Organizations & much more

Organizations
Last week we were given the task to find out about organizations and strategies. While doing the search I came across various definitions of an organization. One of the straight forward one is by oxford dictionary which is “an organized body of people with a particular purpose, e.g. a business.”

After reading various articles and books I find that organizations are groups of people join together for achieving a common objective. It is also to be noted that organizations have a structure that is hierarchical and there is a clear cut division of who is responsible for what. The tasks are well defined for each individual. Also each organization has its own culture i.e. ways of doing things, values etc. I feel that organization is a broad term and a lot goes into it. Even in our daily lives we come across organizations frequently ranging from university to banks to businesses to charity.

Strategies
Now I mentioned “way of doing things” which I feel can be said as a strategy. It is a long term plan of action usually a competitive plan. I feel that by making strategy the company gets a direction to progress in.

CoP
Now coming to CoP which I dint know existed until a week ago…
Community of Practice is formed when people having similar interests come together and share their ideas and in this sharing they give rise to new ideas or what we called knowledge. Also these people are not committed to this CoP. They are loosely coupled because they share the same interests and actively participate in it. I can think of CoP as a nuclear reaction which starts small but goes on increasing…

In labs and lectures we were asked about difference between CoP and Organization.
After the workshop today afternoon I feel that the major difference is in the commitment that the individual has towards both of them. The sense of responsibility is also a criterion that can be counted.

Teams
We also came across what teams are and are they different from organizations.
Well I feel that Teams are a more integrated unit that is motivated by performance or deliverables. Like football and cricket teams. Individuals in the teams are bound by collective commitment and there is an authority above them.

Social Networking
Today in the workshop we had a small debate on difference between Social Networking and CoP. After doing some search I believe that social networking is more of a group that is formed when people join in for pleasure and there is no common goal as such.