Michael Ayers refers to Jim Botkin's new book, Smart Business, and I would
like to add that I think it's well worth reading. A few days back I
completed reading an advanced uncorrected proof of Botkin's book (loaned
to me by a client who I'm helping with some Knowledge Management or KM
initiatives). I liked Botkin's book so much that I bought a copy of the
published version for my own library. As Michael points out, Botkin draws
a distinction between Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Knowledge
Communities (KCs), the latter being much more intentional and clearly part
of the formal organization.
In my client's case, we're trying to figure out how to foster and nurture
CoPs (we know we can't design, engineer or control them) but, at the same
time, we want to leave the door open to the possibility that some of them
will prove so critical that, to the extent we can, we will want to help
them migrate toward becoming Knowledge Communities. In our view, CoPs and
KCs are at opposite ends of a continuum. On the CoP end, the primary
value is to the members and a CoP is very definitely part of the informal
organization. At the KC end, the primary value is to the company and a KC
is very definitely part of the formal organization.
The major thrust regarding CoPs will likely be one of trying to keep
otherwise well-meaning managers from inadvertently driving them
underground as a result of showering them with too much attention.
--Regards,
Fred Nickols Distance Consulting "Assistance at A Distance" http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm nickols@worldnet.att.net (609) 490-0095
[Host's Note: In association with Amazon.com, this link...
Smart Business : How Knowledge Communities Can Revolutionize Your Company by James W. Botkin http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684850249/
...Rick]
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>