Commons and co-creation as future management models

Collaborative action requires several ingredients. It's a collective intelligence process based on the concept of co-creation. But, as with collective intelligence, induced co-creation is no longer just a concept. To be effective and constructive, co-creation is not a matter of putting all the ingredients in a bottle and shaking the bottle as butter is made.

Co-creation requires very precise collective processes to be fair and equitable.

So, one of these formalized processes is the social code:

"The social code is a concept initially developed by SAS ChezNous. It is a text that describes the foundations of its actions. In its initial version, it is made up of 6 main chapters that include a number of values and procedures in a single document, coherently linked to a practice (actions).
It is by drawing inspiration from this first version that we make the proposal of a social code model for the Contributive Commons. It would be defined as follows:

• The social code is a text that presents the various foundations, principles and models that underpin the actions of a community.

• It's name is based on the analogy of "software code", more often referred to as the "source code" of a computer program or language intended for the web.

• It's built on the complementarity of the theoretical context and its concrete application. It is this duality that differentiates the social code from a charter or manifesto.

This means that, unlike a theoretical text that sets out what reality should be, the social code describes how things work and the values on which they are based. In this sense, its aim is not to describe simple rules, but to enable any newcomer to immerse himself in the natural workings of the community, in order to facilitate his integration into the creative flow and/or his interactions with the community.

• It can be duplicated, integrated and modified for each project, mission or community that wishes to make use of it. It represents the foundation of actions as a course of conduct to be followed freely in complete transparency.

• As the community is evolving, the social code is naturally in constant evolution according to a process described in the social code itself, so as to maintain coherence and a constant dialogue between texts and acts."

Source : The social code: a definition - https://contributivecommons.org/le-code-social-une-definition/

Having been part of the first teams to practice the social code, some ten years ago, I have experimented with it in every sense and still use it in organizations and it appears as a fundamental piece in many of our association or NGO statutes.

It's an extremely powerful tool for those who know how to use it. It can replace statutes and various contracts. It accompanies groups and communities in their creations and integrates all shared visions and divergences from the outset. Take, for example, the creation of a local private school founded by parents. Some will participate for their children, others because it gives them a job, or still others for the pedagogical method.

Over time, the founding parents will leave their place to others. The social code will give new parents access to the structure's history from its creation to the date of their arrival, as well as to all the processes that have been validated, modified or cancelled, enabling them to integrate naturally into the structure. If properly implemented, the social code resembles a simplified ISO standard.

Co-creation is a phenomenon identified only recently

Schools need to take an interest in it, not as an empirical model, but as a learning subject in its own right. Practice gives us enough hindsight in 20 years to gather enough examples, enough sources on what works and what doesn't, on what is interesting to pass on or not to students. Co-creation is one of the pillars of tomorrow's essential skills.

"As is so often the case, model breakthroughs only appear in retrospect, in the light of new practices, the details of which need to be discerned, and we need to wait for proven success to be able to measure both their renewing scope and their exemplary value. The emergence of open-source software is one of those events that has demonstrated a posteriori that the development models for new offerings, built up over the last decade, were insufficient to describe and understand the logics at work. This emergence, supported by unprecedented models of cooperation, was the first in a series of even more profound challenges. The continuous evolution of Internet-related technologies, by enabling new modes of socialization, cooperation and coordination, has induced a profound renewal of innovation logics and processes...

From co-production to co-creation of offers: Emergence of new forms of innovation

"Although it is not possible to do so formally, we can find an origin of co-creation innovation models in two distinct fields that have been the subject of a very large number of publications.
On the one hand, the literature on service marketing very early on emphasized the decisive role of the customer in the production/consumption of the offer.
...From the earliest seminal texts, service marketing literature has stressed the primary role of customers in service production. On the one hand, in their intangible nature, services cannot properly find a concrete form without the presence of the customer (Shostack, 1977).
But moreover, servuction, or service production, cannot indeed be conceived without the customer's active contribution throughout the process (Eiglier Langeard, 1987,1988), this involvement enabling both the creation of value and the achievement of productivity objectives.

The emergence of open-source software in the late 1990s...

...supported by the development and rapid adoption of Internet-related technologies, differs from "proprietary innovations" in three fundamental principles (Von Krogh and Von Hippel, 2003, West and Gallagher, 2006):

The first is the dissemination of source codes:

The difference between a proprietary approach and a so-called "open source" approach lies essentially in the fact that the source codes, instructions enabling the software to function, are freely distributed.
In contrast to proprietary approaches, which seek to protect source codes in order to maximize the rent from innovation, open source approaches aim to allow free access and modification rights to codes.
It follows that software created in this way must remain fundamentally free for users, who will amend, improve and develop new components to the software on their own initiative.

The second is the production of innovation through collaboration:

Once the principles of code access and free modification have been defined, it is possible for any developer from outside the company to contribute to development. Their motivation is therefore a determining factor in the system's ability to produce high-performance results.
In fact, research work very early on focused on sources of motivation, which can be grouped around three main categories (Von Krogh, Von Hippel, 2006, Vujovic, Ulhøi, 2008), "Online innovation: the case of open source software.

The search for functional utility refers to the fact that developers and their companies look for specific non-existent functionalities and decide to develop them themselves.
The search for benefits intrinsic to the project refers to the fact that a contribution enables both learning to take place, sharing knowledge with other members of the community but also achieving personal fulfillment goals.

Finally, reporting effects indicate that a successful contribution enables professional skills to be demonstrated and consequently gains respect and notoriety in the reference community as well as from potential employers.
In any case, the collaborative production mode forces the company to invent new modes of regulating the communities created.

In contrast to command-and-control modes of governance, the regulation of communities is marked by the principles of modularization and distribution (Vujovic and Ulhøi, 2008).

Modularization reduces the complexity inherent in all software by dividing development work into simple modules handled by one or more developers.
Distribution refers to the principles of coordination between modules, principles that will guarantee the coherence of all the components developed.

In the logic of open source, these two approaches can be implemented on a community basis, simply by the choice of the developers themselves. The system can, however, be more formally guided, with a community's mode of governance having a recognized influence on its success.

The final principle relies on the contribution of firms:

Adopting open source principles challenges the firm's business model by removing the rent associated with code ownership...These concerns will focus on both intra- and inter-organizational impacts.

Thus, we observe that firms and organizations are defining both the principles of freedom of access, code modification and software use by developers, while at the same time drawing up charters of rights aimed at ensuring the independence and permanence of developments (O'Mahony, 2003).

In addition, close examination of the logics of action shows that companies adopt this approach in all cases where proprietary business models prove insufficient to maintain or develop the existing business (Vujovic and Ulhøi, 2008).

In fact, in-depth case studies (IBM, GNU/Linux, Squirrelmail) show that adopting an open source approach to innovation, while cohabiting with proprietary logics, will facilitate the emergence of inter-company standards, speed up development, achieve a form of market domination, enrich the production of ideas and finally facilitate the adoption of products by users.

All the work on the subject emphasizes that the emergence and spread of free software development practices is supported by the adoption of tools linked to Internet technologies, in that they enable the association of geographically dispersed skills, cooperation, communication and coordination between players. By enabling the creation of autonomous communities of developers, capable of developing complex offerings outside the perimeter of the firm, the Internet will have enabled the emergence of new business models that renew the structures and positions of the innovative enterprise.

The emergence of the open source model, the related success of free software and the rapid spread of Internet-related technologies have both spread a new mode of innovation development and popularized the notion of the user community. Parallel brand community initiatives, created on the initiative of marketing departments, have at the same time reinforced the attention paid to co-creation logics."

Source : Co-création de valeur et communautés d'utilisateurs : Vers un renouvellement des modèles de chaine de valeur et d'innovation - Eric Stevens - In Management & Avenir 2009/8 (n° 28) - https://www.cairn.info/revue-management-et-avenir-2009-8-page-230.htm?contenu=article

The open source project offers a 360° view of the ins and outs of co-creation

Distribution, production methods and corporate operations are all being turned upside down to create a historically unprecedented model that is becoming a social and entrepreneurial norm.

"In the age of hybrid and digital work, "collaborative management has become the new norm", argue Robert Walters and the CNAM Learning Lab Human Change. The infographic summarizing the survey concludes that one of the keys to teamwork today is the recognition of each employee's commitment to the collective.
Employees are keen to work as part of a team, and to achieve this, are calling for the development of a "collaborative" management style, one that is more "responsive" and "more efficient" overall: this is the finding of the mini-survey carried out by the Robert Walters consultancy and the CNAM Business Chair on the future of work and management, "the Learning Lab Human Change" [...]

Recognition and respect are said to underpin collaborative working.

"Collaborative management has become the working norm in the new hybrid normal," comments Cécile Dejoux, lecturer, management science researcher and director of the Learning Lab Human Change. In the infographic produced with Robert Walters, the HR expert recalls her theory of the "5Rs of collaboration", which can facilitate teamwork. This model, which she says defines "the framework for a system of engagement with digital and collaborative", is based on:

Roles (each member of a group must have a dedicated role, in order to feel a sense of purpose);
Rules (co-constructed, in order to establish a framework for decision-making that is effective and considered fair) ;
Recognition (everyone needs to be recognized individually for their contribution to the collective, to encourage commitment);
Routines (creating routines helps to strengthen troop cohesion);
Respect (establishing rules of etiquette and codes of good conduct helps to harmonize a group when it's very heterogeneous).

In their survey, Learning Lab Human Change and Robert Walters tell us that when asked about the key factors in collective intelligence, managers put recognition and respect at the top of the list (ahead of rules and roles). "These two elements are essential to the success of employee involvement in a collective over the long term", observes Cécile Dejoux.
The need for collaborative and "listening" management

The infographic also looks at the pillars of "collaborative" and "more effective" management. According to the survey, 40% to 50% of executives believe that companies can "gain in competency" by relying on 3 main "motivational levers": management that is "attentive and effective", assignments that are "stimulating and interesting", and greater autonomy.
Finally, Robert Walters indicates that to move towards more collaborative ways of working, organizations would benefit from using interim managers. These experts are, according to the recruitment firm, "accustomed to flexible" and agile models. "Their specific skills (adaptation, team building, individual recognition) are invaluable in developing collaborative management," adds Cécile Dejoux. Robert Walters, which interviewed around a hundred of them, also notes that they believe companies can still "improve":

by deploying "facilitating" collaborative tools;
by developing the trust placed in employees;
and by encouraging cross-functionality and agility.

"Ultimately, one of the key factors in collaborative management is to put in place a process that recognizes the employee's contribution to the collective", concludes Cécile Dejoux."

Source: Collaborative management, the new norm in the age of hybrid work? - May 2022 - https://www.parlonsrh.com/media/le-management-collaboratif-la-nouvelle-norme-a-lere-du-travail-hybride/

Well beyond the management system, it's a change in the value-creation process we're facing. Just as schools shape management models, innovative management models such as co-creation reformat school processes when they become unavoidable.

Co-creation is not an option in school curricula, it's a new discipline in its own right that needs to be mastered and then taught in order to provide this essential skill for the new world of work.

Image source: Pixabay - Geralt - https://pixabay.com/fr/illustrations/foule-gens-silhouette-2045499/