Harnessing Your Staff's Informal Networks (journal article)
By Richard McDermott and Douglas Archibald
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 Issue 2 Mar 2010, pp. 82-89
"The article discusses the integration of employees' informal social networks into the organization's formal management practices. The advantages of having communities of practice share information and collaborate on innovation or problem solving are noted. Research that was conducted by Warwick Business School's Knowledge and Innovation Network and financed by Schlumberger company and the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre is discussed. The development of global communities of practice at the construction and engineering company Fluor is mentioned. Four principles related to the communities' effectiveness are discussed."