Cultivating Communities of Practic Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott & William M. Snyder Xiaoyu Wen CMN-5150 Knowledge Management and Social Media Dr. Pierre Levy Nov 28, 2011
Cultivating communities of practice
May 11, 2015
Cultivating communities of practice
Chapter 1: Communities of practice and their value to organizations
What is a community of practice?
These people don’t necessarily work together every day, but they meet because they find value in their interactions. They accumulate knowledge, and they become informally bound by the value that they find in learning together. This value is not merely instrumental for their work. It also accrues in the personal satisfaction of knowing colleagues who understand each other’s perspectives and of belonging to an interesting group of people. For example, artists congregate in cafes and studios to debate the merits of a new style or technique. Gang members learn to survive on the street and deal with an unfriendly world. Frontline managers running manufacturing operations get a chance to commiserate, to learn about upcoming technologies, and to foresee shifts in the winds of power.
Communities of practice are not a new idea. They were our first knowledge-based social structures, back when we lived in caves and gathered around the fire to discuss strategies for cornering prey, the shape of arrowheads, or which roots were edible. Communities of practice are everywhere, and we all belong to a number of them – at work, at school, at home, in our hobbies.
Knowledge has become the key to success and organizations need to become more intentional and systematic about “managing” knowledge. Community of practice is a good way to steward knowledge, so the age-old structure was given a new, central role in business.
Chapter 2: Communities of practice and their structural elements
Communities of practice take many forms
Small or big. Some communities of practice are small and intimate, involving only a few specialists, while others consist of hundreds of people.
Long-lived or short-lived. Some exist over centuries. For example, communities of artisans, such as violin makers, who pass their craft from generation to generation. However, many other communities of practice are shorter-lived but still last a good number of years.
Colocated or distributed. Sharing a practice requires regular interaction. Therefore, many communities starts among people who work at the same place or live nearby. However, the key of sharing knowledge is a common set of situations, problems, and perspectives, so colocation is not a necessity. Many communities of practice are distributed over wide areas. Many of them meet regularly and are connected mainly through phone and e-mail. With the development of new technologies and the need for globalization, the distributed communities of practice becomes the standard rather than the exception.
Homogeneous or heterogeneous. Some communities are homogeneous, composed of people from the same discipline or function. Others bring people with different backgrounds. For example, all people come from different functions, but they deal with a big customer or a certain country.
Inside and across boundaries. Comm
Chapter 1: Communities of practice and their value to organizations
What is a community of practice?
These people don’t necessarily work together every day, but they meet because they find value in their interactions. They accumulate knowledge, and they become informally bound by the value that they find in learning together. This value is not merely instrumental for their work. It also accrues in the personal satisfaction of knowing colleagues who understand each other’s perspectives and of belonging to an interesting group of people. For example, artists congregate in cafes and studios to debate the merits of a new style or technique. Gang members learn to survive on the street and deal with an unfriendly world. Frontline managers running manufacturing operations get a chance to commiserate, to learn about upcoming technologies, and to foresee shifts in the winds of power.
Communities of practice are not a new idea. They were our first knowledge-based social structures, back when we lived in caves and gathered around the fire to discuss strategies for cornering prey, the shape of arrowheads, or which roots were edible. Communities of practice are everywhere, and we all belong to a number of them – at work, at school, at home, in our hobbies.
Knowledge has become the key to success and organizations need to become more intentional and systematic about “managing” knowledge. Community of practice is a good way to steward knowledge, so the age-old structure was given a new, central role in business.
Chapter 2: Communities of practice and their structural elements
Communities of practice take many forms
Small or big. Some communities of practice are small and intimate, involving only a few specialists, while others consist of hundreds of people.
Long-lived or short-lived. Some exist over centuries. For example, communities of artisans, such as violin makers, who pass their craft from generation to generation. However, many other communities of practice are shorter-lived but still last a good number of years.
Colocated or distributed. Sharing a practice requires regular interaction. Therefore, many communities starts among people who work at the same place or live nearby. However, the key of sharing knowledge is a common set of situations, problems, and perspectives, so colocation is not a necessity. Many communities of practice are distributed over wide areas. Many of them meet regularly and are connected mainly through phone and e-mail. With the development of new technologies and the need for globalization, the distributed communities of practice becomes the standard rather than the exception.
Homogeneous or heterogeneous. Some communities are homogeneous, composed of people from the same discipline or function. Others bring people with different backgrounds. For example, all people come from different functions, but they deal with a big customer or a certain country.
Inside and across boundaries. Comm
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Cultivating Communities of PracticeEtienne Wenger, Richard McDermott & William M. Snyder
Xiaoyu Wen
CMN-5150 Knowledge Management and Social Media
Dr. Pierre Levy
Nov 28, 2011
Contents Chapter 1: Communities of practice and their value to organiza
tions Chapter 2: Communities of practice and their structural eleme
nts Chapter 3: Seven principles for cultivating communities of pra
ctice Chapter 4: The early stages of development – planning and laun
ching communities of practice Chapter 5: The mature stages of development – growing and su
staining communities of practice Chapter 6: The challenges of distributed communities Chapter 7: The downside of communities of practice Chapter 8: Measuring and managing value creation Chapter 9: Community-based knowledge initiatives Chapter 10: Reweaving the world – communities beyond organ
izations
Chapter 1: Communities of practice and their value to organizations
“Communities of practice are 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”.
Chapter 2: Communities of practice and their structural elements
Different forms Small or big. Long-lived or short-lived. Colocated or distributed. Homogeneous or heterogeneous. Inside and across boundaries. Spontaneous or intentional. Unrecognized to institutionalized.
Three fundamental elements: A domain of knowledge, which defi
nes a set of issues; A community of people who care ab
out this domain; The shared practice that they are de
veloping to be effective in their domain.
Chapter 3: Seven principles for cultivating communities of practice
What is the role of design for a “human institution” that is, by definition, natural, spontaneous, and self-directed? How do you guide such an institution to realize itself, to become “alive”?
Design for evolution. Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspe
ctives. Invite different levels of participation. Develop both public and private community spaces. Focus on value. Combine familiarity and excitement. Create a rhythm for the community.
Chapter 4: The early stages of development – planning and launching communities of practiceChapter 5: The mature stages of development – growing and sustaining communities of practice
Chapter 6: The challenges of distributed communities
Four key development activities:
Achieve stake holder alignment.
Create a structure that promotes both local variations and global connections.
Build a rhythm strong enough to maintain community visibility
Develop the private space of the community more systematically.
Authors call “distributed” any community of practice that cannot rely on face-to-face meetings and interactions as its primary vehicle for connecting members.
Chapter 7: The downside of communities of practice
What can go wrong with single communities - Domain: the temptations of ownership - Community: too much of good thing - Practice: the liabilities of competence
What can go wrong with constellations of communities
What can go wrong with organizations
Chapter 8: Measuring and managing value creation
Steps in a measurement process
For whom and for what purpose.
What to collect and how. How to raise awareness a
bout measurement How to combine the data i
nto an overall picture When and where to meas
ure
Managing the knowledge system
The key to managing a knowledge system is to link the processes that develop and apply knowledge to create value. When planning how to manage the value of knowledge resources, it is important to consider management as a set of functions managed by various players, not only managers. These functions include setting goals, managing performance, and funding.
Chapter 9: Community-based knowledge initiatives
Phase 1: Prepare Phase 2: Launch Phase 3: Expand Phase 4: Consolidate Phase 5: Transform
Two additional development efforts are necessary to run the initiative
Develop an internal practice of community development. Create a support team, conduct educational events, and build a community among community-development practitioners.
Cultivate management sponsorship and stakeholder support. Identify key stakeholders, find ways to involve them, and generate executive sponsorship for communities and the initiative more broadly.
Chapter 10: Reweaving the world – communities beyond organizations
“If we view the world as a learning system, we can imagine a constellation of communities of practice – a “worldwide web” of interwoven communities that focus on various civic practices at different levels, including district, municipal, regional, national, and global. This broader learning system collectively provides the foundation of social capital to foster global learning and to improve socioeconomic outcomes.”
Related websites
http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/welcome.do http://www.kstoolkit.org/Communities+of+Practice http://www.pmi.org/Get-Involved/Communities-of-Practice.aspx http://www.greenforall.org/what-we-do/building-a-movement/community-of-
practice http://agile.vc.pmi.org/Public/Home.aspx http://www.gendercop.com/ http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper142.html http
://www.providersedge.com/docs/km_articles/CoP_and_Organizational_Performance.pdf
http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~brooks/storybiz/thomas.pdf http://203.5.104.113/resources/quality/knowledgemgt/pdf/fabric.pdf http://www.wetlands.za.net/documents/communities%20of%20practice/Co
mmunities%20of%20Practice%20Learning%20as%20a%20Social%20System,%20Wenger%2098.pdf
http://cpsfiles.imamu.edu.sa/ar/Documents/Research%20Methods%20in%20the%20Social%20Sciences.pdf?title=Research%20Methods%20in%20the%20Social%20Sciences#page=197
http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/eckert2006.pdf
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