Communities of Practice

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Aravind Sesagiri RaamkumarDaniele IzzoNirmala Selvaraju

K6212 – Knowledge Management Strategies

AGENDA

CoP Basics CoP: The Organizational Frontier Situated Learning and its relevance to

CoP Communities of Practice, Foucault and

Actor-Network Theory Case Studies

KM CoP Presentation Improvement CoP

• Groups of people who come together to share and to learn from one another face-to-face and virtually.

• They are held together by a common purpose; they contribute to a body of knowledge and are driven by a desire and need to share problems, experiences, insights, templates, tools, and best practices.

• Community members deepen their knowledge by interacting on an ongoing basis.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE - BASICS

Source: APQC with Richard McDermott Building and Sustaining CoPs, 2000

U.K.

CaliforniaGeorgiaFlorida

France

CoP

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE - BASICS

ARTICLE 1

Title: Communities of practice: The organizational frontierPublication: Journal of Management Studies May 2006Authors: Etienne C,Wenger and William M.SnyderType: Illustrative with examples

SUBAGENDA

Communities in Action The Hallmarks of Communities of

Practices A Paradox of Management Conclusion

COMMUNITIES IN ACTION

Communities of Practices

Drive strategy

Start new lines of

business

Solve problem quickly

Transfer best

practices

Develop profession

al skills

Help companies recruit and

retain talent

Help drive strategyproduction of knowledge collections (good practices, know-how, sector statistics, etc.)dissemination and outreach to staff and partnerssupport to task teams, thus enabling staff to apply and adapt the global knowledge to the local situationraising additional funds for specific work program activities

Start New lines of business• Met @ O’Hare airport between engagements with clients• Domain was retail marketing in banking industry and focused on new

business opportunities for client• After 4 years, created new line of marketing approaches for financial

services companies.

Solve problem quickly• A pulpmill customer in pacific Northwest have a dye-retention problem.• Within a day received several responses from experts peers in

Europe,southasia and canada

COMMUNITIES IN ACTION

Transfer best practices• Functional departments splits up to organize around cars platforms• Feared to lose functional expertise and ability to keep up with leading-edge change.• “”Tech club””-make the move to platforms, cut R&D costs and car-development cycle

times by more than half• Engineering book of knowledge- information on compliances standards, supplier

specifications and best practices

Develop professional skills• Communities of practice as effective arenas for fostering professional development• At IBM,CoP hold their own conference, both in person and on-line• Presentation ,hallway conversations, dinners and chat rooms – exchange ideas,build

skills and develop network

Help companies recruit and retain talent• American management systems –communities of practice help the company win the

war for talent• To develop skills and find new clients

COMMUNITIES IN ACTION

HALLMARKS OF COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICES:

• “Corporations” of metalworkers ,potters, masons and other craftsmen had both social purpose and a business function

• Guilds played similar roles for artisans throughout Europe

• “Instead of being composed primarily of people working on their own, they often exist within large organization”

HILL’S PET NUTRITION

Global leaders in pet nutrition Line technicians meet weekly to talk

about the recent successes and frustrations as well as challenging looming ahead.

The group has a “mayor” who’s been chosen by his peers to keep things on track from week to week.

At recent gathering.12 technician

from first and second

shift met around a

large table in the glass-

walled conference

room.

Roger,a technician

from plumbing

background made a trip

to this occasion to help John

Hone proposal to “ Substitute pneumatic

tubes for the balky

conveyor belt that

carried the pet food

kibbles to packaging

bin”

Senior manageme

nt at the plant had

not warmed to the

pneumatic tube idea.

Community members

had encouraged

John to continue

pausing for change.

John explained the latest revision of

his proposal included evidence

from Roger, say that

technology are reliable and would

be compatible

with existing

equipment

Result :

Significant reduction in downtime and wasted pet food related to packing

Community provide opportunities for the members to solve nagging problem and horn

their ability to run plant effectively.

Financial rewards in the form of bonuses

A PARADOX OF MANAGEMENT

To get communities going and to sustain them over time- managers should : Identify potential communities of practices

Provide the infrastructure Use non-traditional methods to access the

value of the company’s communities of practice

IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL COMMUNITIES

Informal networks of people with the ability and the passion to further develop an organization's core competencies already exist.

The task is to identify such groups and help them come together as communities of practice.

Develop new

community

Join with consultant

and interview

prospective members

Looks at challenges &

problems across units and team

Coordinator calls the

members

Group begin the discussing plans

for activities

Build individual and group

capabilities and increase

company’s strategic agenda

SHELL

U.S VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

First line managers

• Sharing tips about implementing a new team structure

Customer service

representative

• Help to set standards to reduce processing time

Training coordinators

• Upgrade training modules across organization

Core group

Core group-technical capabilityGroup participation

was limited and progress was slow

PROVIDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE

1.Formal approach2”thought leaders”3.Potential member must be recognised by his or her manager4.member’s paid by business unit

1.Combine formal and informal approach2.Knowledge bank3.Membership is open4.Funding for specificActivities & manage their own budgets

AM

S

Worl

d B

ank

Shows how different styles of formal commitment to communities of practice was effective when aligned with the organization's culture

USING NON-TRADITIONAL METHODS TO MEASURE VALUE

Managers feel it difficult to assess the value of communities The effects are often delayed Results are generally appear in the work of

teams and business units, not in the communities themselves

The best way to access the value of a community of practice is “Listening to member's stories”

At Shell They often conduct interviews to collect these

stories and then publish them in newsletters and reports

Organizes yearly competition to identify the best stories.

Communities saved the company $2 million to $5 million and increased the revenue more than $13 million in one year

CONCLUSION

The managers have to understand what these communities are and how they work

Realize the hidden fountainhead of knowledge development and the key to challenge of the knowledge economy

Appreciate the paradox of management

ARTICLE 2

Title: Within and Beyond CoP: Making sense of Learning through Participation, Identity and PracticePublication: Journal of Management Studies May 2006Authors: Karen Handley, Andrew Sturdy, Robin Fincham and Timothy ClarkType: Critique of established theories

SUB-AGENDA

Situated Learning Theory vs. Cognitivist theories of Learning

Key Concepts in a CoP Participation Identity Practice

Situated Learning within Multiple CoPs Notion of Participation in CoP Conclusion

SITUATED LEARNING VS. COGNITIVIST LEARNING

Situated Theory of Learning

Learning by observance Contextualized Concentrates on tacit

knowledge Integral and inseparable

aspect of social practice Core processes –

Participation, Identity-construction and Practice

Knowledge is provisional, meditated and socially constructed

Cognitivist Theory of Learning

Classroom based learning Decontextualized Positivist assessment of

abstract knowledge Learning – Accumulation of

symbolic representation Largely Explicit Replicated through

Artificial Intelligence

Knowledge is abstract and symbolic

KEY CONCEPTS - PARTICIPATION

Participation Identity Practice

Action Connection Participation

Mutual Recogniti

on

Negotiate Meaning

Possibility of conflict

Socialization bias between Novices and Masters Marginal vs. Full participation

KEY CONCEPTS - IDENTITY

Identity

1.)Who we are

2.) How we are

accepted in CoPs

Identity Regulati

onOrganization

enforcedIdentity

WorkSelf-enforced

Negotiation between Organizational and Personal perception

“Identity dictates an individual’s participation level in CoP”

KEY CONCEPTS - PRACTICEPractice

Undertaking or engaging fully in a task, job or profession

Adds structure and meaning in a historical and social context

Inference of norms of CoP including roles, language, conventions, assumptions and values etc.

Experimenting with provisional selves

SITUATED LEARNING WITHIN MULTIPLE COPS

Fluidity and Heterogeneity vs. Homogenous Social Objects controlled by management

Different from Collectives of Practice

Shared Repertoire

Joint Enterprise

Mutual Engageme

nt

SITUATED LEARNING WITHIN MULTIPLE COPS

Heterogeneous across

dimensions

Lifecycle

Pace of Evolution

Geographic Spread

Individual developme

nt

Identity-construction

ExperimentationRole Modelling

CoP of Claim Processors and CoP of Claim Managers

Issue lies in the management of roles, actions and relationships across multiple

CoPS

SITUATED LEARNING WITHIN MULTIPLE COPS

Mutch’s Approach

Agency through adoption/adapti

on of participation and identity construction

Wenger’s Compartm

e-ntalization

of practices

Bernstein’s work on

codes

Fatalism of

continual reproducti

on

Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’

CoP1 CoP2

IDENTTITY

Different Types of Participation

1. Marginal2. Contingent3. Not to Join

NOTION OF PARTICIPATION IN COP

Difficult to differentiate between active participation and ineffectual participation

“Individuals who successfully navigate a path from peripheral to full participation can be categorized as participating”

Different level of participation in meat-cutter community

Commoditization of labour

Peripheral -> Marginal -> Full

CONCLUSION

Development of identities and practice is not within CoPs but between CoPs

Distinction between Participation and Practice Definition of Practice is to be limited to activity Participation denotes meaningful activity

developed through relationships and shared identities

Scope for research on individual participation within and beyond CoPs

Title: Communities of Practice, Foucault and Actor-Network Theory

Author: Stephen Fox

Year: 2000

Publication: Journal of Management Studies, Lancaster University

ARTICLE 3

• Example: The work practices of Naval quartermaster

• COPT and CLT compared

• Foucaultian concept of Power and COPT

• Actor Network Theory and COPT

• Conclusions

SUB-AGENDA

• Recruiting

• Learning how navigate: individuate where the ship is in relation to the seabed, calculate routes, avoid obstacles and collision.

• Newcomers learn through the “Learning by Doing”• Newcomers became member of a community and participate to the navigation

• After 1 year newcomer become young master and will teach to novel newcomers

EXAMPLE: THE WORK PRACTICES OF NAVAL QUARTERMASTER

Communities of Practice Theory (COPT)

• Integration of working and learning, “Learning-in-Working”

• Dilemma: On one hand there is the

involvement into the real work through understanding, participation, became member of the community

On the other hand there is they shape their own identity in their future

• Both Tacit and Explicit Knowledge are moved

Conventional Learning Theory

• Separation among Learning and Working

• Leaning but not participation in a community

• Understanding from the books and not from the practice

• Just Explicit knowledge is moved

VS

COPT AND CLT COMPARED

FOUCAULTIAN CONCEPTION OF POWER AND COPTWhat Power is:

• Is moving substrate of Force Relations in every point of a Network

• Power seen as Act – Action

• Force is the way power acts

• Pouvoir / Savoir – Power and Knowledge are indisociable

• Power is Everywhere, not because embraces everywhere but because comes from everywhere

• Actant: Inanimate object can Act – Nuclear Weapons

What Power is not:

• Power is not a central point of sovereignty

• Is not constrain or dominate other people

• Is not the possession of some people over others

• Is not a group of institutions or mechanism to ensure the subservience of the population

FOUCAULTIAN CONCEPTION OF POWER AND COPT

Actant Inanimate Object can Act

Nuclear Weapons:• Inanimate Objects• Act• Frighten people

Relation with COPT:

Power not related to the individual but Power related to the Force Relations in every part of a network

Example: how Newcomers became Quartermasters

• Quartermasters imposes knowledge and power to the

newcomers

• Newcomers enforce their memories and learning process

and use power as Force relation in the community

• Newcomers use power and knowledge of the

quartermasters in order learn

FOUCAULTIAN CONCEPTION OF POWER AND COPT

ACTOR NETWORK THEORY (ANT) AND COPT

• Power is active and tangible

• Substitution from passive to reactive

• Passive is not the opposite of active but is another kind of active – like inertia

ACTOR NETWORK THEORY (ANT) AND COPT

ANT supplies a set of concepts for understanding how practices changes or innovate and how actors became obligatory point of passage

ANT considers the learner as human and non human Actant – changes in action can occur either in human and non-human element

COPT tells us how tacit knowledge is moved inside CoPs but do not tell us how practice changes or innovate in CoPs

COPT claim that learner can be a community – So human actors

COPT ANT

Problematization

How practice changes or innovate and actors became obligatory point of passage

ACTOR NETWORK THEORY (ANT) AND COPT

Interessement

Enrolment

Mobilization of the

allies

ACTOR NETWORK THEORY (ANT) AND COPT

Fishermen Example

Problematization: Fishermen realize that the declining stocks of scallops

Interessement: Fishermen agree to give a try to the experiment of the researchers

Enrolment: The role and activities of the researchers are defined

Mobilization of allies: Researchers reduce the fishermen to a handful of spokesmen

CONCLUSION

ANT tells us how practices changes or innovate

ANT tells us how actors become mandatory point of passage

COPT tells us that Learning and Working together means moving tacit and explicit knowledge

Foucault says that Power in COPT is not related to the individual but to Force Relation in a community

KM STUDENTS’ TRYST WITH COPS

KM COPWebsite URL: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/km.cop/

How often does the KM CoP meet in a single year? 4 times / year, as each meeting is 1 quarter.

What are the topics discussed during the meet? The topic is depending on the speaker, we are not restricting to the topic itself as we are promoting people to share knowledge.

Any online/virtual meetings conducted so far? No Virtual Meeting conducted so far. But if u want to consider Face Book group as virtual meeting, then I would say yes

Who are part of the administrative group and what is their roles?So far for core team we have Don Chai, Noraini Rahman, Prof Kan himself as well as me(Tendon Rudi).

What are the benefits that have come forth after the initiation of this CoP? The benefit itself is more toward socialization, maintain the rapport of members as well as get to learn something that may not be in our own expertise.

PRESENTATION IMPROVEMENT COP

Website URL: http://www.facebook.com/groups/km2011present/

Objective: This CoP aims to improve the presentation skills of KM students by providing opinions and suggestions.

THANK YOU