Agent-Based System for Discovering and Building Collaborative Communities

Abstract

Currently, organizations are under a regime of rapid economic, social, and technological change. Such a regime has been impelling organizations to increase focus on innovation, learning, and forms of enterprise cooperation. To assure innovation success and make it measurable, it is indispensable for members of teams to systematically exchange information and knowledge. McLure and Faraj (2000) see an evolution in the way knowledge exchange is viewed from “knowledge as object” to “knowledge embedded in people,” and finally as “knowledge embedded in the community.” The collaborative community is a group of people, not necessarily co-located, that share interests and act together to contribute positively toward the fulfillment of their common goals. The community’s members develop a common vocabulary and language by interacting continuously. They also create the reciprocal trust and mutual understanding needed to establish a culture in which collaborative practices pre-dominate. Such practices can grasp and apply the tacit knowledge dispersed in the organization, embodied in the people’s minds. Tacit knowledge is a concept proposed by Polanyi (1966) meaning a kind of knowledge that cannot be easily transcripted into a code. It can be profitably applied on process and/or product development and production. Therefore, community members can powerfully contribute to the innovation process and create value for the organization. In doing so, they become a fundamental work force to the organization.