Special Edition on Communities and Teams within Knowledge Management
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The OR Society OR Insight Mil. 18 IssUB 4 October - December 2005
Editorial Special Edition on Cornrnuniries and Tearns within Knowledge Managerrrent Elayne Coakes and Dianne Willis, Associate Editors for Knowledge Managerrrent
CoPs therefore can be said to provide the way in which knowledge can be developed through interaction and collaboration and 'new' knowledge can be formed from 'old'. Each community will drive the knowledge through their own culture and socialisation process in the direction that fits their activities and rationale for existence. In the words of the APQC (2004) CoPs are becoming the core knowledge strategy for many organisations.
In this special edition of the ORInsight journal we look at a specific subset of the field of Knowledge Management - this is the area of Communities of Practice. The concept of CoPs and their value for knowledge development and the creation of new and often entrepreneurial knowledge has only just started to be recognised in many organisations. Coakes and Smith (2005) argue that in today's turbulent environments the capability for sustainable corporate entrepreneurship and innovation is a critical pre-requisite for successfully achieving "best fit", near-term competitive advantage, and long-term viability. They further argue that that Communities of Practice (CoPs) are the best support for sustainable innovation, and that their introduction and support are a critical element of the corporate entrepreneurship process.
Whilst it is generally accepted (Vestal 2003) that there can be four specific types of communities Innovation; Helping; Best-Practice; and Knowledge-Stewarding; the major challenge for organisations is to develop the first type of community without imposing formal structures upon it. The latter three types of community may function well within a more formal structure with overt organisational support and even project and team-work incorporated into their activities. The Innovation Community however, needs to be able to develop "innovation champions" who have the social, political or interpersonal knowledge to influence the acceptance of innovative change (Glynn 1996). These champions are likely to be the leaders of these communities, to be entrepreneurs, and to be able to develop the entrepreneurial skills of others.
Brown and Duguid's (1991) study of CoPs showed that shared learning is embedded in complex, collaborative social practices, and many current authorities propose that CoPs provide an effective framework for inter-agent context specific knowledge sharing, sense making, and knowledge creation (Coakes & Clarke, 2005). Wenger et al (2002; pp. 4) have provided a widely accepted definition of CoPs as "Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis". These authors add that "These people don't necessarily work together every day, but they meet because they find value in their interactions" (ibid; pp. 4). Indeed, one o
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