Difference between Organization/CoP/Social Network

Difference between Organization/CoP/Social Network

Organization can be defined either based on function or on structure (Yorktown Heights 1985, p.216). Heights states that living organism known for their complex functions such as the ability to grow, metabolize, reproduce adapt and mutate can be defined as an Organization based on functions. Organization has got several other definitions based on the researches on sociology, economics, political science, psychology and management (Wikipedia). It means different to different individuals. To me it means a list of responsibilities in order to accomplish my objectives. If we narrow it down, organization can also be defined as a group of people bound formally to achieve a set goal under a set rules. On the other hand CoP is defined as a group of people bound informally with a primary purpose of sharing information, practice and experience. For example a community created in UK during 1981 with an intention to offer guidance, advice and where appropriate mandatory actions to preserve rational, objective and ethical investigation of UFOs and witnesses can be considered as a Community of Practice. Social Network is again an association of people drawn together by family, friends, hobby, work, kinship, dislike or any sole reason (Answers.com).
With the above definitions we can say that a social network can be a CoP or vice versa as the members are loosely associated and are not formally bound. But one of the major difference between CoP and Social network as stated by Steve Denning in his book, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling is that the latter consist of a group of people who are linked together for mutual benefits while CoP is a group which is formed for the purpose of improving member practice.
While the members in an organization are formally bound, which makes an organization different from CoP and Social Network. We can have a CoP within an organization. "CoP is typically not an authorized group nor a role identified on an organization chart." as stated by (John Sharp, 1997). What hold the people in a CoP is the common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other knows (John Seely Brown).

One of the other difference between organization and CoP would be that CoP is self organized where as organization is organized by its leader/owner.

Facebook when started was restricted only to Harvard University students. It was created for the students to share pictures, compare them, search for people in their class etc. So this can be called as Social Networking as their is a network of students. It can also be called as CoP as the students are sharing pictures between them. Later Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia and Yale University and then gradually to most universities in America and Canada. Now Facebook has around 700 employees who are formally bound to it. They work to maintain the website and advertisement on it and to get revenue out of it i.e. they do business. The company’s objectives and goals remains the same i.e. sharing but now they have one more objective and that is earning revenue. This makes them an Organization by one of the definitions of organization by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language by Houghton Mifflin, 2000 stating "An organization is a structure through which individuals cooperate systematically to conduct business".

Now, if we take extreme examples like Facebook (a social network) and a CoP for UFO's as mentioned above the difference between the two are clear but if we consider the KM conference which is held regularly then some will argue that it is a network while others will say it’s a CoP. So we can conclude stating that difference lies in the eyes of the beholder. It’s the way we perceive the two.

References :

Yorktown Heights 1985, Dissipation, Information, Computational Complexity and Definition of Organization, New York

John Sharp 1997, Communities of Practice: A Review of the Literature

Houghton Mifflin 2000, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Steve Denning, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling

Shawn 2006, The difference between communities of practice and knowledge networks