The fractal structure of communities of practice: Implications for business organization.
PLoS One
; 15(4): e0232204, 2020.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32348329
ABSTRACT
Communities of practice (COP) are informal (sometimes formal) groupings of professionals with shared interests that form to facilitate the exchange of expertise and shared learning or to function as professional support networks. We analyse a dataset on the size of COPs and show that their distribution has a fractal structure similar to that found in huntergatherer social organisation and the structure of human personal social networks. Small communities up to about 40 in size can be managed democratically, but all larger communities require a leadership team structure. We show that frequency of interaction declines as size increases, as is the case in personal social networks. This suggests that professional work-oriented organisations may be subject to the same kinds of constraint imposed on human social organisation by the social brain. We discuss the implications for business management structure.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Organizations
/
Fractals
/
Group Structure
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: