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dEvEloPIng oPERATIons CAPAbIlITIEs 259
technologies, maintaining the effectiveness of CoPs is not straightforward. There are
at least three key roles to be filled, which have been described as manager, moderator
and thought leader. They need not necessarily be three separate people, but in some
13
cases they will need to be.
Well-organised CoPs have been credited with several benefits. 14

● They help to drive strategy by facilitating the smooth implementation of strategic
decisions.
● They can start new lines of business by exploring the application of knowledge to
potential new products and services.
● They help to solve problems quickly because they link appropriate solutions with
problem ‘owners’.
● They transfer best practice by focusing on ‘what really works’ in practice.
● They develop professional skills because knowledge workers often prefer to learn
from like-minded, and like-experienced, colleagues.
● They help to recruit and retain staff because CoPs help to identify professionally
satisfying opportunities to practice their expertise.

However, the idea of CoPs is not uncontroversial, especially in academic circles. While
many practitioners and consultants have adopted the concept in its entirety, critics
point out that they tend to promote a set of general principles without due considera-
tion of context. Also, the idea of ‘community’ can be problematic. CoP advocates often
assume that members will, if provided with sufficient time and technological resources,
be happy to cooperate with each other and, in effect, surrender their knowledge for
the benefit of the community and the organisation. Yet, in any community there is
an inherent tension between individual and group interests. Conventional CoP pro-
ponents, they argue, largely ignore issues such as resistance to change, conflict, status,
struggle and power.

example the eureka knowledge management system at schlumberger 15
Schlumberger is huge – a global company with a turnover of over $40 billion that employs
118,000 people, many of whom are highly qualified and experienced professionals working in
the oilfield services industry supplying the latest technology to: ‘optimise reservoir performance for
customers working in the oil and gas industry’. The company operates at the leading edge of explora-
tion and extraction, using its expertise to help its clients (oil and gas exploration companies),
often in difficult environments. So, managing its knowledge base is central to Schlumberger’s
continued success in providing innovative and high-quality products and services to its clients.
The company describes knowledge management (KM) as the:

‘development and deployment of processes and technology to improve organisational performance
and reduce costs for Schlumberger and its customers by enabling individuals to capture, share and
apply their overall knowledge – in real time’.
Or, as the company sometimes puts it more simply, ‘apply everywhere what you learn anywhere’.
According to Susan Rosenbaum, Schlumberger’s director of knowledge management, the
founding Schlumberger brothers sowed the seeds of a knowledge culture back in the 1930s when
they instituted a technical bulletin for the company’s pioneering engineers.

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