Social Capital and Communities of Practice at Caterpillar

From my understanding of the research done by Coleman, it seems that the basis for success of communities of practice at Caterpillar, and at other organizations, is social capital. The definitions of communities of practice and social capital are very similar, along with the benefits received by both. I do not necessarily see the Caterpillar article in a different light given the social capital theory, but it does provide greater insight into certain findings in the Caterpillar article.

I believe one important aspect presented by Coleman that relates to the effectiveness of the communities of practice (CoP) at Caterpillar is the trustworthiness of the structure. As the Caterpillar study noted, the most significant success factor in the CoP was that knowledge sharing was part of the organizational culture. The second and third most common reason given as success factors were: individuals were willing to share knowledge based on intrinsic motives; and the communities were actively supported by managers and experts. All of these reasons given as success factors can be associated with individuals viewing the CoP as trustworthy. They trust their organization in setting up the structure to effectively share knowledge and their co-workers to participate in the knowledge sharing.

Coleman also discusses information channels and norms as forms of social capital. I believe all three success factors presented above relate to both of these. Caterpillar provided a structure that facilitated the development of information channels. Caterpillar, along with employees who actively participated in the CoP, established norms of participating in knowledge sharing through corporate culture and continued support of the CoP. I believe that establishing the structure to share knowledge combined with actively encouraging participation in CoP are the ultimate determining success factors for any organization trying to establish an effective knowledge sharing environment.

Coleman next discusses social capital in the creation of human capital. Although Coleman does not look at human capital in the context of business, I think the distinction does not diminish the overall findings of the study when applied to the business setting. In fact, I believe the findings in Coleman’s study can be very useful in helping organizations that are trying to establish knowledge sharing platforms. As Coleman’s study established, the more social capital that was invested in the students’ education, in the form of active participation by the parents, increased the chances of success for the students. This highlights the importance of the organization actively participating in the knowledge sharing of its employees. As I stated previously, this was the top success factor given by employees of Caterpillar for the CoP. Simply setting up the infrastructure will not guarantee a successful knowledge sharing project.  The organization has to take an active role in establishing knowledge sharing as part of the overall organizational culture, and constantly reinforce the importance of knowledge sharing throughout the company. This investment in knowledge sharing will have a significant positive impact on the creation of human capital within the organization. My biggest takeaway from the Coleman study is that the more social capital that is invested, in any context, the more human capital is created; thus benefiting society as a whole.