Tangible and Intangible Value
The value which communities create includes the tangible results like the standard manual, the improved skills or the reduced costs through faster access to information. The communities can help to make the sharing of explicit forms of knowledge easier. The communities can use the repository- based systems to develop a shared "place" where the individuals may find examples of tools, the past proposals and the presentations to make sure that the repositories have the material which will be valuable to others. There are less tangible outcomes like the sense of trust or an increased ability to innovate. Keeping the community activities to tangible business outcomes is important in case the business leaders make the mistake of dismissing the communities as "soft" structures. Articulating the values of communities in terms of the tangible effects on the performance gives the legitimacy required to steward the knowledge effectively. The greatest value lies in the intangible outcomes like the relationship building among the people where a sense of belonging is created.