Communities of Practice and Their Contribution to Organizational Learning - Essay Example

? Communities of Practice and Their Contribution to Organizational Learning Introduction A community of practice offers members informal and sometimes formal ways in which to acquire knowledge and skills and share them among themselves (Learningtheories.Com, 2013). They also offer members a number of advantages that make learning and knowledge sharing easier and efficient. Collaboration Hildreth and Kimble (2004, p.16) identified that the nature of knowledge (the fact that there is always a knowledge seeker and a knowledge source) and both of them being human beings, that creating effective integrations between these two ends of knowledge is the most effective method to propagate it on. According to Jeanand Etienne (1991, p21), learning is not dependent on whether the learner and the teacher has a common code and in most cases only requires a congruent participation of both the one seeking knowledge and the source in the same activities. Once different professionals within an organization come together, whether in a formal alliance (team) or informally, they are able to collaborate on projects and this increases productivity. For instance, if one professional has something they want to do, like if instance a project, they can bring together their resources, that is, knowledge and skills, to work on that project. Most of the collaborations within an organization are actually informal and the members are usually in the group because they enjoy working together and sharing ideas. In fact, according to Hasanali et al (2002, p.59), most organizations don not assess the usefulness of communities of practice until after the communities have set themselves and manifested themselves in a good way. When employees within an organization come together to collaborate on projects, they are better able to share knowledge, skills and ideas. Apart from being able to deliver better work efficiently, collaboration in a firm is one of the most effective methods to manage an organization’s knowledge base. As the employees within the same domain of practice share information and pass on skills, they are more able to guarantee that the knowledge of the organization will remain in the organization. This can happen across all the departments of an organization as long as the collaboration is within one domain of profession. As Etienne (1998, p.4), says, such participation in collaborative teams defines what people do as well who we become and how we interact with what we do.? this is why communities of practice are so crucial within the organization as a tool to manage the organizational knowledge. At the same time, as Etienne et al, (2002, p.17), argued, communities of sharing are remarkably efficient implementing corporate strategy in the organization by bringing their ideas together. Experience sharing Within an organization, sharing experience is one of the ways in which communities of practice pass on their benefits to each other. This is probably one of the best forms of informal apprenticeship within an organization. One employee who is carrying out a project will be able to seek experience from others who have in the past achieved it. Again, this can also happen in any of the organization’s department and employees will benefit from the experience of others. For instance, if an employee is supposed to carry out some tasks such as advising a client on the best product to meet his needs, the employee can seek, among his or her community of practice in the organization, an individual who has done this in the past and then enlist their help. As the employee gets help from the other individual they will also be able to learn a lot about the project they are carrying out. Reusing assets This refers to the fact that the individuals within a community of practice can and do use intellectual and knowledge assets that have already been made by members of the community of practice within the organization. For instance, if one accountant within an organization has created a model for a certain project he or she is carrying out he might give the model to another accountant for him to use it in other projects. The accountant receiving the model will have to learn a few things from the original owner of the model because he will need to learn how the model works. More than that, he will need to tune it in order to suit his needs. In his process, extremely fundamental knowledge, and sometimes skills, will be passed on from one accountant to the other. The same kind of situation could happen in almost every other department in the organization where employees can share the intellectual assets they have developed in the organization. Discussing developments Communities of practice are the best mode through which information is passed within an organization. Experts in leaning behavior say that in some cases, informal channels of communicating knowledge administrations can be the best. Within an organization, a community of practice can be beneficial in passing informal knowledge about new development. If for instance there is new software for accounting that has hit the market, or that an organization has bought, the word will go around the community of practice about the usability of the new software. Documentation of knowledge Probably the greatest advantage of a community of practice within the firm is the documentation of knowledge. Members of a community of practice are able to identify the repetitious problem and then they can agree to document the problem in order to make it easier to solve the nest time it appears to anybody (Etienne, 2006). Conclusion Communities of practice, according to Infed (2013) have existed since the civilization of man. The term community of practice was coined in the early 90s by the two researchers Jean and Etiene who were researching apprenticeship as a mode of learning. As they studied apprenticeship, it become apparent that apprenticeship was a more complex mode of learning and that it could take more complex forms than just a subordinate being thought skills by his or her master. This concept of learning can be applied in an organization to see how it van aid in organizational learning and knowledge management in the organization. They also contribute in a very useful way organizational leaning within many organizational settings. Reference List: Etienne, W. a. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Etienne, W. (2006, June). Communities of practice: a brief introduction. Retrieved April 02, 2013, from Communities of practice: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ Etienne, W. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hasanali, F. e. (2002). Communities of Practice: A Guide for Your Journey to Knowledge Management Best Practices. Houston, TX: APQC. Hildreth, P. K. (2004). Knowledge networks: innovation through communities of practice. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Infed. (2013, August ). communities of practice. Retrieved April 02, 2013, from communities of practice: http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm Jean, L. a. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Learningtheories.Com. (2013). Communities of Practice (Lave and Wenger). Retrieved April 02, 2013, from Learningtheories.Com: http://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html Read More