1. What are the major distinguishing characteristics of a community of practice that
a community of interest would not possess?
2. Compare and contrast some different types of communities of practice. Describe
how they would differ with respect to their goals.
3. What are the key differences between the functionalist and the social constructivist
perspectives on knowledge? Why is the latter better suited to knowledge management?
4. Describe the roles and responsibilities of a knowledge broker in a virtual com-
munity. Provide examples of how they could help promote knowledge sharing and
increase the value of the social capital of the firm.
5. What is the difference between human and social capital?
6. What are some of the key deterrents to knowledge sharing and knowledge flow
within an organization? How could you help overcome them?
7. List some of the ways in which social network analysis techniques can be used to
better understand how knowledge is circulated within an organization.
8. What lesson can be learned from the tragedy of the commons? Provide some
modern-day examples and discuss how you would ensure effective knowledge sharing takes place. Identify the types of knowledge-sharing channels you would use
and justify them with respect to their social presence and media richness.
9. What are some popular technologies used to develop corporate yellow pages? How
do they compare?
10. What are some of the key steps you would need to carry out in order to conduct
a social network analysis of an organization? What would you need to know before
you could start? What sorts of questions could the SNA answer?
