Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

Conditions and Key Success Factors for the Management of Communities of Practice
ment that have an influence on the promotion
or inhibition of communities, including the
interest of managers, compensation systems,
work processes, corporate cultures, and organizational
policies. These factors do not
determine the participation of members in
communities, but can make it easier or hinder
it. As a result, directors should make sure
that compensation systems in the company
environment do not penalize work involved
in developing communities.
• Providing support: Communities of
practice are practically self-sufficient, even
though they can benefit from organizational
resources such as external experts, trips,
facilities for meetings, and technological
tools.
If there is a team of people selected for the
creation of communities of practice, they would
be in charge of the following tasks:
• Provide communities with advice and resources
when they need them.
• Help communities adjust their agenda to the
existing organizational strategies.
• Promote original initiatives in communities
and community engagement.
• Make sure that the rights of each member
are upheld.
• Help communities associate with other
communities.
This team could also help identify and eliminate
the barriers that hinder the development
of communities within a corporate structure or
culture.
Summarizing, communities of practice do not
require large institutional infrastructures, but their
participants need time and space to collaborate.
An external manager is not required, but internal
leadership is. They are self-organized groups,
but prosper when they learn how to adapt to the
organizational environment. Therefore, the key
element is to help communities find resources and
ways of communicating among themselves and
with the organization, as well as to achieve a balance
between communities and the organization
that takes into account the fact that communities
are not able to design others’ learning or their own
learning by themselves.
An important aspect to take into account in
communities of practice is the fact that they do
not exist as a formal structure, but rather inside
the mind of each member - in members’ relationships
among themselves and with the organization
per se (Liedtka, 1999). Another element to
bear in mind is the fact that communities are as
varied as the organizational situations behind
them. As a result, people from communities of
practice with different objectives and interests,
as well as due to diverse situations (Wenger and
Snyder, 2000).
Alignment of Interests Between the
Organization & CoP Members
Communities of practice prosper when both the
employees and the organization perceive benefits
for each one of them. In order to achieve this, the
interest of both parties must be aligned in order
to generate joint value. According to a study by
Van Winkelen and Ramsell (2003), the individual
motivations of people who are members of communities
of practice are:
• Intellectual motivations: Search of opportunities
within the organization, exploration
of various perspectives, improvement in
professional position, generation of influences,
comprehension, and ways of sharing
diverse interests.
• Emotional motivations: Satisfaction of
helping other people, recognition, increase
in confidences, building new relationships,
feeling of identification with groups.
• Result-based motivations: Financial recognition
through improvement in performance.
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