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146 Chapter 5

Box 5.2
An example: Ericsson (Gonsalves and Zaino 2001)

Jumping straight into deploying knowledge-management technology was a temptation
for telecommunications supplier Ericsson Canada Inc. “ We have a tendency to grab tech-
nology fi rst, ” says Anders Hemre, director of enterprise performance at the company ’ s
Montreal research unit. But Ericsson offi cials wisely took a step back to look at the com-
pany ’ s culture, values, and people before doing so.
Through surveys, Hemre found that the research group ’ s growth (doubling to 1,700
workers in four years by 1999) had undercut the sense of community. So Ericsson identi-
fi ed informal groups that had formed around work-related topics, such as Java program-
ming or the mobile Internet, and worked to help those cliques expand and form new
groups to further disseminate ideas and information. People gather informally to discuss
work outside their cubicles every day, but “ to capture that and put a little bit of structure
to it to help it along, without over-engineering or over-managing it, is the trick. ”
Once the groups were identifi ed by talking to employees in the various research
divisions, Ericsson appointed a community leader for each group and gave workers time
to meet on a regular basis; there was no agenda for these meetings, which still take place.
A community is formed for learning, but it is not necessarily organized or managed in a
heavy-handed way.

Box 5.3
An example: ICL

ICL Ltd. has restructured its entire organization into communities. These fall into two
types: professional and interest. All employees belong to a professional community depen-
dent on their function (Sales, Project Management, Consultancy, etc.) and any employee
can belong to one or more communities of interest (KM, Quality Improvement, etc.). For
example, a consultant will belong to the professional community of consultants and work
and develop within this framework. The consultant can also specialize in KM and therefore
belong to the KM community of interest where members share, discuss, and develop in
the KM fi eld. The KM community meets at regular intervals, guest speakers are invited to
meetings, and lots of tacit knowledge exchange takes place. A true community spirit
develops. The interest community will typically regulate itself and have an administrator
to facilitate the web space and other coordination activities.