Power in organizations?
What about power? Wouldn’t communities become a threat to the organizational hierarchy? Existing across an organization’s formal structures, communities of practice rarely derive much power directly from positions in formal …
Resources
Assessing value creation?
Should communities of practice attempt to assess or measure the value they create? The issue of measurement and assessment is a controversial one when it comes to communities. Some see …
Task and expectations?
What about tasks and expectations for communities of practice? Communities of practice that have high expectations about what they can achieve tend to be energized. And yet misplaced tasks and …
Institutionalizing communities of practice?
Should organizations institutionalize communities of practice? Because of this tension between vertical and horizontal processes, integrating communities of practice in an organization is an exercise in paradox. Organizations tend to …
Organizational context?
What should an organization put in place to cultivate communities of practice systematically? If organizations are going to cultivate communities, in their midst or across their boundaries, they have a …
Key success factors?
What are three key success factors for communities of practice? Communities of practice are complex social structures, whose voluntary and self-governing nature makes them quite sensitive to subtle dynamics. As …
Voluntary participation?
Should participation be voluntary or compulsory? In general, it is much better to let participation be voluntary. This way, communities of practice live on because they create value for members, …
Online communities of practice?
Can a community of practice exist only online? A community of practice is not defined by the medium through which members connect. Mutually relevant challenges of practice are much more …
Size of communities?
How big can a community of practice become? Being a community of practice does not depend on size. It depends on identification with the domain and enough mutual engagement to …
Level of participation?
What level of participation should one expect in a community of practice? Participation in communities of practice is rarely a person’s main activity or job, so expected levels of participation …
