Journal articles on the topic 'Communities of Practice (CoPs)'
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1
Alali, Haitham. "Online Healthcare Communities of Practice." International Journal of Computers in Clinical Practice 1, no. 1 (January 2016): 1–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijccp.2016010101.
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Online communities of practice (CoPs) are recognised as a KM initiative, whereby practitioners conduct discussions and share their experiences online. The imperative of the evaluation in measuring the effectiveness of Online CoPs fulfills its role and support for healthcare practitioners knowledge sharing has been recognized by practitioners and researchers in the KM field. Success measures of Online CoPs should support healthcare organizations in different methods; it could suggest ways to improve the design, implementation, usage, and operation of Online CoPs by addressing and understanding the main factors that impact the Online CoPs success and acceptance. Presently, establishing an evaluation framework has become essential for the advancement of research and practice in this area. The author has classified the existing researches, based on the area of evaluation. The study concludes by proposing a conceptual framework to measure the success of online CoPs in health care sector.
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Longo, Maria Cristina, and Alessandro Narduzzo. "Transactive knowledge from communities of practice to firms." European Journal of Innovation Management 20, no. 2 (May 8, 2017): 291–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ejim-10-2016-0098.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and under which conditions R&D projects benefit from team members’ participation in spontaneous and work-related communities of practice (CoPs). Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative empirical study. R&D projects are the unit of analysis. Data are collected through interviews to 121 informants who are members of 60 R&D projects and participants in 195 CoPs. Findings The participation of project team members in work-related CoPs positively affects the R&D project performance. This positive effect applies also to radically innovative projects. The diversity in the institutional affiliation of CoPs members is also highly significant and positively correlated with the project performance. Research limitations/implications The paper considers only work-related CoPs, thus neglecting the knowledge transacted through other types of CoPs. Practical implications Practitioners should support the autonomous participation of project team members to spontaneous and work-related CoPs that cut across the organizational boundaries. Team leaders may enhance team innovative capabilities and performance by ensuring diversity of knowledge and skills from CoPs whose members work for institutions that differ from each other. Originality/value First, this study provides quantitative evidence of the CoPs ability to support innovation. Second, this research is focused on spontaneous and work-related CoPs within business environments. Third, this study does not analyze CoPs performance, but it postulates a connection between innovative organizational units (i.e. R&D projects) and spontaneous CoPs that cut across the firms’ boundaries.
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Bandow, Diane, and Joseph T. Gerweck. "Support your local communities of practice." Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal 29, no. 5 (August 3, 2015): 7–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/dlo-11-2014-0083.
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Purpose – This paper provides considerations for organizations interested in supporting knowledge sharing among employees based on experiences and recent research. Experiences emphasize the need to discover and recognize unofficial communities of practice; support distributed leadership; support control of the communities by their members; enable interaction and learning opportunities; consider social media carefully; leaving choices up to the community members; and an approach to calculating the value of communities of practice (CoPs) based on knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach – The approach of this paper focuses on six basic themes from research and experiences in the literature with CoPs. Lessons learned and recommendations are provided. Findings – Lessons from CoPs focus on the need for distributed leadership or all engage, participate and share responsibilities; control of the community belongs to the members, and they decide membership; interaction and learning opportunities are essential to support competitive advantage for the organization and continuous development for the community members. Social media is unproven in the workplace and should be approached carefully, as the CoP must determine benefits and advantages. An approach to calculating value is proposed, based on calculating the value of knowledge management. Practical implications – As CoPs continue to evolve, organizations play a key role in supporting their development which in turn provides competitive advantage for the organization. Continuous learning and development are the key aspects of these communities, including opportunities for leadership, decision-making and professional development. Technology can play an important role in CoPs, but must be supported by the membership. The return on investment (ROI) may be significant and learning opportunities provide the potential for personal development and the enhancement of organizational performance. Originality/value – This review offers insights into experiences and findings from CoPs, supports distributed leadership and control of the community among the members, strongly recommends interaction and learning opportunities and addresses social media as a possibility to support the CoP. The ROI potential supports and encourages organizations to develop employees and enhance overall performance.
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Bicchi, Federica. "Communities of practice and what they can do for International Relations." Review of International Studies 48, no. 1 (October 5, 2021): 24–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260210521000528.
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AbstractThis article argues that communities of practice (CoPs) provide IR with a unique way to understand how a small group of committed people can make a difference to international politics. The point is addressed in three steps. First, the article advances our understanding of how CoPs work. While at its core a CoP is a group of people brought together by a practice they enjoy, a CoP also shares a sense of timing, placing, and humour. These aspects help the group anchor, refine, and innovate their practice in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Second, the article contrasts the analysis of CoPs with other IR approaches, especially institutional analysis, network analysis, and epistemic communities, to show how CoPs supplement them. Third, the article illustrates the argument with the example of the EU foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It concludes by suggesting that a CoP's perspective not only helps IR better understand informal politics, but also opens up conversations across disciplines.
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Bicchi, Federica. "Communities of practice and what they can do for International Relations." Review of International Studies 48, no. 1 (October 5, 2021): 24–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260210521000528.
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AbstractThis article argues that communities of practice (CoPs) provide IR with a unique way to understand how a small group of committed people can make a difference to international politics. The point is addressed in three steps. First, the article advances our understanding of how CoPs work. While at its core a CoP is a group of people brought together by a practice they enjoy, a CoP also shares a sense of timing, placing, and humour. These aspects help the group anchor, refine, and innovate their practice in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Second, the article contrasts the analysis of CoPs with other IR approaches, especially institutional analysis, network analysis, and epistemic communities, to show how CoPs supplement them. Third, the article illustrates the argument with the example of the EU foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It concludes by suggesting that a CoP's perspective not only helps IR better understand informal politics, but also opens up conversations across disciplines.
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Lee, Suchul, Yong Seog Kim, and Euiho Suh. "Structural health assessment of communities of practice (CoPs)." Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 6 (October 7, 2014): 1198–216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-11-2013-0454.
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Purpose – This paper aims to provide organizational knowledge management teams with a new metric, the bottleneck impact score (BIS), a valuable tool for evaluating the structural health of communities of practice (CoPs), by detecting the seriousness and pervasiveness of the bottlenecks occurring in knowledge-sharing activities among CoP members. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses the social network analysis method to analyze the activities of organizational members in CoPs and classify organizational members into four types based on their degree of involvement in knowledge creation and consumption. CoPs are also categorized into four types based on the proportion of member types they contain to identify the characteristics of CoP member types and of CoP types. Findings – Data analysis of the knowledge-sharing activities of 4,414 members from 59 CoPs within one of the largest steel manufacturing companies finds that few CoPs are active in both knowledge creating and consuming and that most CoPs suffer from the insufficient participation of their most experienced employees and experts and hence are vulnerable to master–apprentice and knowledge drain risks. Originality/value – The proposed BIS metric successfully quantifies the seriousness and pervasiveness of such structural risks and thus can help management teams take preventive action to reduce the identified structural risks.
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Nkuna, S., and A. S. A. du Toit. "Knowledge Sharing Through Communities of Practice in a Financial Institution." Journal of Information & Knowledge Management 13, no. 01 (March 2014): 1450008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0219649214500087.
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This article discusses the effectiveness of knowledge sharing (KS) within communities of practice (CoPs) in a financial institution in South Africa. This was achieved through understanding the current state of KS within the CoPs, identifying critical factors for effectively sharing knowledge and thereafter determining reasons for a CoP not being effective in sharing knowledge. The results showed that there is still a long way to go to ensure the effectiveness of KS through CoPs. The CoPs within this financial institution are informal in nature, and therefore not necessarily given the attention that they deserve. Time used for CoPs is not maximised effectively, which reduces the chances of their effectiveness and improvement of productivity. Lack of effective system infrastructure to support KS is also a massive challenge for the CoPs, as is not having virtual Cops to reduce challenges faced in the use of face-to-face CoPs.
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Holmes, Kate, Anita Greenhill, and Rachel McLean. "Creating communities: the use of technology in craft and DIY communities of practice." Journal of Systems and Information Technology 16, no. 4 (November 4, 2014): 277–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jsit-05-2013-0018.
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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to gain insight into craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) communities of practice (COPs) and how the use of technology provides ways for participants to connect, share and create. Gaining deeper insights into the practices of these communities may provide new opportunities to utilise within this flourishing domain. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methods were adopted to collect data and analysed through an interpretivist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of craft and DIY COPs to gain a deep understanding of the broader ethnographic study. Existing theoretical perspectives surrounding COPs have been applied to further current perspectives. Findings – Findings from this study suggest that being part of a COP allows participants to connect to others, build creative enterprise and learn or enhance skills. Insights gained from this study indicate some of the detailed ways in which the application of technology redefines craft and DIY COPs. Research limitations/implications – This study provides a succinct exploration of a vast and fluid domain; if presented with more time and wider resources, the research would include further exploration of virtual COPs. Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of Information Systems (IS) and Technology Management to this domain is regarded as an original research and furthers knowledge in these areas. Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of ICTs within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of IS to the domain of craft and DIY culture is original research and extends existing concepts to include skills sharing as a previously unexplored domain.
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Bardon, Thibaut, and Stefano Borzillo. "Communities of practice: control or autonomy?" Journal of Business Strategy 37, no. 1 (January 18, 2016): 11–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jbs-02-2015-0018.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the question of how two seemingly opposite principles – managerial control and autonomy – simultaneously affect, positively and negatively, managers’ motivation to develop together innovative practices in a community of practice (the Custoprog community). Design/methodology/approach – A single-case study was conducted in the Custoprog community, during which 22 semi-directive interviews with Custoprog members were conducted over a period of eight months. Members are all EuroAirport middle managers of EuroAirport (a Western Europe international airport). Findings – The findings highlight how Custoprog members experience the conflicting situation of enjoying some autonomy (granted by top management), while being subjected to some degree of managerial control. Our results focus on how these two opposite principles (control and autonomy) simultaneously (positively as well as negatively) affect the motivation of Custoprog members to develop innovative practices together. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by the scope of the sample. Further research conducted in multiple communities of practice (CoPs) may therefore be useful for comparability purposes, and to generalize our results. Practical implications – We provide a set of practical recommendations to steer CoPs effectively, by achieving a delicate balance between control and autonomy. Originality/value – Our investigation contributes to understanding the strategic benefits of using CoPs as an informal means of developing and diffusing customer-related innovative practices.
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Akhavan, Peyman, Babaeianpour Marzieh, and Masoumeh Mirjafari. "Identifying the success factors of Communities of Practice (CoPs)." VINE 45, no. 2 (May 11, 2015): 198–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/vine-03-2014-0022.
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Purpose – This paper aims to identify the success factors of communities of practice (CoPs) that will improve knowledge creation (KC) in educational organizations. Today, educational organizations are faced with constant changes in their environment. These changes have forced organizations to view their human capital as knowledge capital to survive and thrive. CoPs can be one of the most important factors to achieve these goals, and it should be considered by educational organizations. Design/methodology/approach – The present paper tries to identify the success factors of CoPs and examine the impact of the success factors of CoPs in KC. The research method is descriptive. The population of the research consists of students of Payame Noor University as a case study. A questionnaire based on experts’ opinion was designed and more than 35 articles were reviewed. Factor analysis was used to categorize and examine the correlation between success factors of CoPs and KC and, finally, the regression equation based on correlation’ result was formed. Findings – The results showed six success factors: “organization”, “optimizing interactions”, “infrastructure”, “supporting tools”, “strategy and goals” and “organizational support”. These factors reflect the effective factors in educational organizations attempting to progress in KC should focus. Among these success factors, “strategy and goals” and “organization” have the highest effect on CoPs in this case. Research limitations/implications – The paper discusses how the success factors of CoPs improve KC in universities as educational organization and how an organization will benefit from these factors. It can help the development of guidelines for educational organizations to increase their community knowledge information. They can also apply the findings of this research to promote the scientific level of their related organizations through reinforcement of CoP practices. In this paper, the authors faced some problems to collect expert’s opinion and also gather the questionnaires. Originality/value – This paper may have great value to researchers, as well as practitioners involved in knowledge-creation programs in organizations about CoPs and the knowledge-creation field. This research can establish guidelines for Payame Noor University Tehran-North as a case study using the right policies and make changes to the traditional structures of the university, improve and develop the knowledge-creation process and the formation of CoPs. This study can guide managers and, especially, the university managers to provide suitable base to shape COPs, help them emerge and enhance them effectively.
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Kulkarni, Rajendra G., Roger R. Stough, and Kingsley E. Haynes. "Towards Modeling of Communities of Practice (CoPs)." Technological Forecasting and Social Change 64, no. 1 (May 2000): 71–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0040-1625(99)00071-2.
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Saldaña, Jacqueline. "Community, Practice, and Domain Behaviors, and the Moderator Influence of Information Technology among global Communities of Practice: A Meta-Analysis." HETS Online Journal 3, no. 1 (October 15, 2012): 78–122. http://dx.doi.org/10.55420/2693.9193.v3.n1.113.
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The theory of Communities of Practice (CoPs) emerged in the middle 1990s through the work of Etienne Wenger and other contemporary authors (Wenger, 2004; Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002; Wenger & Snyder, 2000). Domain, practice, and community are the main dimensions of CoPs, each with a set of defined behavioral dynamics that allow communities of learners to develop continued growth and sustainability. Professional associations and educational institutions are using online CoPs to engage industry and academia in contributing with innovative solutions to everyday problems. The knowledge management theory has defined groups that meet to produce knowledge solutions in response to common interests as invisible colleges, epistemic communities, learning communities, and CoPs. A meta-analysis of 84 research designs dated from 2000 to 2011, and representing 18 geographic areas in more than 20 industries, demonstrated that professional CoPs manifest distinctive behaviors in all CoP structural dimensions as described by Wenger et al. (2002). Reflective collaboration (e.g., community), sense of common purpose (e.g., practice), and innovation, creativity, and solutions to everyday problems (e.g., domain) are the behaviors present with more frequency among global CoPs. The moderator role of information technology for collaboration and knowledge creation is evident in the observed CoP behaviors and dynamics of this meta-analysis. The use of technologies to promote CoPs creates new challenges for organizations, which will be providing more technological services and support to the diverse CoPs’ memberships.
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Barbour, Liza, Rebecca Armstrong, Patrick Condron, and Claire Palermo. "Communities of practice to improve public health outcomes: a systematic review." Journal of Knowledge Management 22, no. 2 (March 12, 2018): 326–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-03-2017-0111.
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Purpose Communities of practice (CoPs) exist to enable people to share knowledge, innovate and progress a common field of practice. This paper aims to identify whether CoPs have a measured impact on public health practice and the tools used to measure the impact and potential barriers and facilitators that may have been identified during the implementation of these CoPs. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Searches of six databases, Google Scholar and a citation search were completed. Included studies were from 1986 to 2016, involved the public health workforce and an evaluation of a CoP -like intervention. A narrative synthesis of the findings was conducted. Findings From 3,021 publications, 12 studies met inclusion criteria and described the impact of ten CoPs amongst public health practitioners from America, Canada, Australasia and the United Kingdom. CoPs support the prevention workforce to change their practice when they provide structured problem-solving, reflective practice and networking opportunities. None of the studies described the impact of CoPs on public health outcomes. Practical implications CoPs that provide structured problem-solving, reflective practice and diverse networking may effectively support the public health workforce. Existing methods used to evaluate CoPs lack rigour; thus, the true impact of CoPs on population health remains unknown. Originality/value This is the first known systematic review that has measured the impact of CoPs on the preventative health workforce and the conditions in which they have an impact.
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Filstad, Cathrine. "Learning and knowledge as interrelations between CoPs and NoPs." Learning Organization 21, no. 2 (April 8, 2014): 70–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/tlo-11-2012-0077.
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Purpose – The purpose of the study is to investigate the characteristics and interrelations between informal communities of practice and formal networks of practice and its consequences for learning and new knowledge at work. Design/methodology/approach – A case study was conducted in a Norwegian bank using qualitative explorative studies and in-depth interviews with financial advisers and their leaders. Findings – The findings demonstrate that in the absence of integration efforts via a network of practice, multiple communities of practice to ensure knowledge flow is not enough. By the same token, it is possible for new knowledge to be accepted where a community of practice functions cohesively in a singular form in close interrelation with network of practices, but only when both communities of practice and network of practices are supported by a participatory leader. Research limitations/implications – The total of 30 in-depth interviews might call for further studies. Also, studying a Norway bank alliance does not account for cultural differences between countries. Originality/value – To the author's knowledge there are no studies that investigate the interrelations between informal communities of practice and formal network of practices.
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Lavoué, Élise, Sébastien George, and Patrick Prévôt. "A Knowledge Management Tool for the Interconnection of Communities of Practice." International Journal of Knowledge Management 7, no. 1 (January 2011): 55–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jkm.2011010104.
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In their daily practice, practitioners belong to local communities of practice (CoPs) within their organisation. This knowledge is rarely capitalised upon because discussions are mainly verbal. Practitioners can also belong to general CoPs online. Within these general CoPs, discussions are rarely linked to the context in which they appeared, since the members are from different companies or institutions. This paper (1) connects these two levels of CoPs by contacting practitioners belonging to CoPs centred on the same general activity but who are geographically distributed and (2) capitalises on the produced knowledge by contextualising, allowing it to be accessible and reusable by all the members. The authors detail the main results of the research: (1) a model of the interconnection of CoPs (ICP) to support knowledge sharing and dissemination; and (2) a specific knowledge management tool for the ICP knowledge base. The authors apply the model and platform to university tutors by: (1) developing a use case, which links the model and the TE-Cap 2 platform and highlights the new possibilities offered by the knowledge management tool; and (2) conducting a descriptive investigation lasting for five months.
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Cyrino, Márcia Cristina de Costa Trindade. "Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Identity Development in Communities of Practice: Reifications of Proportional Reasoning Teaching." Bolema: Boletim de Educação Matemática 30, no. 54 (April 2016): 165–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1980-4415v30n54a08.
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Abstract In the last decade, the Study and Research Group on the Education of Teachers who teach Math – GEPEFOPEM (Brazil) investigated teacher education groups constituted as Communities of Practice – CoPs. The objective of this paper is to discuss the focus of one of these CoPs when working with Proportional Reasoning and the practice elements of four CoPs, which promoted the development of their members’ professional identity. The data was collected through an analysis of meaning negotiation processes, mobilized knowledge and the CoPs dynamics based on different groups interactions and written production of their members. The analysis showed that self-knowledge, beliefs and concepts, professional knowledge, vulnerability, and the sense of agency became the focal points of the CoPs during the study of proportional reasoning as well as the practice elements of the four CoPs that promoted the professional identity development of, namely: shared repertoires, reports and discussions on their pedagogical practices, the existence of an open and flexible work plan, the opportunity to discuss their written productions, vulnerability experiences, the search for a sense of agency balance, connections among observations and empirical interpretations and a broader theoretical background, reports and discussions on previous meetings. Factors such as respect, trust, challenge, solidarity, projects negotiations, dynamics and actions, valorization of the singularities, and professional practices of teachers are essential for the constitution of the professional identity of these professionals and for the cultivation and maintenance of these groups.
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Duryan, Meri, and Hedley Smyth. "Cultivating sustainable communities of practice within hierarchical bureaucracies." International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 12, no. 2 (June 3, 2019): 400–422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijmpb-03-2018-0040.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address hierarchies in a large program of projects. It explores cultivation of communities of practice (CoP) within a hierarchical client organization that manages multi-billion-euro infrastructure programs and projects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on an exploratory longitudinal case study approach involving action research. In-depth semi-structured interviews, company records, industry reports and observation from a case study in the hierarchical bureaucracy were translated into the language of cognitive maps for software analysis and subsequent interpretation.FindingsThe findings highlight the importance of hierarchy constraints and program management practices in project-based firms. The involvement of senior management in CoP cultivation reinforced the community’s contribution to strategic value creation in the firm under scrutiny.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper mobilizes the concepts of boundary spanning and loose coupling as a way of analyzing the role of CoPs in bureaucratic hierarchies to promote learning and knowledge transfer. The results of the study suggest that application of those concepts can contribute to sustainability of CoPs in hierarchical organizations by giving them social space to span horizontal and vertical boundaries.Practical implicationsThe authors practically contribute to the field by demonstrating the process and the impact of CoP sponsors’ engagement in their cultivation. This was enabled through the research-oriented action research component. The paper also concludes that cognitive mapping may provide a useful addition to engaged research, potentially simulating and influencing change in practice.Originality/valueThe academic contribution concerns understanding the roles of hierarchies, program management and CoP cultivation in project-based firms. It offers clear guidelines for managers of hierarchical bureaucracies to cultivate CoPs to address hierarchical constraints and how CoPs differ in organizational form.
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Bezyak, Jill L., Nicole Ditchman, Jana Burke, and Fong Chan. "Communities of Practice: A Knowledge Translation Tool for Rehabilitation Professionals." Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education 27, no. 2 (2013): 89–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/2168-6653.27.2.89.
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Increased attention to evidence-based practice (EBP) among rehabilitation professionals closely corresponds to recent interest in knowledge translation, which connects quality research to rehabilitation practice aimed at improving the lives of people with disabilities. Despite the importance of knowledge translation for rehabilitation professionals, the concept is often overlooked or misunderstood. This article provides a brief review of knowledge translation to clarify potential misconceptions. In addition, communities of practice (CoPs) are introduced as a specific tool for knowledge translation. An overview of CoPs and guidelines for design, development, and use are reviewed. The flexibility and common ownership of CoPs provide an ideal approach for rehabilitation researchers, practitioners, and consumers to work together to develop knowledge and effective practice guidelines.
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Heath, Sally, and Jeanette McDonald. "4. Creating Community: One Institution’s Experience With Communities of Practice." Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching 5 (June 19, 2012): 22. http://dx.doi.org/10.22329/celt.v5i0.3436.
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This article examines the use and benefits of communities of practice (CoPs) in academic settings. In the 2010-2011 academic year Teaching Support Services at Wilfrid Laurier University introduced four theme-based CoPs for faculty and academic support staff after a successful pilot initiative. This article explores our motivation for focusing our programming efforts on CoPs and our anticipated outcomes of the project. We highlight the successes and challenges as well as share survey data and participant feedback on their experience. Central to the article as well as our philosophy is the idea that “good talk about good teaching” (Palmer, 1993) can prompt personal reflection about one’s teaching and meaningful exchange between colleagues.
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Rennstam, Jens, and Dan Kärreman. "Understanding control in communities of practice: Constructive disobedience in a high-tech firm." Human Relations 73, no. 6 (May 6, 2019): 864–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726719843588.
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Communities of practice (CoPs) represent a broad range of work situations characterized by shared knowledge and situated knowledge use. Although CoPs have been studied rather extensively, discussions of control in CoPs are rarer. This is peculiar because CoPs are characterized by a common tension in contemporary work: on the one hand, CoPs are expected to autonomously “think together,” but on the other they are expected to be responsive to various managerial control attempts. We interrogate this tension in an ethnographic study of engineering work, where we found that in response to management control the engineering communities engaged in constructive disobedience – that is, subversion and displacement of rules and orders to construct a dynamic of control where work can be executed autonomously. By associating constructive disobedience with control in CoPs, our study contributes with insight into and theorization of how management control is dealt with and how control operates in work characterized by CoPs. The study also provides deepened insight into the limits of management control and how professionalism may be maintained despite increased management. These insights may support development of a more knowledgeable and nuanced approach to attempts at managing communities of practice.
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Jassbi, Abdollah, Javad Jassbi, Peyman Akhavan, Mei-Tai Chu, and Morteza Piri. "An empirical investigation for alignment of communities of practice with organization using fuzzy Delphi panel." VINE 45, no. 3 (August 10, 2015): 322–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/vine-06-2014-0040.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design a model to outline the structure of communities of practice (CoPs) corresponding to organizational context. Design/methodology/approach – This research utilizes both descriptive and prescriptive approaches, as the authors are looking for a comprehensive relational model to deal with the problem of selecting suitable CoPs concerning organizational context. Thus, this study applies interviewing and fuzzy Delphi methods to explore the model. Findings – The work provides a new and comprehensive relational model of CoPs and organizational variables affecting CoPs structure. In this model, three basic concepts of the literature were developed. First, the components concerning types of CoPs were identified and then the organizational variables related to CoPs were determined. Finally, the authors extracted the relationships between the organizational variables and the components of CoPs. Practical implications – From a practical perspective, the relationships among the components concerning types of CoPs and the organizational variables may provide a model which can effectively guide firms how to promote, design and manage CoPs within organizational contexts. Originality/value – The results of this study contribute to CoPs literature in terms of identification of two variables (CoPs components and organizational variables) to produce a matrix for the construction of a holistic CoPs model. The significant finding of this research is the guidance it provides for designing a relational model involving relations between organizational variables and CoPs components.
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Lockhart, Elizabeth, Michelle Ang, Lindsay Elizabeth Reddeman, Michael Sharpe, Margaret Hart, Carina Simniceanu, Stephen Breen, et al. "Communities of practice: A jurisdictional approach to improving the quality of care in radiation medicine in Ontario." Journal of Clinical Oncology 34, no. 7_suppl (March 1, 2016): 122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2016.34.7_suppl.122.
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122 Background: The Radiation Treatment Program (RTP) at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) established several Communities of Practice (CoPs), with the goal of improving radiation treatment (RT) quality and safety. The RTP identifies variation in practice and quality improvement (QI) opportunities in the 14 Regional Cancer Centres (RCCs) and facilitates the development of CoPs to share best practices and standardize care. Methods: Since 2010, the RTP has formed 7 CoPs ( > 185 members in total): 4 intra-disciplinary (Radiation Therapy, Medical Physics, Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy, Radiation Safety) and 3 inter-disciplinary (Head and Neck (HN), Gynecological (GYNE) and Lung Cancer). Members are recruited with the aim of securing engagement from all RCCs to ensure representation of regional diversity and to facilitate adoption of best practices. CoPs are supported with nominal funding and resources provided by CCO, but are led and driven by members, who identify and prioritize key quality issues and select corresponding QI projects to pursue. The RTP performs regular evaluation activities to assess initiative engagement and impact. Results: RTP CoPs have enhanced the quality and safety of RT delivery in Ontario through QI initiatives, advice documents and tools that have enabled: Improved RT safety (use of safety straps in RT delivery); Adoption of best practices (RT plan evaluation guidance); Education and knowledge transfer – (stereotactic body RT implementation and training framework); and Support for infrastructure improvements (recommendation for additional Magnetic Resonance-guided brachytherapy units) ( https://www.cancercare.on.ca/ocs/clinicalprogs/radiationtreatment/ ). Advice documents have improved alignment with recommended practice (40% and 50% absolute increases in two HN initiatives). Evaluation surveys indicate that members believe the CoPs have enhanced inter-regional communication and collaboration (89%), knowledge transfer/exchange (91%), and professional networking between RCCs (92%). Conclusions: CoPs can be a highly effective model for improving quality of care. The establishment of CoPs should be considered for QI in other areas of the healthcare system.
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Forsten-Astikainen, Riitta, Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, Tuija Lämsä, Pia Heilmann, and Elina Hyrkäs. "Dealing with organizational silos with communities of practice and human resource management." Journal of Workplace Learning 29, no. 6 (August 14, 2017): 473–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jwl-04-2015-0028.
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Purpose Organizational silos that build on the existing organizational structures are often considered to have negative effects in the form of focus on private narrow objectives and organizational fragmentation. To avoid such harmful outcomes, competence management is called for, and in this, the human resources (HR) function takes a key role. Among other things, it can provide basis for emergence and utilization of communities of practice (CoPs) that build on common interests and effectively cross organizational boundaries. These features of CoPs allow them to carry competences and ease knowledge transfer and to break down the harmful isolation. Quite paradoxically, the challenge is that CoPs can also form within silos, thereby strengthening isolation, and HR as a utility department can itself be particularly prone to the silo effects. Examination of boundaries and silos through an original study conducted in a Finnish energy sector company suggests that HR managers need competences outside their own expertise area and courage to augment their CoPs across the functional boundaries to break out of the HR silo and to assist other functions to do the same. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on qualitative research data gathered in four focus group interviews with HR personnel from an energy sector company in November 2012. Totally, 19 professionals were interviewed (five HR partners, five talent development and performance managers, five vice presidents of HR and four HR managers) in the four focus groups. The company’s HR personnel represented units from Finland, Sweden, Poland and Estonia. Findings Examination of boundaries and silos in the Finnish energy sector suggests that HR managers need competences outside their own field (e.g. knowledge of the business and offerings of the firm) and courage to augment their CoPs across the functional boundaries to break out of the HR silo and to assist other functions to do the same. Originality/value Research provided that CoPs can have different effects on silos. As they are capable of crossing organizational and functional boundaries, they may effectively mitigate adverse silo effects; however, if CoPs are formed within silos, they may strengthen isolation and fragmentation. In addition, utility departments and supporting functions are particularly prone to the risk of CoPs forming within silos. The HR function is one manifestation of this. Paradoxically, it also has the potential to enhance the other type of effects that CoPs can exert, as competence management can be used to foster intentional and self-organizing CoPs that counter silo effects.
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Borzillo, Stefano. "Balancing control and autonomy in communities of practice: governance patterns and knowledge in nine multinationals." Journal of Business Strategy 38, no. 3 (May 15, 2017): 10–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jbs-03-2016-0031.
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Purpose This research aims to uncover three forms of communities of practice (CoPs), based on a set of six governance mechanisms. The focus is on the specific question of how organizations combine different governance mechanisms to balance autonomy and control in the management (steering) of CoPs. This paper is based on a study of 16 CoPs in nine multinational organizations. Design/methodology/approach The method used is a multiple case study conducted in 16 CoPs within nine multinational organizations. Ninety-two informants were interviewed over a period of four years. Findings Data revealed three distinct governance patterns for CoPs (three forms of CoPs), each associated with different knowledge processes and representing a different path toward a balance between autonomy and control. Expanding communities focus on improving existing products by recombining bodies of knowledge supported by a governance pattern that achieves balance by making moderate use of a wide selection of governance mechanisms. Leveraging communities are dedicated to improving operational efficiency by transferring best practices supported by a governance pattern that combines strong technical authority (leadership) with low disciplinary authority. Probing communities focus on generating new practices by exploring new knowledge domains supported by a governance pattern that replaces direct managerial control with indirect nurturing of the community’s routines. Probing communities also establish linkages beyond the community’s boundaries to enable knowledge to be shared with individuals throughout (and outside) the organization (boundary-spanning). Research limitations/implications The size and scope of the sample limit the generalizability of the findings. Although the study involved a variety of different organizations, it concentrated merely on large and multinational organizations. Thus, larger-scale empirical work is needed to statistically evaluate the relationships that are described in the findings, and to help specify the conditions according to which these relationships may vary. Practical implications This study should help managers understand which form of CoP is most appropriate to meet a particular knowledge objective. If the objective is the creation of new knowledge via the recombination of bodies of existing knowledge, expanding communities are appropriate. Leveraging communities are better suited for transfers of best practices within the organization. Finally, probing communities should be used to explore new knowledge domains. Originality/value This paper contributes to the understanding of CoP dynamics by revealing different governance patterns deployed to balance autonomy and control in CoPs. It also contributes to organization learning by revealing different learning processes that constitute the three forms of CoPs.
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Bolisani, Ettore, and Enrico Scarso. "The place of communities of practice in knowledge management studies: a critical review." Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 2 (April 7, 2014): 366–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-07-2013-0277.
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Purpose – Since its introduction, the notion of Communities of Practice (CoPs) has gained immediate popularity, especially among Knowledge Management scholars. The paper aims at reviewing the past and discussing what has been done. In particular the purposes are: to assess the importance of CoPs in the KM literature; to trace how this notion is defined and used, both in practical and theoretical terms; to classify the approaches used by KM research on CoPs; to discuss the results that research and practice in CoPs have led so far, the open issues, and the potential role of this notion in a future KM research agenda. Design/methodology/approach – The paper illustrates and discusses the findings of a systematic literature review on CoPs focusing on papers published in the most influential Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Journals. Findings – The study analyses 82 articles published in 12 different KM and IC leading journals from 1997 to 2012. Each article was examined to determine the following information: type of study; domain of application; research methodology applied and addressed topic. Emerging trends, open questions and further research needs are identified and discussed. In particular, an issue for researchers is the necessity to formulate an agreed definition of CoPs under the KM umbrella, which can also help to implement comparable empirical studies and to build theories that provide understanding of how CoPs can be managed. Practical implications – The outcomes of the review is particularly important for KM scholars dealing with CoPs, who can find suggestions for their future research. It can also provide food for thought to practitioners, by illustrating the state-of-the-art and prospects of this important organisational form. In addition, the paper highlights that, despite the huge amount of studies on this topic, the notion of CoP is still used in different ways and the specific experience of each company is difficult to generalise and transfer to other cases. Originality/value – This is the most up-to-date analysis of research on CoPs in its elective field of application that is Knowledge Management.
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Storm, Louise Kamuk, Mette Krogh Christensen, and Lars Tore Ronglan. "Successful talent development environments in female Scandinavian Handball." Scandinavian Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2 (February 10, 2020): 16–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/sjsep.v2i0.115967.
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Talent development is a sociocultural affair. The social learning perspective is rarely used for the study of talent development in sport, although it is broadly known in the domain of education. This article examines the way in which communities of practice are connected within two exceptional successful talent development environments, what characterises talents’ movements across communities of practice within the club, and what characterises the interactions between talents, senior players and coaches. Drawing on Wenger’s notion of communities of practice, constellations of interconnected practices and boundary encounters, it identifies how the two environments were characterised by (1) a well-functioning constellation of several CoPs, (2) opportunities for talents to participate and engage in various CoPs (3), individually adjusted feedback from coach to player combined with communication between the players with different positions in the CoPs and not only coach instructions, and (4) senior elite players’ engaging behaviours in regard to newcomers in the boundary encounters and thereby legitimate peripheral participation opportunities for talented players. (5) The coaches were the key to coordinate the interconnected practices and social interactions between the ‘youth CoP’ and ‘senior elite CoP’.
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Aljuwaiber, Abobakr. "Communities of practice as an initiative for knowledge sharing in business organisations: a literature review." Journal of Knowledge Management 20, no. 4 (July 11, 2016): 731–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-12-2015-0494.
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Purpose This paper aims to review the research and to summarise the evidence on communities of practice (CoPs) as a tool for sharing knowledge. It will highlight the related literature from the past two decades by looking at potential barriers, solutions and influential factors regarding CoPs within business organisations. Design/methodology/approach The study consists of a constructed approach to determine the sources for the review that covers relevant literature on the topic of CoPs. Findings This paper provides insights about the important role of CoPs in fostering knowledge-sharing within business organisations. It suggests that the impact of globalisation has encouraged many business firms to intentionally establish CoPs as a vital tool for knowledge management (KM) initiatives. It also appears that the importance of the three organisational factors – top management, structure and culture – lies in their ability to have a direct effect on intentionally established CoPs within business organisations. Research limitations/implications The paper suggests a number of ways in which intentionally established CoPs can be developed within business companies. This paper limited its review to three organisational factors. Investigation of other organisational factors is needed. Originality/value This paper provides a detailed insight into the management literature on CoPs as an initiative for knowledge sharing within business organisations.
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Hanschke, Christina, James Baer, Alok Gangaramany, Janneke Verheijen, Nduku Kilonzo, Bryan Okiya, Leonard Kibe Ranji, et al. "Supporting communities of practice – A Journey to effective problem-solving." Gates Open Research 4 (March 16, 2021): 110. http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.13149.2.
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In contexts of scarce resources, varied assets, and diverse communities, engaging local stakeholders in the problem-solving process is critical to develop interventions for HIV prevention and treatment. Communities of practice (CoPs) – groups of people organized around a key purpose and a delivery point – can develop expertise in identifying their local community’s key challenges and selecting viable solutions. We propose a framework, adapted from the CoP model developed by Etienne Wenger, for systematically understanding the stages a CoP may go through as it develops its capacity to identify and solve problems and implement good practices. Our framework is based on the experience of practitioners of the LISTEN model (Local Initiatives Scaled Through Enterprise Networks) in eight local-level CoPs in Kenya and Eswatini. LISTEN seeks to help CoPs integrate continuous improvement processes, data, and human-centered design into their development and solutioning activities. The four stages in our framework for a CoP’s problem-solving journey are: 1) Community Identity: Identify and understand the CoP’s purpose and goals, and build rapport with its members and leaders; 2) Quick Win: Use a process of human-centered design to obtain a rapid and clear success in addressing a problem that the CoP has identified for itself and which it can tackle with its own resources; 3) Stewardship: Support the CoP in addressing more complex or long-term issues, including links to other CoPs at the local-community or higher levels to disseminate knowledge and obtain resources and support, where needed; and 4) Evolution: Support the CoP as it transitions into potentially new structures or functions. For each stage of the framework, we describe the kinds of support that may be provided to the CoP in the LISTEN model, and the types of tools that could be developed to assist them in problem-solving and in disseminating sustainable solutions.
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Pattinson, Steven, and David Preece. "Communities of practice, knowledge acquisition and innovation: a case study of science-based SMEs." Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 1 (February 4, 2014): 107–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-05-2013-0168.
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Purpose – Recent research into communities of practice (CoPs) has focused on large organizations, suggesting they can be constructed for the purposes of knowledge acquisition and innovation. The present study found that, for science-based SMEs, CoPs are more likely to emerge unplanned to support incremental innovation in the form of problem-solving activities. This paper aims to discuss these points. Design/methodology/approach – Deploying a social constructionist research methodology, thematic template analysis was used to analyze 25 in-depth interviews conducted with a range of employees in six science-based SMEs. Findings – Both intra and inter-organizational CoPs were leveraged for a variety of purposes, including knowledge acquisition and the enhancement of the organizations' ability to generate innovative solutions. Research limitations/implications – Whilst there is no claim for the representativeness of the sample in relation to the wider population of science-based firms, the paper offers new material and theorizing in a domain which has been dominated to date by a focus upon large organizations and a managerialist orientation. Practical implications – A contextualized framework for the construction of CoPs in science-based SMEs has been developed from the findings of this study. Originality/value – The role of CoPs in science-based SMEs and the factors that influence their success or failure have been neglected to date, and thus have received little attention in the literature. Yet CoPs, as we found, can contribute to knowledge acquisition and innovation.
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Spoor, Jennifer R., and Mei-Tai Chu. "The Role of Social Identity and Communities of Practice in Mergers and Acquisitions." Group & Organization Management 43, no. 4 (April 11, 2017): 623–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1059601117703266.
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Globally, organizations spend billions on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) each year; however, it is commonly estimated that at least half of these ventures fail. Two factors that contribute to this high failure rate are the difficulty in merging diverse areas of organizational knowledge and developing employees’ organizational identification with the post-M&A organization. In this article, we recommend the strategic use of organizational communities of practice (CoPs), groups where people share knowledge, to improve knowledge sharing within the post-M&A organization. We also argue that CoPs can indirectly increase knowledge sharing by easing M&A-triggered social identity concerns and fostering post-M&A organizational identification. We develop conceptual propositions for the relationships between CoPs participation, organizational identification, and knowledge sharing in the post-M&A organization. We also argue that the extent to which CoPs participation can increase organizational identification and knowledge sharing will depend on the post-M&A organization’s overall business strategy and whether it is primarily concerned with explicit or tacit knowledge.
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Risling, Tracie, and Linda Ferguson. "Communities of Practice in Nursing Academia: A Growing Need to Practice What We Teach." International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship 10, no. 1 (August 22, 2013): 177–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijnes-2012-0013.
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AbstractAlthough the community of practice (CoP) concept has been heavily utilized in business literature since its inception in the 1990s, it has not been significantly featured in nursing research. With student-centered approaches increasingly infusing nursing classrooms, including opportunities for collaborative learning and the development of student learning communities, it may be time to ask: Do we practice what we teach? Nursing academia faces challenges related to recruitment and retention, scholarly productivity and engagement of new faculty, and increasing demands for collaborative research. Challenges, some would argue, that could be addressed through CoPs; a sentiment reflected in the recent expansion of nursing CoP literature. What is the current state of the application of this concept in nursing academia and what barriers present in the promotion and development of CoPs in the academy? This article addresses these questions and provides guidance for those in search of community.
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Wohllebe, Atilla, and Michael Götz. "Communities of Practice for Functional Learning in Agile Contexts: Definition Approach and Call for Research." International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC) 14, no. 1 (June 29, 2021): 62. http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v14i1.21939.
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With the increasing relevance of information technology and software development in particular, the popularity of agile working methods like Scrum and Kanban has grown significantly in recent years. Characteristic for many agile frameworks like Scrum is the work in cross-functional teams. While this has many advantages in development, cross-functional teams make functional learning very challenging. Therefore, so-called Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been established in practice. This paper defines CoPs in the agile context and reviews existing literature on CoPs in agile context. There is very little literature how CoPs in the agile context are employed to enhance functional learning. The author calls for more scientific research for example on CoP’s success factors and contribution to functional learning outcomes in agile environments.
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Bashouri, Joseph, and Glen William Duncan. "Communities of practice: linking knowledge management and strategy in creative firms." Journal of Business Strategy 35, no. 6 (November 17, 2014): 49–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jbs-08-2013-0072.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of knowledge and its management in the creative professional service firm (PSF). The other purpose is to explore the role of communities of practice (CoPs) in knowledge management (KM) strategies. Design/methodology/approach – A single-case study approach was adopted with five open-ended semi-structured interviews conducted with middle and senior management having mainly an architectural background. The data were complemented with participant observation and reflection on experience together with conversations with work colleagues. Findings – The findings suggest that having an appropriately balanced strategy of personalisation/codification of knowledge through CoPs contributes to the competitiveness of the firm. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a useful exploration of KM in creative PSFs, but the results may lack generalizability because of the small scale and qualitative nature of the research. The research is limited to one firm in one country. Future research is needed to test the findings in other creative PSFs and in other countries. Practical implications – The paper provides guidance to managers in creative PSFs on the need for positioning CoPs at the heart of the firm’s KM strategies. Originality/value – The paper tests a theoretical framework on how to link strategy with KM strategy in creative PSFs.
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Schiavone, Francesco, and Stefano Borzillo. "Creating technological knowledge in vintage communities of practice." Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 5 (September 2, 2014): 991–1003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-06-2014-0251.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how members of a “vintage community of practice” (CoP) – the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) community – recombine old technological knowledge with new technological knowledge. A vintage CoP is a group of aficionados of old technology who keep using it even after superior new technologies have emerged and technological change has taken place. This paper presents mechanisms through which developers and gamers in the MAME community and its subcommunities or hubs select and recombine old and new technology to update old arcade videogames in a format that is playable on current personal computers (PCs). Design/methodological approach – An inductive single-case exploratory case study was conducted in the MAME community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with core community members to uncover mechanisms through which old technology-related knowledge (T-RK) was combined with new T-RK to update old versions of arcade video games into software versions that can be played on current PCs. Informant discourses were analyzed using first- and second-order coding methods. Findings – Our data revealed three mechanisms through which community leaders positively impact new and old T-RK recombinations that led to new knowledge creation within the MAME vintage CoP. We named these mechanisms leader mentorship, leader self-development propensity and clustering in the community. Our data also revealed a two-phase knowledge creation process in an open-source software community (OSSC) that supports the MAME community: knowledge selection and knowledge recombination. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by the size of the investigated community, so further research should be conducted in multiple vintage CoPs so as to generalize our results. Practical implications – Our results offer practitioners insights into the internal knowledge creation mechanisms that occur in vintage CoPs. Our findings seek to motivate managers to start collaborating with vintage CoPs to develop products for the niche vintage product markets. Originality/value – This research is one of the first in the field of vintage communities of practice. It affords understanding of social mechanisms by which old technologies are combined with new ones to give rise to vintage products that suit the needs of niche vintage product markets.
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Thomas, Nobin. "Control and autonomy irony in communities of practice from a power-based perspective." Journal of Management Development 36, no. 4 (May 8, 2017): 466–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jmd-04-2015-0049.
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Purpose The extant literature provides evidence that control measures employed in communities of practice (CoPs) have undergone significant changes with the evolution of the concept. When it started as a self-organized group, its members had the freedom to pursue their own interests. Now, CoPs are moving closer toward bureaucratic form of control. The purpose of this paper is to discuss that although it might still be difficult to locate the power base in a CoP, undercurrents suggest that they have a strong affinity for managements’ interests. Design/methodology/approach This approach taken in this paper is to present a historical background, contrast characteristics of present CoPs with its earlier versions and develop propositions highlighting a power-based perspective on leadership, sponsorship and objectives for CoPs within an existing organization. Findings The authors have found that power in a CoP has undergone tremendous changes from the time when it was introduced by Lave and Wenger (1991). When it started as a self-organized group, control exerted was null and void, as the members were given freedom to pursue their interests. The paper shows that CoPs can be formed intentionally, which is quite contrary to the common belief that they emerge naturally. Now, CoPs are moving closer toward bureaucratic form of control with the setting up of governance committees. This has serious repercussions for their autonomy, as envisaged by the early proponents of CoP, who believed that closely knit informal groups would enhance situational learning. Originality/value There is a general feeling that the word “autonomy” is a misnomer for CoP today. The power that once rested with the CoP group has been taken over by management in the form of sponsorship, goal congruency, etc. What appears as powerful in a CoP today is the sponsor and the CoP has ceased to exist as they used to be. This paper makes it clear that a CoP approach can provide value to the modern organization. However, if the issues discussed herein with regard to organizational power are not appropriately accounted for, CoP may fall short of expectations.
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Zaffini, Erin J. "Communities of Practice and Legitimate Peripheral Participation: A Literature Review." Update: Applications of Research in Music Education 36, no. 3 (November 24, 2017): 38–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/8755123317743977.
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This article is a review of theoretical and empirical literature on Wenger’s community of practice (CoP) theory and Lave and Wenger’s legitimate peripheral participation. It is organized into four broad parts: (a) Characteristics of CoPs in Music Communities, Education, and Teacher Education; (b) Benefits and Challenges Faced by Members of CoPs; (c) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation; and (d) Implications for Music Education. The theories posit that individuals within a CoP learn through social interaction, inform one’s identity development, and that participation and practice within a community change over time. Implications include (a) novice music educators may want to have access to multiple music mentors, (b) veteran music educators may want to be open to novice educators’ ideas and actively recruit new teachers who bring different experiences and perspectives into the field, and (c) music educators may want to allow all music educators into decision-making processes within their districts.
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Iedema, Rick, Shannon Meyerkort, and Les White. "Emergent modes of work and communities of practice." Health Services Management Research 18, no. 1 (February 1, 2005): 13–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1258/0951484053051906.
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This paper argues that the recent emphasis on teams in the health services research literature tends to be attributed to our rising recognition that flexible and self-organizing teams are in the best position to handle the increasing complexity and fragmentation of health services. With a brief review of two papers on health-care teams as its point of departure, this paper argues that the concern with teams harbours a realization that the organizational-managerial point of gravity of most clinical work lies with those who do the work. In the context of health reforms sweeping across most countries in the industrialized world, this means that teams are to embody dynamic self-organization as do 'communities of practice (CoPs)', and be the origin of the managerial and documentary realities that describe, define and validate them. Following through on this last point, the paper reflects on some of the constitutive facets of teams as CoPs, and proposes that in the context of health reform such emergent teamness encompass participating, knowledging and boundary spanning. Fusing contextual, attributional and processual dimensions of team conduct, these notions are elaborated to show how descriptions of teamness can be rendered sensitive to the prerogatives of health reform. The paper concludes with outlining some of the implications of this proposal for how we reconceptualize health services management.
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Compton, Ryan, Jilin Chen, Eben Haber, Hernan Badenes, and Steve Whittaker. "'Just the Facts:' Exploring the Relationship Between Emotional Language and Member Satisfaction in Enterprise Online Communities." Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 11, no. 1 (May 3, 2017): 500–503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v11i1.14954.
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Online enterprise communities often have clear informational goals, for example, for experts to answer novices’ factual questions. However, emotional support is also critical for developing online social relationships. But what is the optimal balance between informational and emotional communication for such communities? To address this, we develop and validate a model to assess the relative prevalence of emotional versus factual communication. We next test hypotheses about how this prevalence relates to community member satisfaction in enterprise communities. Overall, factual, not emotional, posts predict perceived member satisfaction. This relationship also depends on community subtype. Although prior work argues that Communities of Practice (CoPs) rely on frequent emotional communication, instead we found CoPs showed less satisfaction when members focused on emotional concerns. We discuss implications for both community tool design and the practices of community leaders.
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Sarirete, Akila, and Azeddine Chikh. "A Knowledge Management Process in Communities of Practice of Engineering Based on the SECI Model for Knowledge." International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies 5, no. 1 (January 2010): 27–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jwltt.2010010103.
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With the vast movement toward promoting and developing models, practices, and technological environments in the engineering domain, a need exists to facilitate communication, collaboration, and coordination among its actors. Communities of Practice (CoPs) represent the natural and logical solution to answer these needs. In this paper, the authors propose a knowledge management process to exploit tacit and explicit knowledge in the engineering domain within the framework of a CoP of engineering. The approach used in this work introduces new elements in the Nonaka’s SECI model for knowledge creation. To validate the proposed process, a qualitative case study has been conducted on two CoPs, “CPsquare” and “The Cisco Learning Network”. It has been shown that CoPs and social learning impact learning as well as knowledge sharing. The use of web technologies and socio-technical approach in the management of knowledge is of high importance.
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Staempfli, Adi, Eva Tov, Regula Kunz, Domink Tschopp, and Stefan Eugster Stamm. "Improving professionalism through reflection and discourse in communities of practice: The key situations in social work model and project." Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning 14, no. 2 (December 13, 2016): 6–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v14i2.940.
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Professional social work under conditions of uncertainty and complexity requires integration of various forms of knowledge, practice and values and entails managing emotions skilfully to make ethical professional judgements. The article discusses these challenges for social work(ers) and introduces the key situation in social work model. It consists of a systematic reflection process of typical, reoccurring practice situations in communities of practice (CoPs). Situated knowledge, memorised in relation to situations is dominant and is more easily accessed in practice. Situational knowledge, co-produced in reflections on key situations, is documented and shared on a virtual platform. Therefore, the model offers a concept for situational knowledge management and for discursive examination in professional and scientific communities. In the #keysituation project a platform was constructed and 10 CoPs with 35 active members from practice and academia quality assure its content. Based on the literature nine design principles for CoPs are suggested. The authors describe how these were applied. Success and failure depends on balancing three constituent aspects of CoPs: domain, community and practice. The model offers a flexible approach to continuous professional development (CPD), which fosters a learning culture essential to overcome managerial, technocratic approaches so prevalent in social work organisations.
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Fernandes, Flávia Roberta, Helena de Fátima Nunes Silva, Glauco Gomes de Menezes, Jean Frank Teodoro Dantas Sartori, and João Augusto Wendt Mischiatti. "Three Decades of Communities of Practice Conceptualization." International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 10, no. 4 (April 1, 2022): 200–220. http://dx.doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol10.iss4.3732.
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This article aims to identify the key authors and the theoretical foundations’ delineation of Lave and Wenger’s concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs) and its relationship with the learning theory. This exploratory and descriptive study applied a qualitative approach and bibliographic research based on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) publication “Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation”. All 48 references indicated in their research and the perceived relevance the authors have in academia. Data analysis was conducted using bibliometric and content analysis techniques with the aid of the NVivo software. The results showed the relevance of the key authors to the academy based on their number of publications, citation analysis, h-index, fields of study and contributions to those fields. We also identified that the concept of Communities of Practice is interdisciplinarity amongst anthropology, sociology, and psychology.
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Kourkouli, Katerina. "Investigating Greek EFL Coordinators’ Involvement in Online Elteachers Communities of Practice as a Means of Professional Development." European Journal of Social Science Education and Research 5, no. 3 (December 1, 2018): 41–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/ejser-2018-0056.
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Abstract This paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online ELTeachers Communities of Practice (CoPs) and its impact on their own and their trainees’/teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four (4) Greek EFL School Advisors who acted as Coordinators of four online CoPs training fourty-nine (49) EFL teachers using an online platform named 2gather developed by the University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. Founded on the theory of situated learning, CoPs have been defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et al., 2002). The study involved monitoring the development of four online ELTeachers CoPs and their respective Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and response using a mixed-methods approach which combined quantitative data and qualitative research of collective case studies (Dornyei, 2007) of the four groups of teachers. A comparison of the Coordinators’ implementation of meaningful professional development (Franke et al., 2001) activities “before” and “after” their involvement in the online CoPs was carried out. Findings delineate the extent of the Coordinators’ “reformed” training practice in terms of professional development activities provided to the teachers “before” and “after” their CoP involvement as well as their report on their teachers’ and their own perceived benefit. Results also highlight the role of the Coordinators’ attitude towards the innovative model of teacher education for its feasibility and viability in Greece and contribute to furthering our understanding of effective implementation of online CoPs in the context of continuing professional development.
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Kienle, Andrea, and Martin Wessner. "Förderung und Unterstützung wissenschaftlicher Communities (Cultivating and Supporting Scientific Communities)." i-com 4, no. 2 (February 1, 2005): 37–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1524/icom.2005.4.2.37.
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ZusammenfassungWissenschaftliche Communities können als spezifischer Typ einer Community of Practice (CoP) aufgefasst werden. Für CoPs entwickelte Modelle und Designprinzipien lassen sich dementsprechend auch auf wissenschaftliche Communities übertragen. Dieser Beitrag skizziert, wie eine Community-Plattform für wissenschaftliche Communities über die traditionellen Funktionen hinausgehend die Entwicklung der Community durch die Unterstützung von Designprinzipien fördern kann. Für die Übertragung der Modelle und Designprinzipien ziehen wir exemplarisch die Analyse der CSCL Community (CSCL = Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) in ihren ersten zehn Jahren (1995-2005) heran. Als Datenbasis dienen die Konferenzbände sowie die Listen der Programmkomiteemitglieder und Konferenzteilnehmer.
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C.K. Cheng, Eric, and John C.K. Lee. "Developing strategies for communities of practice." International Journal of Educational Management 28, no. 6 (August 5, 2014): 751–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijem-07-2013-0105.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies to develop communities of practice (CoP) to improve teaching in a school context. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional questionnaire is developed to collect data from participants in a project that aims to cultivate a CoP to improve their small class teaching skills. A total of 125 teachers from 35 primary schools participated in the survey. A structural equation model is used to explore the predictive power of the strategies on all three of the CoP elements. Findings – Content strategy is confirmed as the predictor of all the CoP elements, while process strategy is a predictor only for joint enterprise and shared repertoire. Practical implications – The application of these strategies to develop a CoP in schools involves designing a reflective and collaborative learning content, as well as monitoring, regulating and streamlining the learning process. Originality/value – The study contributes an empirical framework to the research of CoP and practical guides for school leaders to facilitate knowledge sharing in CoPs.
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Venkatraman, Sitalakshmi, and Ramanathan Venkatraman. "Communities of Practice Approach for Knowledge Management Systems." Systems 6, no. 4 (September 27, 2018): 36. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/systems6040036.
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In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards the knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in the virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing a community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing, and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying the Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits, Tools, Organisation, People and Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach. Finally, it identifies key challenges such as organizational culture and performance measurements, and provides practical recommendations to overcome them for a successful CoP implementation.
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Shujahata, Muhammad, and Minhong Wang. "The online communities of practices and faculty members’ professional development: A critical literature review." Multidisciplinary Business Review 15, no. 2 (December 31, 2022): 54–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.35692/07183992.15.2.6.
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Following the success of online communities of practices (Online CoPs) in the business sector for the professional development of employees, the idea of fostering the online cultivation of CoPs in educational institutions for the professional development of faculty members has been researched and practiced. Although this topic has not achieved maturity in the literature, this study is based on contingency theory/perspective views that the fundamentals of educational institutions are different from the fundamentals of business organisations. This means the research and implementation of Online CoPs with regard to educational institutions are unique and thus different from those of business organisations. Consequently, this study aimed to highlight the research gaps regarding the methodological approaches, the limited scope and conceptualisation of online CoPs, the limitations of theoretical foundations underlying CoPs, and the benefits and barriers of online CoPs in educational institutions. A critical semi-structured review methodology was employed. The findings expose the critical theoretical limitations and highlight the distinctive barriers and benefits of using online CoPs. Four promising research avenues are successively elaborated for the contingency-based theory development of online CoPs and provide grounds for their implementation in educational institutions.
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Lavoué, Élise, and Sébastien George. "Supporting the Interconnection of Communities of Practice." International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies 5, no. 2 (April 2010): 37–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jwltt.2010040103.
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In this paper, a general model for the Interconnection of Communities of Practice (ICP) is proposed. This model creates links between local Communities of Practice (CoPs) and global Communities of Practice on the Web. To hit the target platform specifications to support an ICP are first of all proposed, soon after the TE-Cap 2 (Tutoring Experience Capitalisation) platform for an ICP of tutors is made up to support people working on it. This platform allows the capitalisation of tutors’ contextualised knowledge by making it easily retrievable from all the tutors in their daily practice. At last a descriptive investigation over a four-month period and forty-two users registered on the platform is conducted. Results presented in this paper concern the usability of the platform and the relevance of the model with regard to tutors’ needs.
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Dimitrova, Dimitrina, and Emmanuel Koku. "Managing Collaborative Research Networks." International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking 2, no. 4 (October 2010): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jvcsn.2010100101.
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This paper explores how management practices shape the way dispersed communities of practice (CoPs) function. The analysis is a case study of a dispersed community engaged in conducting and managing collaborative research. The analysis uses data from a social network survey and semi-structured interviews to capture the management practices in the community and demonstrate how they are linked to the patterns of information flows and communication.This analysis is a test case for the broader issue of how distributed communities function. It shows that even highly distributed CoPs may have a dual life: they exist both online and offline, in both face-to-face meetings and email exchanges of their participants. The study examines a dispersed community engaged in conducting and managing collaborative research. The analysis uses data from a social network survey and interviews to examine its managerial practices, information exchanges and communication practices.
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Cawrse, Scott, and Ian D'arcy Walsh. "Cultivating Communities of Practice to Build Organisational Capacity: A Case Study of the Philippines-Australia Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) Project." Evaluation Journal of Australasia 4, no. 1-2 (March 2005): 22–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1035719x05004001-204.
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This article examines how the latent potential of communities of practice (CoPs) can be harnessed as a strategic resource for building capacity and improving organisational performance. In particular it focuses on a case study of developing communities of practice in the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) in three Regions (XI, XII and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)), which have been supported under the Philippines-Australia Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) Project. This article describes community-building activities sponsored by BEAM to strengthen local Department of Education (DepEd) management capacity to assume greater responsibilities following the passing of the Governance of Basic Education Act 2001. It maps and examines the process of connecting staff who were previously performing the same function independently, to come together to form knowledge sharing networks. Real examples of the changes that emerging CoPs are delivering are also provided. Discussion then turns to the new challenges CoPs face in sustaining the momentum and benefits that these professional networks are yielding.
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Ishiyama, Nobutaka. "Role of knowledge brokers in communities of practice in Japan." Journal of Knowledge Management 20, no. 6 (October 10, 2016): 1302–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-03-2016-0098.
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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of knowledge brokers in Japanese communities of practice (CoP). This is because if knowledge brokers can connect across boundaries and introduce practices into another CoP, they can contribute by introducing practices as tacit knowledge to another CoP. Design/methodology/approach This study examines five hypotheses on knowledge brokers with respect to multi-membership in CoPs, knowledge brokering and career adaptability. In this study, an online questionnaire was administrated to 412 business persons, all employed by Japanese companies. Findings In line with the predictions, the results show that the cognition and behavior of multi-membership were composed of two factors: “creation and integration of diverse opinions” and “acceptance of diverse opinions”. With respect to covariance structure analysis, “concern”, one of the factors of career adaptability, had both direct and indirect effects on “knowledge brokering”. “Creation and integration of diverse opinions”, one of the factors of the cognition and behavior of multi-membership, had direct effects on “knowledge brokering”. Research limitations/implications Given that the data presented in this study are limited to knowledge brokers in Japanese CoPs, the study needs to be extended to an international context and to other kinds of knowledge brokers. Originality/value This study contributes to the findings which show the complexity of multi-membership and career adaptability. Upon closer examination, each subscale of multi-membership and career adaptability shows a different effect on knowledge brokering. In other words, this study reveals the importance of proactive behavior in integrating diverse opinions for knowledge brokering.