Knowledge Work and Organisations - Literature review Example

Knowledge Work and Organisations

Introduction

Community of practice constitutes a group of people who share a goal in their profession or a craft. Normally a community of practice is established with the main aim of acquiring more knowledge and skills on a particular area. In this case people develop in their specific fields, profession and craft groups through exchange and sharing of ideas. Through sharing of knowledge and exchange of ideas individuals get to improve in their respective skills. The concept of community of practice has existed throughout history as long as people continue with the exchange and sharing of ideas in such groups. This practice has also been adopted and developed in number of organisations where managers see it best for employees to exchange ideas and skills for the betterment of the organisation. Therefore its benefits in an organisation or firm can be clearly seen in both the individuals and the organisation (Dalkir, 2005). The working groups are normally characterised by some common features that define them. The approach has received a major backup throughout all forms of technology as people are continuously using a lot of techniques to support it. Community of practice is very much informal and natural in nature. However, with the best ever organisation of individuals it become very formal and modern to some extent (Kerno, 2008). This approach has been linked to both practice based and objective view of knowledge. The two perspectives are different but have some few similarities at the same time. As outlined below it is also evident that both have their own limitations.

Discussion

Practice based perspective engages in various forms of activities and participation in social life. Throughout history learning has been regarded as an informal social system and this is what a practice based perspective entails. Practice based perspective is characterised by a set of informal structures. Firms with informal structures use little time to implement what they require in their organisations. Practice is a technique that is produced throughout history but those people who take part in it. On the other hand an objective view of knowledge produces facts physical concepts from words and other resources which are later on made into an object. It is considered to be somehow formal with a set of organised structures. In this approach it is very possible for participants to refer and interact with views outside their boundaries. One of the efficient ways of retaining knowledge is by keeping such materials in a safe place where they can easily accessed any moment they are required in future (Dalkir, 2009). If it happens that such materials are not managed properly then a lot of information may be lost in due course. Both perspectives enable both individuals and organisations to get access to new ideas and skills. At the same time knowledge generation becomes easier and skills developed with the application of both skills.

An effective social learning system needs both practice based and an objective view of knowledge to act in interplay. With this in mind, several firms have developed the interest in this approach in a move to improve on performance. They do this by supporting and improving various forms of social interactions and collaborations. With time a firm is able realise the desired outcomes when the approach is used with a lot of cautiousness both at the individual and firm’s level. A number of managers in various firms are met with the challenge of facilitating idea and knowledge sharing among the employees. To overcome such obstacles most of them try to incorporate the concept of community of practice approach. It is one of the best networking systems that facilitate the exchange of ideas across a firm (Probst & Borzillo , 2008). According to Mitchell & Wood ( 2001) employees are able to appropriately deal with change whenever community of practice is employed in an organisation. It is believed that individuals can effectively come up with groups or communities in regard to changes that arise from outside the organisation.

New knowledge can also be accessed from a number of resources and through haring of ideas. Networking is one of the main techniques that are applied in any community practice. Participants meet discuss and exchange ideas at the end while at the same time new issues may emerge from a number of conclusions made. Most individuals end up gaining at least a new technique that was not known before. Imagine of a firm where the employers get to learn new skills and ideas daily as a result of community practice. It certain that such an organisation will always improve in terms of performance with such innovative minds in place. Therefore an organisation is able to generate more skills and develop more knowledge by taking part in communities of practice. Such knowledge can be used in various forms of management strategies to contribute to firm’s strategic drive. Therefore in such organisations, customers are able to get quick and efficient services because of the management strategies in place.

However community of practice may fail to function to meet the required demands or even fail in some instances. Depending on those who took part in the process it may go to an extent of being harmful. According to Wenger ( 2012) the particiapnts may a well come up witi a system that favors them and reflect their own situation. Therefore there can never exist a good outcome when such instances take place. Individuals taking part in thi practice normally have different competencies in terms of input and output. Competencies come as result of the level of experience within a community or organisation. For instance, a new member entering an organisation can make a contributuion that can either be embraced or diputed. Furthermore there are instances where boundaries are created between those who took part in the process and those who did not participate. In most cases participants try their level best to get rid of others. Most participants believe that these other members do not actually share with the the same issues and the kind of resources that they have come up with. Boundaries created when it comes to community of practice are true and therefore individuals would try to avoid such instances by forcibly and unwillingly taking part in the process.

Given the extent to which community of practice can be beneficial to an organisation or firm, it is also very important to understand the disadvantages that come with the adoption of this kind of practice. There are a number of issues that are often overlooked when managers employ this approach in their institutions. In most cases most of these challenges are not noted easily since some employ this approach inappropriately. In such instances their limitations are recognised at the moment when only minimal gains are achieved from the approach. A relatively good amount of time is required to achieve a sustained practice. The moment time factor is not put into consideration then such approach cannot be successful in any way. This means that other activities within the firm need to be overlooked to a certain extent in order to create more time for such an approach.

Conclusion

Even though there are a number of disadvantages that come in with the adoption of community of practice, it should be noted that the whole process of this particular approach is still evolving. Apart from that one cannot deny that this approach provides the best alternative ever to the existing management approaches. It is believed that existing traditional approaches put less concentration on both teachable and observable techniques that can promote both the individuals, community and the firm. Modern approaches to knowledge are continuously evolving and do require community of practice of approach where applicable for individuals to be able to understand existing organisational structures of a firm. However the approach may not be able to meet a firm’s demands and expectations if at all it is not properly employed. Given the principle differences and similarities between practice based and objective view of knowledge, it would be in order to effectively address the main significance that comes with appropriate adoption of community of practice approach. It should also be noted that the effectiveness of both practice based and objective view of knowledge depends on the context under which the approach is employed. It must therefore be acknowledged that community of practice approach comes with a lot of advantages than disadvantages especially to modern firms. Lastly the approach should be viewed as the simplest social unit for acquiring knowledge.