HUB RESEARCH PAPER - Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel

Process consultation revisited 11
Relational practices are “multi-voiced” (Engeström, 2001), since actors engage in
relational practices from their membership to occupational cultures (Schein, 1996) and
participation in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). Hence,
different accounts and perspectives have to taken into account.
An occupational culture is conceived as a ‘state-of-mind’: the shared assumptions, values
and norms based on members’ similar educational backgrounds, formal training and similar
practical experiences in pursuing the occupation (Schein, 1996, 2003a). Occupational cultures
typically form around the functional units and hierarchical levels of an organization but also exist
beyond the organization as occupational communities (of executives, operators, engineers, etc.).
Schein (1996) states that until occupational cultures “discover that they use different languages
and make different assumptions about what is important, and until they learn to treat the other
cultures as valid and normal, organizational learning efforts will continue to fail” (p. 18).
Actors also participate in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger,
1998). Lave and Wenger (1991) have conceptualized apprenticeship as legitimate peripheral
participation in a community of practice. A community of practice is a group 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” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder,
2002, p. 4). Following Bouwen (1998), actors constitute through continuous relational practices
“groups of members, which serve as basis for social validation, social identity, and continuity”
(p. 306). A community of practice is an intrinsic condition for the existence of knowledge and
learning, because it provides the necessary support for making sense of context and history.
Following Lave and Wenger (1991), a community of practice can be delineated by analyzing its
reproduction cycles and its relations. It has a particular language, which is an important element