Communities of Practice (CoPs)

Communities of practice have existed since people started learning and sharing their experiences through storytelling. Some examples are the first knowledge-based social structures, back when humans lived in caves; the corporations in ancient Rome; artisans in the Middle Ages; physicians and nurses, or priests and nuns, in the late Middle Ages and afterwards; communities related to organizations and industries, whether formally recognized or not, in more recent times; etc. (Agrifoglio, 2015).

Definitions

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

"a group of people who come together to share common interests and goals, with the aim of sharing information, developing knowledge and developing
themselves both personally and professionally."

Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 139–145.

"a group of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise."

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice (1st ed.). Watertown, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

"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.” 

Knowledge Management and the three elements of a CoP

• domain, 
• community, and
• practice. 

Knowledge management (KM) is a key strategic activity resulting from the interaction of these three constituent elements of CoP. KM can thus be deipcted as a recursive and strategic process (see Wenger's doughnut model in Figure 1 below) that allows CoP members to exchange experiences and to build expertise for carrying out work. Interacting on a regular basis, CoP members share their experiences and learn from each other how to practice better within a specific domain. Although this research recognises the CoP as a structure for shaping and transferring knowledge, it does not distinguish in depth between the various forms of the process (Agrifoglio, 2015).

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E. (2004). Knowledge management as a doughnut: Shaping your knowledge strategy through communities of practice. Ivey Business Journal, 1–8.

Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 139–145.