Sj/mydocs/Hlth Service leaders/Lship and CoP dec 2004 Dr Sandra Jones Assoc. Prof. Employment Relations School of Management RMIT Health Service Leaders.

sj/mydocs/Hlth Service leaders/Lship and CoP dec 2004

Dr Sandra Jones

Assoc. Prof. Employment Relations

School of Management

RMIT

Health Service LeadersLEADERSHIP AND Communities of Practice (CoPs)


OBJECTIVES

To discuss the potential role of CoPs in assisting knowledge sharing

To explore challenges of CoPs for leaders in the Health sector


WHY A KNOWLEDGE STRATEGY?

In order to decide HOW to establish a CoP it is first necessary to agree on WHY CoPs are being considered-what are the critical imperatives influencing this change?


The challenges in a knowledge era are

: Ambiguity is a given- there is no final solution

Change is constant No-one is really in charge - you can’t impose rules

and systems, rather, focus on risk management Knowledge is messy and seeks community-the

more you try to pin it down, the more it slips away There is no clear division between free thinking

and accountability –rather this exists on a continuum There is no silver bullet - how you define the question

defines what and how you respond


WHAT KNOWLEDGE?

Having established the WHY- the next question is the WHAT – ie WHAT knowledge are you seeking to develop


1. STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE

What knowledge is critical to success?


KNOWLEDGE DEFINED

definitions of the term ‘knowledge’ vary considerably.

there is often little recognition of the difference between forms of knowledge.


FORMS OF KNOWLEDGEFirst, knowledge can be

explicit

or tacit


EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE things that can be committed to some form of

communication medium, write down and share with others

‘Know what’ Can document, have rules about, test technology is extremely useful in this as it can be

used to: collect and save explicit knowledge in databases share through communication networks eg email


TACIT KNOWLEDGE resides within an individual, often as a skill,

an ability or knowledge is deeply embedded, often unconscious ‘know-how’ (rules of thumb, experience,

insights and intuition) eg ‘goodwill’, ‘Corporate knowledge’, technology is less useful more dependent on people’s willingness to

share and thus the environment and level of trust are important


TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE IN ORGANISATIONS

Second, knowledge can be context specificeg similarities and differences of knowledge between the private and public sector.



Third, knowledge can be individual or collective, ie something a person knows or something a group knows



Fourth, knowledge can be: declarative (knowledge about) procedural (know-how) causal (know-why) conditional (know-when) relational (know-who) (Zack, 1999)


HOW-CoPs

1. Engage practice domains (CoPs)-where will people come from?

2. Develop communities – how to help communities reach their full potential?

3. Work the boundaries-how to link communities into broader learning systems?

4. Foster belonging-how to engage people’s identities and sense of meaning?

5. Run the business-how to integrate CoPs into running the business of the organisation?


WHAT ARE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (CoPS)? (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder 2003)

Groups of people who share a concern, or set of problems, or passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder 2003, p.4)

Voluntary association of people who value the learning they do together


CHARACTERISTICS OF CoPSMain Aim

learn from each other through sharing and collaborating


CHARACTERISTICS OF CoPS

Mutual engagement

Shared repertoire

Joint enterprise


CoPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES (Wenger et al 2002)

Purpose Members Boun-dary

Attraction Length

CoPS Create, expand & exchange knowledge & develop individual capabilities

Self-selection based on expertise or passion

Fuzzy Passion, commitment & identification

with group

Evolve and end organically

Depnt Deliver a product or service

Everyone who reports to the groups manager

Clear Job requirements & common goals

Intended permanent

Oper’ln teams

Ongoing operation or process

Membership assigned by management

Clear Shared responsibility.

Intended ongoing

Project teams

Accomplish a specific task

People who have a direct role in accomplishing task

Clear Projects goals and milestones

Pre-determined ending


HOW DO CoPs FUNCTION

Domain – focal issues and members’ identity

Community – a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships and in the process develop a sense of belonging, trust and mutual commitment

Practice –common knowledge, explore existing body of knowledge and latest advances in field, repertoire of tools, methods and skills, learning and innovation activities


WHO JOINS CoPs?

anyone interested in the issue

members do not necessarily work together


OUTCOME OF CoPs? overtime members develop a unique

perspective on their topic as well as a body of common knowledge, practices and approaches

often develop personal relationship

can develop a common sense of identity


WHY ENCOURAGE CoPs –Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap

Union

Wisdom

Philosophy

Meaning

Knowing-Doing Gap

Communities of Practice

Knowledge

Information

Data


BARRIERS TO KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Structural Cultural Power Human Resource Issues


Measuring wrong thingsoutput-traditional

and emerging approaches Current-lagging

ROI physical assets expenses patents A/C receivable A/C payable lT debt ST borrowings

Emerging-leading intangibles human capital structural capital business relationships social capital balanced score card intellectual capital green business triple bottom line


Thank you – to reiterate

The challenges in a knowledge era are: Ambiguity is a given- there is no final solution

Change is constant No-one is really in charge - you can’t impose rules

and systems, rather, focus on risk management Knowledge is messy and seeks community-he

more you try to pin it down, the more it slips away There is no clear division between free thinking

and accountability –rather this exists on a continuum There is no silver bullet - how you define the question

defines what and how you respond

Sj/mydocs/Hlth Service leaders/Lship and CoP dec 2004 Dr Sandra Jones Assoc. Prof. Employment Relations School of Management RMIT Health Service Leaders.

Documents

types of knowledge

tacit knowledge

forms of knowledge

corporate knowledge

differences of knowledge

knowledge era

term knowledge

strategic knowledge