Posted by Denham on January 21, 1998 at 11:34:24:

In Reply to: Re: Teams and Communities: An Issue of Control? posted by Tom Sudman on January 21, 1998 at 10:30:26:

Here is my take on the issue:
A team:
The mandate is external someone decides a team must be formed, issues a directive, may make appointments, allocate roles and authority. The strategic parameters, deadlines & deliverables (the what & why) are mostly determined at the start at least the problem or issue to be addressed is formulated. Participation is binary you are in/on or out/off.

A community of practice:
Is emergent, there is no mandate, the focus is learning, identity and repertoire building, not deadlines and deliverables, there is no conferred authority and no role or reporting hierarchy, membership is voluntary and participation is determined by social rules & relationships (core or periphery).

Teams and communities can exist together and members may belong to both simultaneously. I believe these are clearly two separate social structures with very different behavior patterns, operational rules and roles.

Almost by definition an informal team is a community, the reverse does not hold, i.e. a formal team is not the same as a community of practice.

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Teams and Communities: A Feeling of Déjà -vu Yogesh Malhotra 12:10:01 1/21/98 (1)
  • Participation vs. assignment Denham 14:42:19 1/21/98 (0)

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