WHAT ARE PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES?

1. WHAT ARE PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES? Servane Crave – France Telecom Orange 29th September 2006

2. PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES AS KEY DRIVERS FOR INNOVATION AND COOPERATION IN COLLABORATIVE NETWORKED ORGANISATIONS.

3. Summary 1 • FROM VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES TO PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES • Virtual Community and CoP : definitions and case studies • Introduction to PVC in the Ecolead context • PRINCIPLES & CHALLENGES OF PVC • A thought balanced PVC • PVC principles • PVC operating model • PVC governance • ICT to support the PVC development • Social and societal Challenges behind PVC • Establishing PVC to foster innovation in CNO • Conclusion & discussion 2 3

4. 1 FROM VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES TO PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES Virtual Community and CoP : definitions and case studies

5. Virtual Community: some definitions • a community involves a limited number of people in a somewhat restricted social space or network held together by shared understandings and a sense of obligation. Relationships are close, often intimate, and usually face to face. Individuals are bound together by affective or emotional ties rather than by a perception of individual self-interest. There is a «we-ness» in a community: one is a member. (Bender 1982) • a computer-mediated social group which is based on the belief that humans are social creatures and that communities enable socializing, and the virtual community is the technological response to this inherent human need. (Sudweeks and Rafaeli 1996)

6. VC: Web community – Online community Online community: web community Kim, 2000: “So in a sense, a Web community is simply a community that happens to exist online rather than in a physical world” Real world / virtual world • Online community: a network of stakeholders who use digital technology to create shared experience • 3 dimensions: • Social (open networks IRC, AOL, Yahoo and MSN) • Informal (branded communities and customer service sites, ZDNet) • Practical (Open political action groups like MoveOn, creative Planet and SAP) • But a trend to use the term "Community" in every way imaginable: Search Communities (dating), Trading Communities (eBay), Education communities (University of Phoenix with annual revenues at over a hundred million dollars with e-learning programs), Scheduled Events Communities, Community Consulting Firms... All those communities are clearly business-oriented but it matches with Kim’s definition.

7. Virtual Community typology Porter (2004)

8. What are Communities of Practice? • « set of people who share a concerns, a set of problems, or a passion about the topic, who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis » (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002). • Manville and Foote (1996) offered the following definition : “a group of professionals informally bound to one another through exposure to a common pursuit of solutions, and thereby themselves embodying a store of knowledge”. • According to Seely Brown and Solomon Gray (1998) : “at the simplest level, they are a small group of people who’ve worked together over a period of time. Not a team, not a task force, not necessarily an authorised or identified group. They are peers in the execution of « real work ». What holds them together is a common sense of purposes and a real need to know what each other knows”. • According to Lave & Wenger (1991) participation provides the key to understanding CoPs. “ CoPs do not necessarily imply Co-presence, a well-defined or identifiable group, or socially visible boundaries. However, CoPs do imply participation in an activity about which all participants have a common understanding about what it is and what it means for their lives and community”.

9. CoP Key dimensions A community of practice is a set of interacting people engaged in a common practice. Practice refers to the work people do, but also to the ideas behind it -- the shared understandings and the activities.  Practice does not exist in the abstract -- it exists because people are engaged in actions whose meanings they create and negotiate with each other.  Practice is not in the books or tools or forms, though it may involve all these artefacts. Communities of practice are a basic way that humans accomplish work. (Wenger) refers to the common purpose that binds the people together and provides a unifying goal and coherence for their actions. Joint-enterprise Mutual engagement Shared repertoire refers to the continual development and maintenance of a shared repertoire of procedures, techniques, shortcuts, jargon, tools, forms, symbols, mental categories, actions, concepts, etc refers to the amount and pattern of interaction among the members of the community. 

10. COP: development dynamics Community life cycle scattering Active Maturity Constitution Potential Time Put into effect Develop maintain Let it live Imagine Wenger, 2000

11. Some elements of comparison

12. Schneider Electric case study • Objective: develop a share-knowledge culture • Cops appeared when the group intranets were settled: lot of blank sheets had to be fulfilled with Knowledge which was often tacit knowledge. Building CoPs in the group was the clever solution • Acknowledgement: Schneider value lies more and more in people & in the knowledge they create on a day-to-day basis (because of: products more and more complex and "intelligent" - shorter life cycle - need for a better consistency of the offer - new partnerships, alliances and acquisition -e-business -market deregulation...) • 6 lessons learned in Schneider Electric case study: • ICT help & facilitate but CoP do not find their roots in internet/intranet tools • The sponsorship of a company manager is a necessity at the beginning • Employees and managers motivations are different in a KM program. Both points of • view must be analyzed differently. • Successful CoPs aren't those which have good databases or nice websites but those • who have a good network of members • CoPs are focused on training. They are a necessary vector of the organizations integration • Conventions and annual worldwide fairs mark out CoP life cycle.

13. COP: Schneider Electric : Knowledge scale in a COP Experts Conventions Experts invited Action Learning Confirmed participants Simulation Mentoring Evangelization Information Formation E-learning Beginners Admission in the community Novices

14. IBM case study 1 Gongla & Rizzuto (2001) realised a IBM case study during a five years period. In 1995, IBM global Services began implementing a business model that included to support for the growth and development of communities of practice. Gongla & Rizzuto described specific scenarios of communities within IBM Global Services at various stage of evolution: potential stage, building stage, engaged stage, active stage and adaptive stage.

15. IBM case study 2 Fundamental functions for the stages of evolution: “Communities of knowledge do not have to reach the later stages of evolution to contribute value to the business. Even communities that are in a continual stage of building can provide a magnet for capturing and sharing intellectual capital and attracting skilled resources. And they are in a position to advance, if the business needs or community members require it.”

16. Lessons learned from this case study • Gongla & Rizzuto have shown existing gap between member's objectives (share and develop knowledge) and organisation's goals (create values and develop innovation) • => hierarchical control is incompatible with communities (CoP’s) bases.

17. Key success factors of CoP • Real exchanges between members: high level of participation • Belonging feeling develops supported by recognition codes • A hard core of permanent members, with strong interpersonal relationships • Acknowledged leaders (animators, experts) who play their roles • An understanding of common ICT Ex: According to Dr. Ali Hossaini, Pantar Consultant : A successful community depends on: - Well-defined goals - Focused research - Extensive planning - Appropriate applications - Ongoing support from sponsors - Flexibility to evolve Ex: Schumlberger - Strong engagement from top management - Clear objectives: real demand and opportunity of business - roles of members established - ICT’s ease of use Also according to Dr. Ali Hossaini, Pantar Consultant: Ingredients for Success are: - Shared purpose - Ease of use - Accountability of each member - Trust reward (prize context) - Continuity Keep it simple!

18. 1 FROM VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES TO PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES Introduction to PVC in the Ecolead context

19. PVC definition A Professional Virtual Community is an association of “individuals” (being those employed by Companies or Individual Professionals) explicitly pursuing an economic objective, identified by a specific knowledge scope and aimed at generating value through members’ interaction, sharing and collaboration. This interaction is optimized by the synergic use of ICT-mediated and face-to-face mechanisms. The overall PVC generated value consists of advanced knowledge, professional services and social cohesion among members.

20. VT definition The PVC members temporarily aggregate in Virtual Teams (VT) for addressing specific business opportunities. It is up to the members to decide the extent of their individual involvement in PVC activities, which is complementary to, and co-existent with, other classical occupational forms.

21. PVC & VBE: similarities and differences

22. 2 • PRINCIPLES & CHALLENGES OF PVC

23. Social Knowledge Business A thought balanced PVC • the absence of the businessdimension would result in a limited activity scope, putting at risk the PVC sustainability and members’ viability to spend significant time in the community activities. • The lack of the socialelement, ensuring trusted relationships among the members, would limit the readiness to approach business opportunities and impair the free share of knowledge among members. • Not addressing theknowledgedevelopment element would limit the usefulness of the community for the build-up of the knowledge society, reduce motivation of the knowledge worker and impairs his aspiration to obtain higher recognition and even economical reward. All the three elements are necessary for a sustainable, motivated and durable community.

24. PVC principles • a balance is to be envisaged within the PVC between what an individual offers to the community and what he can get from the his membership. • the type of cooperation within a PVC shall be intended as non compulsory business oriented, i.e., the knowledge creation shall not necessarily be based on an immediate business opportunity. The members have the possibility to participate to the Community in a "neutral", business independent way.

25. PVC principles • When members decide to join their skills in response to a concrete business opportunity, and to form a virtual team. In that latter case a formal procedure shall be agreed and undertaken by the involved members that have become partner in a commercial activity. • PVC will fulfil the knowledge workers expectations by providing them services and tools to effectively cooperate and get the best advantages from the association. PVC are intended to enhance the social relationships among their members despite the geographical boundaries and to improve the sense of belonging to a consolidated social group. PVC will be based on mutually agreed social and ethical responsibility to which their members will be bound

26. PVC Operation through Virtual Teams PVC Operation through Virtual Teams PVC PVC PVC PVC PVC Operation Operation Creation Metamorphosis evolution VT Creation VT Creation Learn from experience Tuning Adapt to the customer’s requirements Major changes in the PVC objectives. Can also Be the end of the PVC to an Extend we should avoid. VT evolution VT operation VT operation VT evolution Toward the READINESS to cooperate: Share common objectivesExperts in the same domainSpecific businessopportunity Coordination issue Attracts members VT dissolution VT dissolution To highlight that this phase is a repetitive phase, According to Business opportunities. Prove the value-added expertise of the PVC to the customer through the Virtual Teams operation. PVC operating model

27. PVC governance • Empowerment. All decisions and responsibility must be taken, as far as possible, at the lowest hierarchical level. As a result, for instance, the PVC business activities are fully endorsed by the VT members. The contract is between VT and the client, the PVC itself carrying out a brokerage function. • Voluntary approach. The members’ participation to PVC activities, in terms of both quantity (which percentage of their working time) and typology (which kind of activities, such as research, industrial application, internal projects etc.), is decided by the member itself on a voluntary basis. The member is not an employee. • Self-organisation. The organisation of PVC collaborative activities is left, as much as possible, to its members actually performing those activities. • Peer assessment. Any time there is the necessity for subjective evaluation (e.g. project selection and award, prize award, quality control, subjective performance metrics) this is done by assembling an ad–hoc peer committee which is empowered to take the decision.

28. ICT to support the PVC development

29. ACP: functionalities Human competencies management Social Portal and social management Knowledge Business Collaborative business management Knowledge management Co-work management

30. Relations’ Management Managing integration of workers in PVC depends on: • Voluntary approach • Job security • Risks prevention Manage integration of new workers in existing PVC • Manage relationships between members • Conflicts between members • Engagement and motivations • Self organization Manage relationships with traditional firms Social Virtual Environment Deal with social and virtual environment in terms of: • Managing time • Sharing between virtual and physical communities • Creating and stimulating trust between members and trust between the PVC and partners • Avoiding isolation and negative “digital past” in a virtual world • Bridging learning between physical and virtual environment Social Capital Drive multicultural and different members of PVC inside social community • sponsorship to be part of the PVC • Impact of different company's culture on the homogeneity of the PVC • Embeddeness of ties between members Social Challenges behind PVC Personal Welfare/Well-being Impact on personal welfare and well-being in the following areas: • Flexibility • Gender issue • Patterns of work • Welfare net • Quality of life

31. Societal challenges ICT and Society: Ten issues (Van der Mlen, 2003) Social Cohesion, isolation and exclusion Social Norms and antisocial behaviour Cognitive consequences, mental health, addiction Education and life long learning Work and organisation E-business, e-commerce and entertainment ICT and privacy Criminal and terrorist activities using ICT Identity manipulation and self management within communications Shifting power relations and politics Societal issues Ethical issues

32. Assesment of PVC social impact • Provide tools and methodologies to Policy makers to enable them to assess • impact of PVC. • Combining 3 broad groups of social impact (societal, economic & political) with 4 • different stages of the PVC adoption(immediate, short-term, medium term, long-term) • The following approach was identified: • Grouping identified social and societal implications • under Social/Economic/Political Impact • 2. Each group of PVC implications (societal, economic and political) • is provided with the scale from negative to positive impact with 4 • impact defitions per negative and positive ends of the scale (8 impact items per group). • Impact items are identified on the basis of the previous impact analysis and • graded from most negative to most positive one within the group of PVC implications. • 4. Each group of the PVC implications is analyzed across 4 stages of the PVC adoption • 5. Within given eco-, socio- and political- scenario, the most plausible scenario is • defined across all three groups of PVC implications and four stages of PVC adoption • (scenario building).

33. Simulation of Metholodogy for PVC Implications assessment (at the level of Social impact) + I. Immediate II. Short-term III. Medium-term IV. Long-term Re-inforced importance of digital participation Improved existing social bonds and networks Ability to utilize all skills and competencies as wanted personally Easier access to knowledge and social networks Education and Training Individual and Collective Welfare Activating closer virtual collaboration in existing networks More training delivered on-job or better training outside main employment Security nets around vulnerable groups (knowledge, social etc) Provision of security nets to PVC members (knowlegde, social, economic) Social Inclusion Provides incentive to evaluate one’s competencies and skills Access to knowledge and relevant services and markets for personal use PVC as a part of education and training process PVC as a life-long education and training provider Social Capital Integration with the existing social networks fascilitated online Meaningful online time (productive, socially rich) Spread welfare across regions and social groups (social cohesion) Mean for certain groups to remain more active in society (maternity leave) Healthcare and Well-Being PVC-job balance (combination of medical, time, access issues) Stress associated with the increased markets sophistication (options) One more technology-related subject to learn and become aware of Changes to the organization culture Complicated tacit knowledge transfer process Dissolved social capital due to the layers of social interaction, avatarization Access problems (limited promotion, education options are bareers) New layer of social interaction (member of PVC vs. a collegue at work) Increased digital exclusion, discrepancies among indsutries with/without PVC Loss of tacit knowledge and competencies (excessive digitalization) Strained work-life balance, more stress Further domination of English and current web culture Re-training and additional education needs Contribution to the digital gap, new form of digital exclusion Time spent on non-productive PVC activities PVCs available only to certain social types, egalitarism - I. II. III. IV.

34. 3 Findings and research issues

35. Establishing PVC to foster innovation in CNO: challenges • PVC as a structured and long-term framework enabling knowledge exchange & sharing, socialisation and success of collaboration opportunities for individuals • Need for: • a focus of activities to involve individuals and prevents knowledge dissipation • a European legal framework enabling cross borders PVC. • KPI to measure objectives reach • Shared goals, transparency

36. Measuring Social Capital in PVC To detect their propensity to trigger collaboration Elements of social organization Shared Cognitive dimension Relational dimension Action feedback Interpersonal relationship Structural dimension defined by the network connectivity Interactions/collective actions Impacts on efficiency and effectivity of the action on Cooperation & Coordination Based on Nahapiet & Goshal's model

37. Thanks for your attention! Contact: servane.crave@orange-ft.com