Can CoP theory be applied? Exploring praxis in a Community of Practice on gender (original) (raw)
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Journal of Applied Communication …, 2008
Knowing is an enacted, communicated process that is difficult to observe, let alone manage, in organizations. Communities of practice (CoPs) offer a productive solution for improving knowledge and knowledge management, but the communicative processes that enact CoPs have not been explored, leaving CoPs as an organizational black box. This research extends CoP theory as a means to determine the presence of a CoP and distinguish between various CoPs, and as a practical means to evaluate the communicative processes of organizational knowledge. CoPs enact the communicative nature of knowing through the elements of mutual engagement, negotiation of a joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Specifically, two groups of volunteers are examined through a combination of participation, observation, and interviews in order to explore CoP theory as a dynamic system for examining and evaluating organizational knowledge.
Communities of practice (CoPs) are groups of people who share and deepen their knowledge of a particular domain and build a learning community through their ongoing interaction. Though communities of practice have existed since the beginning of human civilization – in and across social domains of family, workplace, academy, and community – their theorization is a recent development grounded in social learning theory and problems of knowledge management in the latter part of the 20th century. Even though the conceptual development of these communities is a recent emergence , the 1990s and early 2000s were marked by an explosion of academic literature rife with theoretical developments, ethnographic studies, investigations of pragmatic applications , and critiques of the theory (see Murillo, 2011 for an extensive review). During the same time, prompted by the emergence of the knowledge economy and the limitations of knowledge management practices based on information technology, CoPs were broadly adopted by organizations of all kinds – including for-profit corporations, not-for-profits, government agencies, and educational institutions – to aid workers or students in developing, sharing, and cataloguing knowledge, to maintain and improve organizational practice based on that shared knowledge, to increase connections among workers, and to support problem solving and innovation. Described by some as one of the most important concepts recently emerging from the social sciences, CoPs have become a key feature of the modern learning organization. Additionally, CoPs highlight the constitutive possibilities of organizational communication theory and practice. CoPs themselves are (constantly changing) products of the communication of theorists and their members. For nearly 25 years, theorists have battled to define what actually comprises and characterizes a community of practice, such that current codifications of CoPs are very much a construction of a community of scholars and practitioners. At the same time, CoPs are the ongoing products of the interaction and meaning making of their members and organizational sponsors, making CoPs an important focus for communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) scholars. In addition, they serve as key sites for organizational communication as members interact with one another, negotiate personal and group identities through central or peripheral participation, create and negotiate meaning, gain and create both explicit and tacit dimensions of knowledge, and create or recreate formal and/or informal organizational structures. As such, CoPs are of great interest to organizational communication scholars and practitioners.
Applying communities of practice to the learning of police
2007
Abstract This paper presents an argument for the application of Wenger's (1998) theory of a community of practice to develop understanding of the learning that occurs in early-career police. The focus of this research is on the ways that early career police learn the craft of policing. Early career police are defined as police in their first three years of service.
Knowledge Sharing Practices and Issues in Policing Contexts
European Journal of Policing Studies
The effective sharing of knowledge both within and between police organizations is arguably becoming increasingly vital for success and has driven research in a disparate range of ields. This paper therefore presents the results of an integrative systematic literature review of research into knowledge sharing within and between police organizations across Europe. The 39 papers analysed were drawn from English-language studies published between 2000 and 2013, complemented by additional searches for non-English language papers in nine European countries. Analyses showed that past research has focused on intra-organizational knowledge sharing, with a particular spotlight on criminal intelligence and technology. Barriers / enablers of knowledge sharing were grouped into knowledge management strategy/legislation, technology, culture and loss of knowledge themes. Research recommendations include exploring the role of leadership and examination of police knowledge sharing across regional, institutional and international boundaries. Practical recommendations include having procedural clarity in systems, policies for sharing knowledge and developing the relevant knowledge, skills and motivation of police personnel through appropriate training.
Evolution of Wenger's concept of community of practice
Implementation Science, 2009
Background: In the experience of health professionals, it appears that interacting with peers in the workplace fosters learning and information sharing. Informal groups and networks present good opportunities for information exchange. Communities of practice (CoPs), which have been described by Wenger and others as a type of informal learning organization, have received increasing attention in the health care sector; however, the lack of uniform operating definitions of CoPs has resulted in considerable variation in the structure and function of these groups, making it difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. Objective: To critique the evolution of the CoP concept as based on the germinal work by Wenger and colleagues published between 1991 and 2002. Discussion: CoP was originally developed to provide a template for examining the learning that happens among practitioners in a social environment, but over the years there have been important divergences in the focus of the concept. Lave and Wenger's earliest publication (1991) centred on the interactions between novices and experts, and the process by which newcomers create a professional identity. In the 1998 book, the focus had shifted to personal growth and the trajectory of individuals' participation within a group (i.e., peripheral versus core participation). The focus then changed again in 2002 when CoP was applied as a managerial tool for improving an organization's competitiveness. Summary: The different interpretations of CoP make it challenging to apply the concept or to take full advantage of the benefits that CoP groups may offer. The tension between satisfying individuals' needs for personal growth and empowerment versus an organization's bottom line is perhaps the most contentious of the issues that make CoPs difficult to cultivate. Since CoP is still an evolving concept, we recommend focusing on optimizing specific characteristics of the concept, such as support for members interacting with each other, sharing knowledge, and building a sense of belonging within networks/teams/groups. Interventions that facilitate relationship building among members and that promote knowledge exchange may be useful for optimizing the function of these groups.
Communities of Practice in Workplaces
Performance Improvement Quarterly, 2008
Since the 1990s we have seen an increase in consideration of social and cultural aspects of learning as a way to foster organizational learning and human performance. Despite strong interest among practitioners and scholars, the study of organizational learning is lacking in empirical research. The study described here calls attention to the importance of informal learning in designing effective learning environments for the training of professionals. The study examines how people share and construct their knowledge in a Public Defender's Office and conclude that there are six attributes of communities of practice (CoPs) that serve as scaffolding for organizational learning. The attributes are: