Managing within Social Networks

Quite an interesting article in Harvard Business Review about some research from the University of warwick on "Open Learning" circles in the business world. (I read teh hard copy, there is a summary behind a partial paywall over here). It really struck a chord to juxtapose it with the "Social Media Reality Check" event at POLIS last night. Joanne Jacobs liveblogged that over here, wasn't there but my impression was that the thing checked in last night was social media reality - at the entrance door

Anyway, the researchers show start would be recognised by any Social media adherent:

United by a common professional passion, participants would huddle around conference tables and compare data, trade insights, and argue over which designs would work best with local water systems. And the community achieved results: Participants found ways to significantly cut the time and cost involved in system design by increasing the pool of experience that they could draw upon, tapping insights from different disciplines, and recycling design ideas from other projects.

"Let them run free" was the original thinking, but these networks started to hit limits:

Too much attention from management, went the thinking, would crush the group’s collaborative nature. But the very informality of this community eventually rendered it obsolete. What happened to it was typical: The members gained access to more sophisticated design tools and to vast amounts of data via the internet. Increased global connectivity drew more people into the community and into individual projects. Soon the engineers were spending more time at their desks, gathering and organizing data, sorting through multiple versions of designs, and managing remote contacts. The community started to feel less intimate, and its members, less obligated to their peers. Swamped, the engineers found it difficult to justify time for voluntary meetings. Today the community in effect has dissolved—along with the hopes that it would continue generating high-impact ideas.

Again, anyone familiar with Social Media over a number of cycles (ie the Kool Aid has been drunk, digested and d****ated) will recognise this. What works seems to be to give them some form of top down management structure!

Our research has shown that many other communities failed for similar reasons. Nevertheless, communities of practice aren’t dead. Many are thriving—you’ll find them developing global processes, resolving troubled implementation, and guiding operational efforts. But they differ from their forebears in some important respects. Today they’re an actively managed part of the organization, with specific goals, explicit accountability, and clear executive oversight. To get experts to dedicate time to them, companies have to make sure that communities contribute meaningfully to the organization and operate efficiently.

Heresy! I hear you cry. Nonetheless, thats the emerging evidence. Its also my experience - if you want a Social Net group to achieve something, someone actually has to take charge.