Word of Mouth Glossary - Gemeinschaft and Geshellschaft

Occasionally, I peruse through a number of egg-headed theses and research papers on various word of mouth subjects.  In doing so, I find it interesting straddling the role of strategist/researcher and planner/practitioner that sometimes feels like being an imposter to both parties.

Street-wise business people may think I have my head in the clouds and academics snub their noses at having to get dirty and actually practicing the stuff they write about.

In researching an upcoming white paper on "It Takes a Community to Build a Brand", I've come across the German terms  "Gemeinschaft" and its corollary "Geschellshaft".  Perhaps its our inability to spell these words in our anglo-centric world, but Ferdinand Tonnies theories don't get a lot of airplay past the academic world.

Gemeinschaft  is an association in which individuals are oriented to the large association as much if not more than to their own self interest. many in the Web 2.0 world call this term "community". It's characteristics are:   

• individuals oriented to their group interests more than their self interests
• collective sense of loyalty and common mores of accepted behaviour among the group
• a unity of will, based on shared beliefs and values
• strength of the group derived from the strength of agreement of beliefs and values
• controlled mostly by internal agreement with minimal enforcement

Gesellschaft is an association in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes on more importance than individual self interest, and lack the same level of shared mores. Many would use this term to describe corporations and business:

• individual self interest trumps shared interest
• no common mores of accepted behaviour
• groups that serve individual self interest thrive
• groups can be fragmented and aligned against each other
• controlled mostly by external pressures and necessary enforcement

When you think about it, this continuuum defines a lot of the tension felt between many ends of life's current polarization. In politics, right wing, self-interest and free market  vs. left wing, communal agenda. In religion, an ardent set of dogmatic beliefs vs. secular pluralism. In business, competitive, Friedman -esque business practices vs.  a more inclusionary practice of Galbraith economics.

The challenge I run up against with both polarities within business is being able to happily build gemeinschaft in geshellschaft (now in English, "can communities exist inside companies?). I say they can, many think they can't.

If I look at businesses such as Harley Davidson, Mozilla, Google, Apple, Patagonia, Starbucks and Quiksilver, they give me hope that clusters of well-bonded individuals can exist inside a corporate entity.
Their ability to succeed and thrive is usually dependent on:
- a declared and practiced set of beliefs and principles
- a culture-driven recruitment policy
- an understanding at all levels of the company on what "the right thing" is
- bottom line success - it would appear winners allow different setups to exist much more easily than stressed organizations
- principles lived out by the CEO and senior executive
- online and offline platforms and practices that reinforce this kinship
- a fluid, less hierarchical structure that encourages involvement and collaboration at every level
- a shared set of rituals not practiced broadly in the industry they participate in

I'd be curious to know of any other companies that have incubated Gemeinschaft within their 4 walls, or is their  preferred approach to look outside their companies where these groups might exist more naturally?