Executive Support

Context:

Social methods of knowledge management operate within an informal horizontal structure of distributed, autonomous teams; but a formal, arrangement is also needed to ensure that resources are allocated in an appropriate way from the centre.

•••

‘Executive sponsorship acts as a bridge between the hierarchical structure of the formal organisation and the horizontal structure of communities.’ Etienne Wenger [4]

Wiki communities can emerge as a result of a group of people getting together of their own accord around some shared area of interest, or management can identify a need to engage grass-roots participation and encourage people to form a suitable network.  In either case, some combination of top-down support and bottom-up engagement is needed to sustain the project.  The architectural research wiki was initiated by the RIBA; it has attracted an encouraging level of support from members, but in order to attract further participation, it is necessary to confirm an appropriate pattern of Executive Sponsorship.  This requirement was confirmed by a recent survey of members regarding the RIBA’s plans for creating knowledge communities: ‘… the Institute needs to own and get involved, not just coordinate inputs from the membership.’

Executive sponsorship is best seen as an organisational framework rather than a form of patronage, although such support should not be ignored - it is different from the conventional management of resources because there are no formal lines of reporting or accountability to managers.  A framework for executive sponsorship can operate on a number of levels. 
• The operation of the wiki needs to comply with all relevant legal requirements and the normative principles of the RIBA; the pattern Governance provides the wiki with legitimacy and allows RIBA branding of its process and products. 
• The wiki should be linked to the intended strategic outcomes of the RIBA; knowledge assets only have value when they are applied to action and planned outcomes – they have no value in their own right. 
• The wiki relies upon the RIBA allocating sufficient resources to the project; these resources will include the time spent by staff on promoting the project and the necessary technological infrastructure. 
• The activities and products of the wiki need to be coordinated with other RIBA activities and products; this will avoid unnecessary overlaps, allow synergies to develop with other projects, and prevent confusion.

Therefore:

Determine what resources should be given to the wiki community by the RIBA.  Monitor the work of the wiki community and provide encouragement, but allow the community to set its own objectives and manage its own processes.

•••

The resources needed by the wiki include:
• Human assets – refer to pattern Facilitator
• Physical assets – refer to pattern Participative Web
• Intangible assets – refer to pattern Governance