ArticlePloS one2020
The fractal structure of communities of practice: Implications for business organization.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- The development of a method to activate vital communities, facilitation of older people ageing in place: a community-based participatory research.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Optimization of emergency allocation of necessities of life based on fractal perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Article
- Structure and function in human and primate social networks: implications for diffusion, network stability and health.Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2020Review
- Scaling human sociopolitical complexity.PloS one · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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Abstract
Communities of practice (COP) are informal (sometimes formal) groupings of professionals with shared interests that form to facilitate the exchange of expertise and shared learning or to function as professional support networks. We analyse a dataset on the size of COPs and show that their distribution has a fractal structure similar to that found in huntergatherer social organisation and the structure of human personal social networks. Small communities up to about 40 in size can be managed democratically, but all larger communities require a leadership team structure. We show that frequency of interaction declines as size increases, as is the case in personal social networks. This suggests that professional work-oriented organisations may be subject to the same kinds of constraint imposed on human social organisation by the social brain. We discuss the implications for business management structure.
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