Knowledge Networks: Innovation Through Communities of Practice

357 Pages·2003·14.899 MB·English

by  Paul Hildreth, Paul Hildreth, Chris Kimble

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Paul M. Hildreth, K-Now International, United Kingdom
Chris Kimble, University of York, United Kingdom
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Knowledge networks : innovation through communities of practice / Paul
Hildreth, editor, Chris Kimble, editor.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59140-200-X (hardcover) — ISBN 1-59140-270-0 (softcover) —
ISBN 1-59140-201-8 (ebook)
1. Knowledge management. 2. Organizational learning. I. Hildreth,
Paul M., 1959- II. Kimble, Chris.
HD30.2.K6654 2004
658.4’038—dc22
2003022608
British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views
expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.
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Preface...........................................................................................................viii
SECTION I: COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Chapter I
Understanding the Benefits and Impact of Communities of Practice.........1
Michael A. Fontaine, IBM Institute for Business Value, USA
David R. Millen, IBM Research Collaborative User Experience
Group, USA
Chapter II
Overcoming Knowledge Barriers with Communities of Practice:
Lessons Learned Through Practical Experience....................................14
Eric L. Lesser, IBM Institute for Business Value, USA
Michael A. Fontaine, IBM Institute for Business Value, USA
Chapter III
Cultivating a Community of Practice Between Business and IT..........24
Valerie A. Martin, Brunel University, United Kingdom
Tally Hatzakis, Brunel University, United Kingdom
Mark Lycett, Brunel University, United Kingdom
Chapter IV
The Paradox of Communities of Practice: Knowledge Sharing
Between Communities ................................................................................36
Donald Hislop, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
SECTION II: COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Chapter V
Investigating the Influence that Media Richness has on Learning in
a Community of Practice: A Case Study at Øresund Bridge.................47
Andrew Schenkel, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Chapter VI
CoPs for Cops: Managing and Creating Knowledge through
Networked Expertise...................................................................................58
Maarten de Laat, University of Nijmegen and Utrecht University,
The Netherlands
Wim Broer, Police Education and Knowledge Centre,
The Netherlands
Chapter VII
Communities of Practice in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution ........70
Roger Kolbotn, Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency
Planning, Norway
Chapter VIII
Innoversity in Communities of Practice....................................................79
Susanne Justesen, Innoversity Network, Denmark
Chapter IX
User Networks as Sources of Innovation.................................................96
Anders Lundkvist, Stockholm University School of Business,
Sweden
Chapter X
Building Customer Communities of Practice for Business Value:
Success Factors Profiled from Saba Software and Other Case
Studies......................................................................................................... 106
Brook Manville, Saba Software, USA
SECTION III: COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT
Chapter XI
Creating a Multi-Company Community of Practice for Chief
Information Officers.................................................................................. 125
John Moran, Global Gateways, Inc., USA
Lee Weimer, Weimer Collaborative, USA
Chapter XII
Viable Communities within Organizational Contexts: Creating and
Sustaining Viability in Communities of Practice at Siemens AG........ 133
Benjamin Frost, Siemens AG, Germany
Stefan Schoen, Siemens AG, Germany
Chapter XIII
Best Practices: Developing Communities that Provide Business
Value............................................................................................................ 142
Wesley C. Vestal, American Productivity & Quality Center, USA
Kimberly Lopez, American Productivity & Quality Center, USA
Chapter XIV
Building Sustainable Communities of Practice..................................... 150
Bronwyn Stuckey, The University of Wollongong, Australia
John D. Smith, Learning Alliances, USA
Chapter XV
How Information Technologies Can Help Build and Sustain an
Organization’s CoP: Spanning the Socio-Technical Divide?.............. 165
Laurence Lock Lee, Computer Sciences Corporation, Australia
Mark Neff, Computer Sciences Corporation, USA
Chapter XVI
Building a Community of Practice: Technological and Social
Implications for a Distributed Team....................................................... 184
Pete Bradshaw, Anglia Polytechnic University, United Kingdom
Stephen Powell, Anglia Polytechnic University, United Kingdom
Ian Terrell, Anglia Polytechnic University, United Kingdom
Chapter XVII
Facilitator Toolkit for Building and Sustaining Virtual Communities
of Practice ................................................................................................... 202
Lisa Kimball, Group Jazz, USA
Amy Ladd, Group Jazz, USA
Chapter XVIII
The Use of Intranets: The Missing Link Between Communities of
Practice and Networks of Practice?........................................................ 216
Emmanuelle Vaast, Long Island University, USA
SECTION IV: MOVING COPS FORWARD
Chapter XIX
Extending Richness with Reach: Participation and Knowledge
Exchange in Electronic Networks of Practice ...................................... 230
Robin Teigland, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Molly McLure Wasko, Florida State University, USA
Chapter XX
Trusting the Knowledge of Large Online Communities: Strategies
for Leading from Behind .......................................................................... 243
John S. Storck, Boston University School of Management, USA
Lauren E. Storck, Boston University, USA
Chapter XXI
Double Agents: Visible and Invisible Work in an Online Community
of Practice ................................................................................................... 256
Elisabeth Davenport, Napier University, United Kingdom
Chapter XXII
Cultivating a Public Sector Knowledge Management Community of
Practice........................................................................................................ 267
Shawn Callahan, IBM Cynefin Centre for Organizational
Complexity, Australia
Chapter XXIII
Click Connect and Coalesce for NGOs: Exploring the Intersection
Between Online Networks, CoPs, and Events..................................... 282
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, USA
Chapter XXIV
Where Did That Community Go? Communities of Practice That
“Disappear”................................................................................................ 295
Patricia Gongla, IBM Global Services, USA
Christine R. Rizzuto, NY Software Industry Association and
Project Management Institute, USA
Glossary....................................................................................................... 308
About the Editors ...................................................................................... 315
About the Authors..................................................................................... 317
Index............................................................................................................ 328
viii
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Communities of Practice are currently attracting much interest among
academics, consultants and in commercial organisations. Academic research-
ers are undertaking research into how CoPs can be supported, the relationships
within them and how this can help support the generation of new knowledge.
Similarly, consultants in the field are developing tools and techniques for sup-
porting, coaching and facilitating CoPs, advising organisations as to how they
can identify and nurture CoPs and seeking to demonstrate how organisations
can benefit from them.
Meanwhile, outside the Universities and Consultancies, Communities and
Networks of Practice continue to grow and spread: both online through e-mail,
bulletin boards and newsgroups and offline through meetings, lunches and work-
shops.
The network of relationships that develop in a CoP, the inner motivation
that drives them and the knowledge they produce, lead to the creation of an
environment that is rich in creativity and innovation. CoPs can help in finding
and sharing best practices and serve as engines for the development of social
capital. Many organisations now regard CoPs as a vital component in their KM
strategy. We hope that this book will help the reader to unlock the secrets of
CoPs in his or her own organisation.
There have been a large number of academic papers about Communities
of Practice but, so far, only a few books. Most of the books have, by necessity,
taken a rather theoretical approach. This book, however, will examine CoPs
from a practical viewpoint; it is directed at the general reader rather than a
specialist audience. Our aim is to draw on the experience of people who have
researched and worked with CoPs in the real world and to present their views
in a form that is accessible to a broad audience.
ix
In this book you will find a blend of the best of current academic research
in the field of Communities of Practice, observations from groundbreaking
consultancy in the field of Knowledge Management and the accumulated wis-
dom of practitioners working at the cutting edge of Knowledge Networks. It is
presented in a series of chapters, each of which seeks to offer pertinent and
practical guidance for those involved with building or managing knowledge net-
works in their day to day work.
OVERVIEW
The current environment for organisations is one that is characterised by
uncertainty and continuous change. This rapid and dynamic pace of change is
forcing organisations that were accustomed to structure and routine to become
ones that must improvise solutions quickly and correctly. To respond to this
changed environment, organisations are moving away from the structures of
the past that are based on hierarchies, discrete groups and teams and moving
towards those based on more fluid and emergent organisational forms such as
networks and communities. In addition to the pace of change, globalisation is
another pressure that is brought to bear on modern organisations. Although
some argue that the increased internationalisation should bring about an in-
creased need for knowledge sharing (Kimble, Li & Barlow, 2000), many
organisations have responded to this development by restructuring through
outsourcing and downsizing, which paradoxically can result in a loss of knowl-
edge as staff leave the organisation.
In the mid-1990s, a new approach called Knowledge Management (KM)
began to emerge (Ponzi & Koenig, 2002). KM was seen as a new and innova-
tive solution to many of these problems; however, in practice, much of what
was called Knowledge Management was often little more than Information
Management re-badged and simply dealt with structured data using a capture,
codify and store approach (Wilson, 2002). More recently, there has been rec-
ognition of the importance of more subtle, softer types of knowledge that need
to be shared. This raises the question as to how this sort of knowledge might
be ‘managed’. A certain type of community, the Community of Practice (CoP),
has been identified as being a group where such types of knowledge are nur-
tured, shared and sustained (Hildreth & Kimble, 2002).
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE:
A HISTORICAL VIEW
Communities of Practice (CoPs) as a phenomenon have been around for
many years but the term itself was not coined until 1991 when Jean Lave and
Etienne Wenger used it in their exploration of Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger,