Luis Suarez also picked this up a while back:
http://www.elsua.net/2006/08/01/management-can-kill-a-community-of-practice-so-what-can-it-do-to-help-out/

Instead of managing a CoP, he mentions leadership and sponsoring as much less intrusive

I agree with Mike Gotta on some points, I think the idea of the report is the realisation that people connect in the enterprise, or are related other ways than org hierarchy…and they may do this effectively with informal networks, such as email groups.

The report is wanting to capitalise on these networks, give them more exposure so others can be aware and have input…the more people connecting the more people know where to go to get the right information.

In some instances this may be handy as an email group may be too busy to amplify their network…but if some learning/km staff offer some tools, primers (guides), and training, they may be excited that it will be easier to network in their group.

But it’s only an offer…I agree with you, there is no need to formalise these groups if they don’t want to. Perhaps they may like networking tools as they are the right tools for the job, but this doesn’t mean in exchange they have to formalise (or open up) their group.

Like you say the moment this happens, it becomes a task group, especially having a performance leader…people once contributed for sharing interests and expertise, being formal may turn it into more work and deliverables…then people will slowly be less enthused as they have been hijacked to some extent.

The other issue is trust, whether a group or network takes on new tools to help connect better, they may not want to become formal as they only trust each other with the content that resides in the group.

It’s better leaving a group alone, than formalising…they may abandon the group, and then you are left with no-one sharing anything. It’s better that some share than none.

I got the trust point from Dave Snowden’s podcast:
http://www.cognitive-edge.com/podcastdetails.php?podid=15

NOTE: km 2.0 is refering to moreso the personal knowledge sharing aspects of knowledge management…these social tools used to share information are also retainers of information.
Communities of Practice (CoPs) are a great idea for experts to com…