6.3 Harnessing convergent networked communities
Figure 2 Convergent networked communities (© Bowles 1998, by permission)
The greater the ability of leaders in the organisation to build convergent relationships within the community, the better the ability to stimulate action and opportunities based on the desired strategic outcome. A group identity ensures that the perceived risk to the individual is low and strategy mirrors their individual needs. So long as purpose holds meaning, individuals and groups will continue to reinforce the original purpose of the community (as in Figure 2).
The networked community depicted in Figure 2 stresses the organisation but focusses on the central, shared purpose for the relationships. It is the creation of shared meaning through these interactions that shape individual and group commitment. The community also promotes open communication and stimulates interaction between all parties in the network.
The above community may be wholly internal to an organisation. In contrast to a divergent community the relationship between these parties is based on the removal of structures imposed by each other that specifically hinder a sense of shared purpose. All partners can create and disseminate information, value-add to each other's processes and still achieve their own needs. It is the desire to interact within the network that forms the basis for the relationships.
Traditionally executive management perceives two main drawbacks to building wider relationships that are not necessarily driven by immediate performance needs. The first is that organisation's knowledge 'can walk out the door' with the employee. This is perceived not only as a waste, but also as a threat to competitive advantage. In a true knowledge community, however, those involved are widely dispersed through the organisation or across many organisations. The focus is also on building the network of relationships. As a result, knowledge resides in the relationships, not physical products. Individuals who leave will not have all the knowledge; they will take only the sense of a relationship that may have little real value outside its operating context.
The second perceived downside relates to the fact that an 'empowered', 'enlightened' knowledge community frees employees to integrate their lives as community members with their work in much more direct ways. Their lives are not nearly so compartmentalised, because they are encouraged to think and act across previously walled-in sectors.
These links and networks between the workplace and community are likely to create a new awareness of organisational responsibilities and ethics in relation to the physical site of their operation, the communities from which the organisations draw their labour and their wider client and stakeholder networks. The perceived downside in this scenario, then, is that there is pressure on an organisation to act more responsibly towards their geographic community. New ways of acting require a change in management's identity as well as in the organisation, and these changes often take a great deal of time to accept and implement.
Hints
The following strategies and techniques should be noted if you want to establish an effective environment for collaborative communication that is purpose driven (as distinct from an open community that is not purpose driven):
- Set an aim that confirms the importance of community prior to formal commencement.
- Establish a space where all members can feel secure and able to communicate without fear of 'failure' or 'fault'.
- Agree on expectations before collaboration commences.
- Encourage flexible rules for participation and sharing information.
- Promote means for everyone to engage in a time-effective manner.
- Encourage the setting of priorities.
- Create the tools all members can use to share and access information.
- Filter out information or interaction not part of the collective purpose (individuals may want to communicate directly or outside the established purpose of the community).
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