Human Relations· 2016Q1
Thinking together: What makes Communities of Practice work?
- 556citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2016year
Short summary
Communities of Practice thrive when members engage in 'thinking together,' a process where they mutually guide each other through shared problems, thereby indirectly sharing tacit knowledge and investing their identities.
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Key points
- 'Thinking together' is identified as the essential process that makes Communities of Practice function effectively.
- Learning in these communities involves a deep investment of personal identity and social formation.
- Tacit knowledge is indirectly shared through mutual guidance on common problems.
- Empirical data from the UK National Health Service substantiates these conceptual developments.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In this article, we develop the founding elements of the concept of Communities of Practice by elaborating on the learning processes happening at the heart of such communities. In particular, we provide a consistent perspective on the notions of knowledge, knowing and knowledge sharing that is compatible with the essence of this concept - that learning entails an investment of identity and a social formation of a person. We do so by drawing richly from the work of Michael Polanyi and his conception of personal knowledge, and thereby we clarify the scope of Communities of Practice and offer a number of new insights into how to make such social structures perform well in professional settings. The conceptual discussion is substantiated by findings of a qualitative empirical study in the UK National Health Service. As a result, the process of 'thinking together' is conceptualized as a key part of meaningful Communities of Practice where people mutually guide each other through their understandings of the same problems in their area of mutual interest, and this way indirectly share tacit knowledge. The collaborative learning process of 'thinking together', we argue, is what essentially brings Communities of Practice to life and not the other way round.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Human Relations, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Human Factors and Ergonomics
Human Factors and ErgonomicsSocial Sciences