Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

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A Proposed Framework for Designing Sustainable Communities for Knowledge Management Systems
cally different from other information systems
(Alavi & Leidner, 1999). The difference between
knowledge management systems and other systems
such as group decision support systems
(GDSS), electronic meeting systems (EMS), and
expert systems lies not primarily in the technology,
but in the purpose for their use. GDSS focus
on connecting a particular group of employees
for the goal of solving particular problems, or arriving
at a decision. EMS focuses on facilitating
meetings and collaborative work among a certain
group of people. Expert systems are typically
rule-based, where the knowledge of an expert/s
(where experts are identified by the organization)
is captured in the system’s knowledge base, and
then queried by users. The goal of KMS, as we
conceptualize them, is to connect all employees
in an organization at all times. Unlike in expert
systems, the roles of knowledge producers (experts)
and consumers (users) are flexible. Groups
are not dictated by organizational structures, but
emerge ad-hoc as communities of employees
with common interests and problems. Interaction
within these communities may yield solutions to
specific problems, but it is the interaction for the
purpose of tacit knowledge exchange that is the
goal of the system.
Since the central problem of KM is the creation
and transfer of tacit knowledge, it is necessary to
look at what facilitates these processes. Experiences
and contextual insights have been traditionally
transferred through methods such as story-telling
(Brown & Duguid, 2000), sense-making (Brown
& Duguid, 1999), or through conversations in informal
social networks. Communities of practice
are informal networks of like-minded individuals,
where the process of learning and transfer of
tacit knowledge is essentially social, involving
a deepening process of participation (Lave &
Wenger, 1991). Research shows that in the absence
of decisive first-hand knowledge, an individual
looks at successful decisions made by other likeminded,
similarly-situated people (Nidumolu &
Subramani, 2001) as filters or guides to identify
potentially good choices (Hill et al., 1995). Prior
case studies have shown that even for individuals
armed with extensive know-what (explicit knowledge),
collective know-how (tacit knowledge) can
be highly significant (Brown & Duguid, 1999; Orr,
1989). KM practitioners and researchers recognize
the importance of communities that foster
collaborative learning in organizations (Pan &
Leidner, 2003) and almost all knowledge management
systems have a ‘network’ component that
facilitates connecting people in communities of
practice (Faraj & Wasko, Forthcoming). The community
perspective of knowledge management,
which acknowledges the importance of informal
networks and emphasizes collaboration, started
in the late 1990s (Cross et al., 2006). Evidence
has shown that communities have been a key
element in knowledge management systems of
many companies including Xerox PARC, British
Petroleum Co., Shell Oil Company, Halliburton,
IBM, Proctor and Gamble, and Hewlett Packard
(Brown & Gray, 1995; Cohen, 2006; Cross et
al., 2006; McDermott, 1999a, 1999b). Most of
the companies that used IBM’s first Web-based
knowledge management system organized their
activities around communities, an element that
IBM had not deliberately implemented in the
system initially (McDermott, 1999b).
While studying design characteristics of communities,
defining what is meant by a community
and its sustainability is important. In attempting
to do so, we refer to prior IS literature on virtual
communities, since we consider communities in
knowledge management systems as virtual. The
term ‘virtual’ has been used here to distinguish
these communities from real-life communities
with face-to-face interaction. Borrowing from
biology, virtual community sustainability has
been regarded as the ‘intrinsic longevity’ of the
membership (e.g., Butler, 2001; Porra & Parks,
2005). Hence research has been devoted to studying
how members can be encouraged to stay in a