6.4 Internal convergent (purpose-driven) networks
Convergence occurs when individuals approach an agreed purpose without sacrificing their sense of identity in other networks, groups or contexts. For instance, a worker may become attuned to an agreed workplace purpose, but may also have a distinct identity as coach of the local football team, as a member of a trade union or as a participant in a school's parents and friends association.
In organisations with hierarchical structures, knowledge becomes compartmentalised and is hard to hold in a holistic way. Yet a holistic grasp of the organisation is needed to manage knowledge so that:
- Those with shared understanding and interest can work together;
- Those that need to collaborate can identify each other;
- Those working in the same supply chain with a common customer can work for the betterment of the customer's outcome; and
- Knowledge that is generated can be captured and communicated to the right people as quickly as is possible.
At the same time, organisations also need to manage the knowledge resident in groups to avoid the problems that arise when:
- A group uses its knowledge to the detriment of the overall strategic purpose;
- Collective and tacit knowledge is lost, limiting a group's ability to work together to achieve enterprise outcomes;
- Individuals conform to group thinking, alienating those who think differently and placing group cohesion above enterprise-wide strategic imperatives; and
- Groups develop outcomes and frameworks that challenge or sideline the strategic goals or knowledge of the enterprise.
In this sense, the formation of internal communities, networks, groups or subcultures that hold knowledge but do not contribute to corporate outcomes may create barriers to information flow. For example, the formation of cliques and rhetorical communities may directly inhibit the transfer of knowledge and reduce the total organisation's access to information.
Cliques are groups of people who tend to work in close proximity and communicate primarily with each other. Clique members reinforce their beliefs and their differences from the organisation through their communications and language. These groups are often called rhetorical communities. Such communities consist of people who participate in a rhetorical vision where their vision-for good or ill-typically reinforces behaviours inconsistent with the organisation.
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