It's the Sign of the Times:

Building Competencies through E-learning

February 18, 2009

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Engagement and trust are essential in any group but especially important to build in the formative stages of a COP. When the organization becomes vested in the community, it predictably can become dependent on the community to help develop new capabilities for the organization and to respond to market demands. An organization may “take over” a community that reaches this level. The work being done by the community becomes too important to the business for the organization to allow the community to continue without formal direction and management by the organization. So the organization converts the COP into a business unit. When this occurs, the community may co-exist with the business unit or split off into a related COP.

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