Encouraging Participation in Virtual Communities of Practice within the United States Air Force

With the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) such as the internet, email, and video conferencing, the United States Air Force has become more efficient and productive in conducting its daily business. However, not only do computer technologies increase daily productivity rates among the employees; they also increase the Air Force’s capability to digest larger amounts of information while supporting an end goal of being able to share that information across the entire organization. Perhaps one of the most popular methods by which to share such large amounts of organizational information is through informal learning environments such as communities of practice. The Air Force has no doubt embraced the concept of communities of practice. However, as popular as these “communities” are among many employees, there is still a majority of Air Force employees who choose not to use them. The purpose of this chapter is to provide practical ways in which the United States Air Force can increase participation in Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) among its workforce, as well as providing theoretical frameworks upon which further research can be conducted. Finally, this chapter will propose a set of testable propositions that may serve as the basis for future research.

Social Leadership

This chapter will identify the military’s approach to social media and outline the security controversy it views as an inherent issue associated with condoning and promoting the use of social media. It will then discuss how that approach is evolving with the passage of time and the rapid adoption of social media by society as a whole; examining the balance between security concerns and obvious organizational benefits. In discussing social media as a vehicle of transformational leadership this chapter will reveal untapped benefits of social media in a military context and examine where and how it could be adopted. In closing this chapter will make recommendations, which would facilitate a better adoption of various forms of social media by the military.

Measuring the Impact of Social Media

This chapter focuses on a method, social network analysis (SNA) that can be used to assess the quantity and quality of connection, communication and collaboration mediated by social tools in an organization. An organization, in the Canadian public sector, is used as a real-life case study to illustrate how SNA can be used in a pre-test/post-test evaluation design to conduct a comparative assessment of methods that can be used before, during and after the implementation of organizational change in work processes. The same evaluation method can be used to assess the impact of introducing new social media such as wikis, expertise locator systems, blogs, Twitter and so on. In other words, while traditional pre-test/post-test designs can be easily applied to social media, the social media tools themselves can be added to the assessment toolkit. Social network analysis in particular is a good candidate to analyze the connections between people and content as well as people with other people.

Becoming a Blogger

“The outcomes of the blog open a gateway for new venues in my personal knowledge” [Participant 2]

Social Knowledge Workspace

Over the years, knowledge management in organizations has picked up steam with implementation of various solutions like Content Management Systems, Wiki, etc. However, the ability to find relevant information and capture organizational learning still looks like a distant dream. Also, organizations worldwide are transforming due to changes in worker demographics, globalization of business and technological advances. The knowledge workers of today need tools for effective knowledge capture and team collaboration. Some of the key concerns which will be analyzed in this chapter are; (a) Knowledge fragmentation due to technology, (b) Relevancy of information to a user and (c) Push vs. Pull approach of accessing information. The chapter will also explore how these challenges can be addressed by social knowledge workspaces and what should be some of the key characteristics of these technologies under development.

Organizational Culture

This chapter describes how and why organizational culture is paramount towards endeavors of social knowledge and knowledge management systems. Previous literature is discussed and ideas presented to give an underlying understanding of organizational culture and knowledge management and how the two interact. It is argued that a culture based on honesty, trust, and openness is best suited for knowledge management. Cultures will ebb and flow as they evolve. It becomes important for managers to take notice when this occurs. Learning is essential to developing cultures as it molds the participants inside the organization. Organizations that employ social media to aid in culture development will build systems of knowledge management that are based on proper culture that will inevitably lead to competitive advantage.

Social Learning from the Inside Out

This chapter explores from the viewpoint of the mind/brain the factors and conditions which influence the social creation and sharing of knowledge. A foundation is developed by providing clear definitions of information, knowledge and learning, including levels of knowledge and the process through which the mind/brain creates new knowledge. Then neuroscience findings are used to discuss social interaction, including environmental impacts on the creation and sharing of knowledge. Factors such as arousal and stress level, social attunement, holding environment, intersubjective space, level of trust, social bonding, and an enriched external environment are posited to enhance the creation and sharing of knowledge. Finally, the individual learning and knowledge activity is extrapolated to the societal level through a short introduction to collaborative entanglement (learning to create and apply knowledge as communities), and the use of metaphor and story. Summary highlights of neuroscience findings are also provided.

Social Knowledge Case Study

The premise of this chapter is that Innovation Growth is tightly tied to the collaborative process of socializing knowledge. Case examples from leading companies leading the way in socializing knowledge leading practices will be profiled. These companies will be a mix of new stories from a mix of both profit and not for profit organizations, in a mix of industries. The leaders of these organizations recognize that the socialization process of knowledge is core key to innovation growth. This chapter tells the story of change agents that are helping to move from vision to execution successfully. You will hear of experiences where the full enablement of their programs are not fully funded, or necessarily aligned across all levels of management where the generational gaps between understanding community and value network networks vs those based on linear “one way flow” models continue to conflict with one another; The case studies all started off with a small project well scoped and defined, and organically evolved vs a big bang approach. Each of these cases is rooted in a clear business need either for employee engagement or customer engagement needs.

Empowering Social Knowledge with Information Technology

Social knowledge is not a new category; however, in these times of information-communications systems maturity, it becomes an extremely important and valuable asset. In the context of social knowledge, information technology should be constantly harmonized with cultural milieu characterized mostly by invisible culture and its actions. The aim is to make the real and acceptable convergence of cultural and technological issues. Since the knowledge becomes social only with the communication process, it is deeply connected with the terms of media. Social knowledge is alike any media activity where two-tier principles is included consisting cultural (politics and social paradigm) and technological (information tools) issues. The real drawbacks of social knowledge based on information-communications systems that means the dependency on information technology, is about the continuity - the entire social knowledge base could be fragmented or even lost for future generations. The information/digital content keeping technologies are developed well, but the knowledge and invisible culture assets are under the special treatment if we want to make our social knowledge as the legacy for future generations.

Challenging our Assumptions

“Cada cabeza es un mundo” (“Every head is a world”) – Cuban proverb