Research has been carried out which tries to link email usage and the power structure of an organisation, allowing for companies to create a map of their power structures using information from their own internal emails.
By mapping the patterns seen from email usage HP have found that it is possible to identify different types of "communities" within a company, to identify their leaders and to allow for the identification of communities which form as a result of collaborative work carried out involving members of different departments.
The researchers have also claimed that this analysis can be carried out in a matter of hours, in the study (carried out by HP) it has been stated that "The power of this method for identifying communities and leadership is in its automation ... We have found that it does an effective job of uncovering communities of practice with nothing more than email log ("to:" and "from:") data". They have also stated that "it is a promising resource for tapping into the dynamics of information within organisations and for extracting the hidden patterns of collaboration and leadership that are at the heart of communities of practice".