickly outdated …. 50% knowledge relevant 50% knowledge outdated First year of technical-based education Third year of education

..making it increasingly hard to keep up Growth Time Output of information and knowledge Human absorptive capacity Junks 1989

An increasingly connected world new friends family local colleagues old friends old colleagues colleagues at other offices Just a click away… virtual communities local networks old classmates avatars

” No one knows everything,
everyone knows something,
all knowledge resides in humanity.”
networks. Adapted from Lévy 1997

The formal organization Top-down, command hierarchy

Where do individuals go for help with problems? Co-located colleagues Intranet Non-electronic documents Internal electronic networks Contacts in other offices Firm boundary External electronic networks Internet Non-electronic documents Other contacts ? ?

It is increasingly through an organization’s informal networks that work gets done Informal network in pharmaceutical multinational

What is a network? A set of actors connected by ties
Ties/Links
Knowledge, trust, team, sit by, dislike, etc.
Alliance, customer, investment, etc.
Tie
Actors/Nodes
Individuals
Teams, organizations, etc.
Actor

Two departments within the same firm Department 1 Department 2 Higher degree of learning & knowledge sharing Poorer degree of learning & knowledge sharing

San Francisco Stockholm London Brussels Helsinki Madrid Copenhagen Islands of competence Rotated from Stockholm

Hinton 2007 What are communities of practice?

What are communities of practice?
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, insights, templates, tools, and best practices.
Members deepen their knowledge by interacting on an ongoing basis .
This interaction leads to continuous learning and innovation

Examples of communities of practice Hinton 2007

Challenges to knowledge databases
Time consuming and difficult
Takes times for writer to document experiences
Takes time for reader to search through databases, information overload
Often weak incentives to contribute golden nuggets
Difficult to understand
Difficult for writer to explain context, tacit ->explicit
Difficult for reader to interpret experience and use in own situation
Data becomes out-of-date very quickly
Difficult to maintain, especially in fast moving industries

It turns out that …. the community ends up being not the secondary resource for knowledge, but for the majority of participants …, it’s the *primary* resource.
Hinton 2007

From tacit to articulate knowledge
“ We know more than we can tell.”
Michael Polanyi, 1966
Tacit Articulated High Low Codifiability MANUAL How to play soccer

Knowledge is experience, everything else is just information. -Albert Einstein

CPs are not teams or personal networks McDermott 2001 -Obligation -Job requirement -Value -Commitment - Friendship Glue -Planned -Actively discovered -Serendipitously discovered Value Creation -Organize tasks -Meetings -Informal communications -One-on-one Activity -Assigned -Not voluntary -Defined boundary -Mostly volunteers -Permeable boundary -Friends & acquaintances -No boundary Members -Accomplish goal -Solve problems -Share info. & ideas -Expand knowledge -Share information -Friendship Purpose Team Community of Practice Personal Network

Hinton 2007 Top-down Command hierarchy Emergent organic network Communities of practice

Role of communities of practice in organizations
Create: Own & develop knowledge
Develop & manage good practice
Build organizational competence
Organize: Develop & manage materials
Develop tools, guidelines, templates
Manage databases
Disseminate: Connect people across boundaries
Who knows what
Home in changing organization & an uprooted society
Embed: Share ideas & insights
Share tacit, complex ideas & insights
Help each other solve problems & find innovations

Communities have different primary purposes Helping Best-practice Innovation Knowledge stewarding AQPC 2000

Organizations supporting communities
Hewlett-Packard
World Bank
DaimlerChrysler
Shell Oil
McKinsey & Co.
British Telecom
Xerox
British Petroleum
Ericsson
Siemens
CapGemini
IBM
Schlumberger
European Commission
McDermott 2001

A variety of virtual communities at an IT firm Knowledge Networking VP BD Business Concepts VP Sales Industry Knowledge HR Competencies COO Processes & Methodology Virtual community led by COO Wireless Branding Intranet *Virtual communities led by Business Concept responsible *Functional reporting to VP BD Travel Automotive Finance *Virtual communities led by Industry Group responsible *Functional reporting to VP Sales Proj Mgrs Technology Design *Virtual communities led by Competency Group responsible. *Functional reporting to HR

Cap Gemini – NCN MS Electronic Community
Objective
To provide programmers working with Microsoft products a forum to help each other solve problems
Organization
345 programmers across Nordic countries
Activities
Helping each other through posting questions and responses on listserv nicknamed “L2A2L” (Learn to ask to learn)
Critical success factors
“ Eldsjäl” – one who burned for community and walked the talk
High level of reciprocity
Teigland & Wasko 2003

Communities of practice at Ericsson Magnusson & Davidsson 2004 Community Type and Members Objectives Communication channel eRelationship Vodafone
Inter-organizational
1400 members in 10 countries
-Use internet to design joint e-business platform -Virtual Competence Groups
Intra-organizational
200 members in 14 countries
-Ensure sharing of best practices and commonality - Primarily face-to-face Ericsson Foresight - Inter-organizational including universities, experts, & institutions - 600 with core of 40 - Think tank on emerging trends in society, technology, & consumers - Virtual and face-to-face Ericsson System Architect Program, ESAP
- Intra-organizational
20 members from 14 countries
Facilitate inter-project learning and innovation
Retain key individuals
Primarily face-to-face

Communities of practice cross all boundaries Company Suppliers Customers Competitors Partners McDermott 2001

External communities are growing in importance! Online communities Schoolmates Avatars Previous work colleagues Large portion of new ideas and formal collaboration relationships come from external contacts Organization Physical networks

Encourage an open innovation attitude Not all the smart people work for us. We need to work with smart people inside and outside the company. The smart people in our field work for us. If you create the most and the best ideas in the industry, you will win. If you make the best use of internal and external ideas, you will win. Closed attitude Open attitude Chesborough 2003

The wisdom of crowds (Surowiecki 2004) Closed Expensive Complex Accurate Open Inexpensive Simple Close enough Hinton 2007

Crowdsourcing: Capturing the wisdom of crowds
What is it?
Customer participation in business and business development
Why the interest?
Experience
Ownership
Engagement
Loyalty
Brayrie 2007

What can organizations do? Innovation Product development Content generation Decision making Funding Sales & marketing Distribution Brayrie 2007

Innovations - www.innocentive.com

Problem solutions - The Goldcorp Challenge

Decision making & funding – My football club Brayrie 2007

Product development - www.ideastorm.com Brayrie 2007

Building the Dell community Brayrie 2007

Communities of practice – A driving force in crowdsourcing
Participation
Engagement
Commitment
Openness
Conversation
Connectedness

Communities of practice cannot be “managed”
You cannot force a plant to grow by pulling its leaves
You can, however, create the conditions for it to grow
McDermott 2001

Think of a public park…..
If we all enjoy the park without contributing to its maintenance, then there will be no park to enjoy

Cultivating communities of practice Define Motivate Moderate Connect Connect

Define the community of practice
Business relevance
Choose a topic that is value-adding for the business
Find common objectives across participants
Personal passion
Focus on real, current problems
Find people who care about the topic
Define focus and scope
What is the purpose of the community?
McDermott 2001

Moderate the community of practice
Build human relationships
Ensure an active coordinator – This is crucial!
Develop an active core group
Ensure time to participate
Combine virtual connections with face-to-face events
Conferences, electronic conferences, discussion boards
Work the public & private community space
It’s all about relationships! McDermott 2001

Community membership and roles Wasko & Teigland 2002 Outsiders Ask questions Don’t contribute Not committed Peripheral Contribute less Not committed Enjoy helping Coordinator “ Eldsjäl” Active Contribute less Challenge Enjoy helping Experts High commitment Contribute more Reputation Core Group

Building critical mass is crucial
It’s like going to the newest bar in town - the music is great, the drinks are cheap, the interior is cool…...but there’s no one there………..You gotta have critical mass to make it work!
Teigland 2003

Ensure communication technology fits with participants’ needs and abilities
Use familiar technology
Integrate sharing technology with everyday work
Customize technology to fit the community
Change functionality as community discovers what is valuable
McDermott 2001

Two extreme communities of practice Face-to-face Virtual

Public & private community space ~ 30% in the public space Public Space McDermott 2001 Events: Meetings, website, telecons Private Space Person to person

Communities are living things
Design from the inside
Involve community leaders in design
Design for different & fluid levels of participation
Not all must participate to the same degree
Design for evolution
Communities evolve in their own direction
Maintain creative disequilibrium
Avoid too much management support
Prevent competency traps
McDermott 2001

Cultivating communities of practice Define Motivate Moderate Connect Connect

Build an understanding of this “new” organizational form
Old = organic, value-driven
New = to understand dynamics of community processes and to intentionally develop communities
McDermott 2001

Why do people participate in a Community? Wasko & Faraj 2000
Useful information
Specific answer
Personal gain
Enjoyment
Learning
Reputation
Pro-social behavior
Reciprocity
Advancing the community
Tangible returns 26% Intangible returns 24% Community interest 50%

But remember people have dueling loyalties Loyalty Loyalty Organization Communities

Align incentives with CPs
Recognize and reward for collaborative behavior
At individual, group, and organizational levels
Show management commitment
Challenge Satisfaction $$$ Monetary Status and recognition

Reward and broadcast results
Reward
Collect data & tell stories linking activities, knowledge assets, & value
Broadcast results
User various means to communicate stories
Value is always for someone!

Critical failure factors for CPs
Community leaders inactive or lousy networkers
Scope too wide
Focus on standardizing work processes
Company leaders discourage participation
Build it, wait (pray) for them to come
Build more empty libraries
McDermott 2001

Interested in learning more?
Contact me at [email_address]
Sources
Brayrie, 2007, http://www.slideshare.net/brayrie/crowdsourcing
Hinton, A. 2007. http://s3.amazonaws.com/ppt-download/architectures-for-conversation-ii-what-communities-of-practice-can-mean-for-information-architecture-5733.pdf
Hustad, E. & Munkvold, E. 2005. IT-Supported Competence Management: A Case Study at Ericsson. ISM Journal.
Magnusson, M. & Davidsson, N. Knowledge Networking at Ericsson: A Study of Knowledge Exchange and Communities of Knowing. Chalmers Working Paper.
McDermott, R. http://www.mcdermottconsulting.com/
Wenger, E. http://www.ewenger.com/
More by Robin at
www.knowledgenetworking.org
Teigland, R. 2003, http://www.hhs.se/NR/rdonlyres/4165BDC8-C42C-43CF-8EEF-57DCEB0939BC/0/TeiglandthesisKnowledgeNetworking.pdf

Appendix

Some success stories Organization Purpose Approach Technology Results Chevron To reduce operating costs Communities of Practice (CPs), facilitate transfer of Best Practices
Standardized Microsoft platform
Plumtree portal
$2 billion reduction in annual operating costs (1991 vs. 1998)
Best Buy
Enterprise portal
Skill based people finder
Community sites
Employee toolkit
Increased production from 1500 to 6000 bbl/day for customer
Schlumberger To ensure knowledge in the hands of employees and customers Technical CPs, intranet & extranet Web-enabled To bring creative new solutions to market faster, shorten the learning curve, lower costs CPs, steering committee, design teams, KM Program Office
Reduced customer request time
Increased sales productivity
AQPC 2000

DaimlerChrysler- Engineering Tech clubs
Sharing and mentoring for process specialists
Frequent face-to-face social and professional meetings
Discuss current breakthroughs, best practices, manage Engineering Book of Knowledge
AQPC 2000 Jeep Truck Minivan Large Car Small Car Platform Engineering Tech Clubs Program Management Vehicle Development Body Interior Chassis Electrical/ Electronics

Ericsson Competence Groups for worldwide Flow Control Centers Country 1 Country 2 Country 14 1. Process & IT 2. Order mgt 14. Customer care Function Countries 3. Forecasting
CG Function Leaders
14 leaders meet monthly
Work 30% on CG
CG Function Members
2 day seminar 3-4 xs/year
Monthly phone conference
Work 3-5 days/mth on CG
Program Manager
Coordinator
Web Assistant
Magnusson & Davidsson 2004

Ericsson Competence Groups
Background and objective
To improve knowledge sharing between Flow Control centers worldwide that responsible for order fulfillment and complete order flow
Organization
14 Competence Groups focused on one Flow Control function each, e.g., forecasting, invoicing, consisting of one member from each of 14 Flow Control Centers worldwide
Each CG headed by one leader who devotes 30% of time to CG
Activities
14 CG leaders meet once a month and all CG members meet 3-4 times a year at 2 day seminar
Develop common terminology and processes
Discuss process improvements and how can be implemented
Monthly phone conferences to discuss ongoing work
Critical success factors
Well designed organization
All allowed to contribute and suggest improvements
Magnusson & Davidsson 2004

What about performance? Firm A High creative Low on-time High on-time Low creative Teigland 2003 High creative Virtual community Firm B

The strength of weak ties Network A’s knowledge Network D’s knowledge Network B’s knowledge Network C’s knowledge Granovetter 1973

Communities Of Practice Teigland

by Robin Teigland on Sep 22, 2007

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