Cultivating Communities of Practice (Wenger, McDermott, Snyder)

Banner
Book cover

A book in my bibliography for thesis. This is a good foundation to understand Communities of practice (CoPs).

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/cultivating-communities-of-practice-a-guide-to-managing-knowledge-seven-principles-for-cultivating-communities-of-practice

March 21, 2020

Chapter 1: Communities of Practice and Their Value to Organizations

  • “Knowledge is social”; requires multiple perspectives
  • “Knowledge is dynamic”; cannot be reduced down to an object
  • Knowledge is managed as a social structure; not stored in one location
  • CoPs are formed based on domains of knowledge
  • It is more effective to have active practitioners participate in CoPs
  • Communication is not based on reporting relationships. It is based on collegial relationships; informal = collegial

As a consequence, leading knowledge organizations are increasingly likely to view communities of practice not merely as useful auxiliary structures, but as foundational structures on which to build the organization

Page 21
  • CoPs are a form of bottom-up knowledge management