Roles of Communities of Practice for the Development of the Society

Mohajan, Haradhan (2017): Roles of Communities of Practice for the Development of the Society. Published in: Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People , Vol. 6, No. 3 (30 September 2017): pp. 27-46.

Abstract

AAt present one of the most important concepts in social learning theory is the idea of communities of practice (CoP), which describes a learning theory with a strong relationship to the social construction of knowledge. A CoP is a collection of people who engage on performing a common activity for the welfare both of members of the community and the society. In modern society, it is used in some form of high levels of skills, knowledge and proficiency to perform the jobs properly. It plays an important role in the sharing of knowledge and creating value for both their members and organizations. A CoP is composed of three crucial characteristics: domain, community, and practice, which provide a guide to the development of community. The paper describes structural components, basic characteristics, and essential elements of a CoP. It also highlights benefits, importance, and the challenges and barriers of a CoP. In addition, it describes virtual CoP in brief. The main aim of this study is to explore the ins and out of a CoP in some details.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Communities of practice, knowledge management, social learning, virtual communities.
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A14 - Sociology of Economics; A - General Economics and Teaching > A3 - Collective Works

References

1. Abuelmaati, A., & Rezgui, Y. (2008). Virtual Organizations in Practice: A European Perspective. In the Procedure of the Fourteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems. Toronto, Canada.

2. Agrifoglio, R. (2015). Knowledge Preservation through Community of Practice. Springer Briefs in Information Systems.

3. Allen, J. (2000). Power/Economic Knowledge: Symbolic and Spatial Formations. In J. Bryson, P. W. Daniels, N. Henry, and J. Pollard (Eds.). Knowledge, Space, Economy, pp. 15–33, London: Routledge.

4. Anderson-Carpenter, K. D., Watson-Thompson, J., Jones, M., & Chaney, L. (2014). Using Communities of Practice to Support Implementation of Evidence-based Prevention Strategies. Journal of Community Practice, 22, 176–188.

5. Barab, S. A., Makinster, J., & Scheckler, R. (2004). Designing System Dualities: Characterizing an Online Professional Development Community. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling and J. H. Gray (Eds.). Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning, pp. 53–90. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

6. Bogenrieder, I., & Nooteboom, B. (2004). Learning in Groups: What Types are There? A Theoretical Analysis and an Empirical Study in a Consultancy Firm. Organization Studies, 25(2), 287–313.

7. Bonk, C. J., Wisher, R. A. & Nigrelli, M. L. (2004). Learning Communities, Communities of Practice: Principles, Technologies, and Examples. In K. Littleton, D. Miell and D. Faulkner (Eds.). Learning to Collaborate, Collaborating to Learn, pp. 199–219. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

8. Bos, N., Zimmerman, A., Olson, J. S., Yew, J., Yerkie, J., Dahl, E., Cooney, D., & Olson, G. M. (2008). From Shared Databases to Communities of Practice: A Taxonomy of Collaboratories. In Gary M. Olson, Ann Zimmerman, and Nathan Bos (Eds.). Scientific Collaboration on the Internet. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

9. Botha, A., Kourie, D., & Snyman, R. (2008). Coping with Continuous Change in the Business Environment, Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Technology. Chandice Publishing Ltd.

10. Briard, S., & Carter, C. (2013). Communities of Practice and Communities of Interest: Definitions and Evaluation Consideration. The Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health.

11. Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation. Organization Science, 2(1), 40–57.

12. Buckley, S., Jakovljevic, M., Bushney, M., & Majewski, G. (2017). Forming Communities of Practice in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis. International Journal of Multidisciplinarity in Business and Science, 2(2): 3–12.

13. Carlile, P. R. (2002). A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries: Boundary Objects in New Product Development. Organization Science, 13(4), 442–455.

14. Chin, A., & Chignell, M. (2007). Identifying Communities in Blogs: Roles for Social Network Analysis and Survey Instruments. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 3(3), 345–363.

15. Cohendet, P., Héraud, J.-A., & Llereny, P. (2013). A Microeconomic Approach to the Dynamics of Knowledge Creation. In P. Meusburger, J. Glückler and M. E. Meskioui (Eds.). Knowledge and the Economy (Knowledge and Space 5), pp. 43–60. Springer, Dordrecht.

16. Collier, J., & Esteban, R. (1999). Governance in the Participative Organisation: Freedom, Creativity and Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 21(2/3), 173–188.

17. Constant, E. (1987). The Social Locus of Technological Practice: Community System, or Organization. In W. E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes and T. Pinch (Eds.). The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

18. Corradi, G., Gherardi, S., & Verzelloni, L. (2010). Through the Practice Lens: Where is the Bandwagon of Practice-Based Studies Heading?, Management Learning, 41(3), 265–283.

19. Cothrel, J., & Williams, R. L. (1999). On-Line Communities: Helping them Form and Grow, Journal of Knowledge Management, 3(1), 54–60.

20. Cox, A. M. (2005). What are Communities of Practice? A Comparative Review of Four Seminal Works. Journal of Information Science, 31(6), 527–540.

21. Cummings, S., & van Zee, A. (2005). Communities of Practice and Networks: Reviewing Two Perspectives on Social Learning, KM4D Journal, 1(1), 8–22.

22. Curran, J.A., Murphy, A. L., Abidi, S. S., Sinclair, D., & McGrath, P. J. (2009). Bridging the Gap: Knowledge Seeking and Sharing in a Virtual Community of Emergency Practice. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 32(3), 314–327.

23. Dalkir, K. (2005). Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice. Oxford: Elsevier-Butterworth Heinemann.

24. Daniel, B. K., Sarkar, A., & O’Brien, D. (2004). A Participatory Design Approach for a Distributed Community of Practice in Governance and International Development. Paper Presented at the World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications. Lugano, Switzerland.

25. Daniel, G. R., Auhl, G., & Hastings, W. (2013). Collaborative Feedback and Reflection for Professional Growth: Preparing First-Year Pre-Service Teachers for Participation in Community of Practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41(2), 159–172.

26. Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design. Management Science, 32(5), 554–571.

27. Davidson, E., & Tay, A. (2003). Studying Teamwork in Global IT Support. In the Procedure of the 36th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Kona-Kailua, HI, 2003.

28. Dubé, L., Bourhis, A., & Jacob, R. (2005). The Impact of Structuring Characteristics on the Launching of Virtual Communities of Practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(2), 145–166.

29. Dubé, L., Bourhis, A., & Jacob, R. (2006). Towards a Typology of Virtual Communities of Practice. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 1, 69–93.

30. Ellis, D., Oldridge, R., & Vasconcelos, A. (2004). Community and Virtual Community. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 38, 145–186.

31. Etzioni, A., & Etzioni, O. (1999). Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communities, A Comparative Analysis. The Information Society, 15, 241–248.

32. Fox, S. (2000). An Actor-Network Critique of Community in Higher Education: Implications for Networked Learning. Studies in Higher Education, 30(1), 95–110.

33. Friberger, M. G., & Falkman, G. (2013). Collaboration Processes, Outcomes, Challenges and Enablers of Distributed Clinical Communities of Practice, Behaviour & Information Technology. 32(6), 519–531.

34. Fulton, K. P., & Riel, M. (1999). Professional Development through Learning Communities, [Electronic Version]. Web: http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_481&key=238

35. Gannon-Leary, P. M., & Fontainha, E. (2007). Communities of Practice and Virtual Learning Communities: Benefits, Barriers and Success Factors. eLearning Papers, 5(3), 54–65.

36. Gelin, P., & Milusheva, M. (2011). The Secrets of Successful Communities of Practice: Real Benefits from Collaboration within Social Networks at Schneider Electric. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 26(4), 6–18.

37. Gherardi, S. (2000). Practice-Based Theorizing on Learning and Knowing in Organizations: An Introduction. Organization, 7(2), 211–223.

38. Gibson, C. B., & Manuel, J. A. (2003). Building Trust: Effective Multicultural Communication Processes in Virtual Teams. In C. B. Gibson and S. G. Cohen (Eds.). Virtual Teams that Work, pp. 59–86. San Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons.

39. Hara, N., & Kling, R. (2002). Communities of Practice with and without Information Technology. Paper Presented at the American Society of Information Science and Technology, Philadelphia, PA.

40. Hildreth, P., Kimble, C., & Wright, P. (1998). Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice. In Terry Bynum, Simon Rogerson and Jeroen van den Hoven (Eds.): Proceedings of Ethicomp, pp. 275 –286. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

41. Hinton, B. (2003). Knowledge Management and Communities of Practice: An Experience from Rabobank Australia and New Zealand. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 5(3), 193–218.

42. Holland, S., Gaston, K., & Gomes, J. (2000). Critical Success Factors for Cross-Functional Teamwork in New Product Development. International Journal of Management Reviews, 2(3), 231–259.

43. John, V. (2005). Community Development Research: Merging (or Submerging) Communities of Practice? A Response to Van Valaenderen. Community Development Journal, 41(1), 50–64.

44. Jones, Q. (1997). Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archaeology: A Theoretical Outline? Journal of Computer-Mediated Communications, Vol. 3 No. 3.

45. Kerno, S. J. Jr. (2008). Limitations of Communities of Practice a Consideration of Unresolved Issues and Difficulties in the Approach. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(1), 69–78.

46. Kietzmann, J., Plangger, K., Eaton, B., Heilgenberg, K., Pitt, L., & Berthon, P. (2013). Mobility at Work: A Typology of Mobile Comminities of Pratice and Contextual Ambidexterity. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 3(4), 282–297.

47. Koliba, C., & Gajda, R. (2009). Communities of Practice as an Analytical Construct: Implications for Theory and Practice. International Journal of Public Administration, 32, 97–135.

48. Lai, K.W., Pratt, K., Anderson, M., & Stigter, J. (2006). Literature Review and Synthesis: Online Communities of Practice. Ministry of Education, New Zealand.

49. Lamontagne, M. (2005). Communities of Practice in an Arabic Culture: Wenger’s Model and the United Arab Emirates Implications for Online Learning. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 6(3), 9–30.

50. Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

51. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situational Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

52. Lees, A., & Meyer, E. (2011). Theoretically Speaking: Use of a Communities of Practice Framework to Describe and Evaluate Interprofessional Education. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 25, 84–90.

53. Lesser, E. L., Fontaine, M., & Slusher, J. A. (Eds.) (2000). Knowledge and Communities, Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

54. Lesser, L. E., & Storck, J. (2001). Communities of Practice and Organizational Performance. IBM Systems Journal, 40(4), 831–841.

55. Li, L. C., Grimshaw, J. M., Nielsen, C., Judd, M., Coyte, P. C., & Graham, I. D. (2009). Use of Communities of Practice in Business and Health Care Sectors: A Systematic Review. Implementation Science, 4(27), 1–9.

56. Lima, J., Carvalho, C., & Laboissiere, A. P. (2010). Knowledge Management in Virtual Communities of Practice. In Pasi Virtanen and Nina Helander (Eds.): Knowledge Management, pp. 93–110. Tech Publications, Croatia. Web: http://www.intechopen.com/books/knowledge-management/knowledge-management-in-virtualcommunities-of-practice

57. McDermott, R. (1999). Why Information Technology Inspired But Cannot Deliver Knowledge Management. California Management Review, 41(4), 103–117.

58. McDermott, R. & Archibald, D. (2010). Harnessing Your Staff’s Informal Networks. Harvard Business Review, 88(3), 82–89.

59. Metallo, C. (2007), L’organizzazione Del Lavoro a Distanza, Torino: Giappichelli Editore.

60. Morgan, S. (2010). Communities of Practice and Social Learning in Associations of Organic Farmers in Wales. WS1.1–Innovation and Change Facilitation for Rural Development. 9th European IFSA Symposium, 4–7 July 2010, pp. 186–197. Vienna, Austria.

61. Moule, P. (2006). Developing the Communities of Practice. Framework for On-Line Learning Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 4(2), 133–140.

62. Murillo, E. (2008). Searching Usenet for Virtual Communities of Practice. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

63. Nemec, P. B., & LaMaster, S. (2014). Education and Training Column: Communities of Practice. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 37(4), 336–338.

64. Nickols, F. (2007). Communities of Practice: Definition, Indicators & Identifying Characteristics. Web. http://home.att.net/~discon/KM/CoPCharacteristics.htm

65. Nistor, N., Baltes, B., & Schustek, M. (2012). Knowledge Sharing and Educa¬tional Technology Acceptance in Online Academic Communities of Practice. Campus Wide Information Systems, 29(2), 108–116.

66. Oreszczyn, S., Lane, A., & Carr, S. (2010). The Role of Networks of Practice and Webs of Influencers on Farmers’ Engagement with and Learning about Agricultural Innovations. Journal of Rural Studies, 26, 404–417.

67. Orlikowski, W. J. (2002). Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing. Organization Science, 13(3), 249–273.

68. Orr, J. (1990). Sharing Knowledge, Celebrating Identity: War Stories and Community Memory in a Service Community. In D. S. Middleton and D. Edwards (Eds.): Collective Remembering: Memory in Society. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

69. Østerlund, C., & Carlile, P. (2005). Relations in Practice: Sorting through Practice Theories on Knowledge Sharing in Complex Organizations. The Information Society, 21(2), 91–107.

70. Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (1999). Building Online Learning Communities, Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. Jossey-Bass (Ed.). San Francisco.

71. Ranmuthugala, G., Plumb, J. J., Cunningham, F. C., Georgiou, A., Westbrook, J. I., Braithwaite, J. (2011). How and Why are Communities of Practice Established in the Healthcare Sector? A Systematic Review of the Literature. BMC Health Services Research, 11, 273.

72. Riel, M., & Polin, L. (2004). Online Learning Communities: Common Ground and Critical Differences in Designing Technical Environments. In S. Barab, R. Kling and J. Gray (Eds.): Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. pp. 16–50. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

73. Roberts, J. (2006). Limits to Communities of Practice. Journal of Management Studies, 43(3), 623–639.

74. Saint-Onge, H., & Wallace, D. (2003). Leveraging Communities of Practice for Strategic Advantage. Butterworth Heinemann, Boston, MA.

75. Schwen, T. M., & Hara, N. (2003). Community of Practice: A Metaphor for Online Design? The Information Society, 19(3), 257–270.

76. Scott, W. R. (2003). Organizations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

77. Smith, P., Barty, K., & Stacey, E. (2005). Limitations of an Established Community of Practice in Developing Online Innovation, Breaking Down Boundaries: International Experience in Open, Distance and Flexible Education. Proceedings of the 17th ODLAA Conference, p.p. 1–6. ODLAA, Adelaide.

78. Sole, D., & Edmondson, A. (2002). Situated Knowledge and Learning in Dispersed Teams. British Journal of Management, 13(S2), 17–34.

79. Squire, K., & Johnson, C. (2000). Supporting Distributed Communities of Practice with Interactive Television. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(1), 23–43.

80. Stamps, D. (1997). Communities of Practice: Learning is Social, Training is Irrelevant? Training, 34(2), 34–42. Web: http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledgegarden/cop/learnsoc.shtml

81. Târnăveanu, D. (2012). A Virtual Community of Practice Proposal for Business Intelligence Researchers. Informatica Economică, 16(3), 50–58.

82. Thomson, L., Schneider, J., & Wright, N. (2013). Developing Communities of Practice to Support the Implementation of Research into Clinical Practice. Leadership in Health Services, 26, 20–33.

83. Tremblay, D.-G. (2004), Virtual Communities of Practice: Towards New Modes of Learning and Knowledge Creation? (Research Note no. [sic] 2004–05 of the Canada Research Chair on the Socio-Organizational Challenges of the Knowledge Economy). Télé-université, Université du Québec. Web: http://www.teluq.uquebec.ca/chaireecosavoir/pdf/NRC04-05A.pdf

84. USAID (2004). Knowledge for Development Strategy 2004–2008. US Agency for International Development. Washington. Web: http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PDACA224.pdf

85. Walczak, S. (2010). Utilization and Perceived Benefit for Diverse Users of Communities of Practice in a Healthcare Organization. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 22(4), 24–50.

86. Wasko, M. M., & Faraj, S. (2000). It is What One Does: Why People Participate and Help Others in Electronic Communities of Practice. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 9, 155–173.

87. Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, New York.

88. Wenger, E. (2004). Knowledge Management as a Doughnut: Shaping Your Knowledge Strategy through Communities of Practice. Ivey Business Journal, 1–8.

89. Wenger, E., McDermont, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). A Guide to Managing Knowledge: Cultivating Communities of Practice. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press.

90. Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. (2000). Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 139–145.

91. Wenger, E., & Wenger, B. (2015). Communities of Practice: A Brief Introduction. Web. http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf

92. White, I. K., & Pagano, R. (2007). Making it Stick: The Use of Online Discussion Fora to Support Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education Communities of Practice. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on e-Learning. New York, 28–29 June.

93. Wilding, C., Curtin, C., & Whiteford, G. (2012). Enhancing Occupational Therapists’ Confidence and Professional Development through a Community of Practice Scholars. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 59, 312–318.