Communities of practice: what are the conditions for implementation in a virtual multi-organization community?

Tremblay, Diane-Gabrielle

doi:10.1590/S1984-92302004000300002

Abstract

Communites of practice have raised more and more interest over recent years. In this paper, we present a case study of a virtual communitiy of practice (CoP), that is one where participants work from a distance, a situation which has not been studied as often as the communities which work in the same environment. This virtual CoP includes participants from different organizations, and we will determine if the preconditions for implementation are the same as what is documented in the litterature on communities of practice. The research was conducted under the auspices of the CEFRIO (Centre francophone pour l'informatisation des organisations), in 2000-2001. Our data identifies some conditions of success for a virtual multi-organization community of practice, i.e. animation, engagement of participants, and time, something participants lacked here. Most participated quite actively in the community, but some learnt more than they contributed, indicating that there was a certain periphery of participants somewhat less engaged than others. The fact that most do not work with computers and that they had to learn a new software surely explains part of this, although level of participation and motivation was nevertheless quite high. The health sector is under challenge in many countries, Brazil as others, and this case study may be instructive of new ways of developing competencies in the health sector.

ARTIGOS / ARTICLES

Communities of practice: what are the conditions for implementation in a virtual multi-organization community? ¹ 1 This research was conducted under the aegis of the Cefrio ( www.cefrio.qc.ca). It was conducted in partnership with colleagues from Université Laval (T.Laferrière), Université de Montréal (M. Campos) and HEC Montréal (C. Bareil, A.Bourhis, L. Dubé, and R.Jacob; see Jacob et al., 2003, for information on the project's participants). The organisational and HRM part of the research was conducted with Anne Bourhis, from HEC Montréal; we wish to thank Mireille Gaudreau, research assistant, for her excellent work on the statistics and Anne Bourhis for her cooperation in the organisational part of the project.

Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay

Profa. Canada Research Chair on the socio-organizational challenges of the Knowledge Economy

ABSTRACT

Communites of practice have raised more and more interest over recent years. In this paper, we present a case study of a virtual communitiy of practice (CoP), that is one where participants work from a distance, a situation which has not been studied as often as the communities which work in the same environment. This virtual CoP includes participants from different organizations, and we will determine if the preconditions for implementation are the same as what is documented in the litterature on communities of practice. The research was conducted under the auspices of the CEFRIO (Centre francophone pour l'informatisation des organisations), in 2000-2001. Our data identifies some conditions of success for a virtual multi-organization community of practice, i.e. animation, engagement of participants, and time, something participants lacked here. Most participated quite actively in the community, but some learnt more than they contributed, indicating that there was a certain periphery of participants somewhat less engaged than others. The fact that most do not work with computers and that they had to learn a new software surely explains part of this, although level of participation and motivation was nevertheless quite high. The health sector is under challenge in many countries, Brazil as others, and this case study may be instructive of new ways of developing competencies in the health sector.

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R EFERENCES

ADAMS, Eric , FREEMAN, Christopher, (2000),Communities of practice: bridging technology and knowledge assessment, Journal of knowledge management; volume 4 no. 1; 2000, pp 38-44
BENOIT, Jean, LAFERRIÈRE, Thérèse (2000). Une communauté de pratique en réseau : le forum de discussion et la base de connaissance des inspecteurs de la commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) 1996-1999, Étude de cas soumis au réseau des centres d'excellence en télé-apprentissage du Canada, 27 pages. HTTP://WWW.TACT.FSE.ULAVAL.ÇA/FR/HTML/TELECAST/CPCSST.HTML
BOURHIS, A. and TREMBLAY, D.-G. (2004). Nouveaux modes de travail et de collaboration à l'ère d'internet : les communautés de pratique virtuelles. Rapport organisationnel. Québec: Cefrio. 140 pages. Disponible sur www.cefrio.qc.ca
DAVEL, E., J.R. Gomez da Silva, Rolland, D. et Tremblay, D.-G.. (2001). Comunicaçao e competências no trabalho em equipe. Dans Arche interdisciplinar Vol. 9 no 28. Rio de Janeiro .SBE Universidade Candido Mendes. Pp. 39-59.
DELOITTE Research (2001), Collaborative Knowledge Networks : Driving workforce performance through Web-enabled communities
DESCHÊNES, A.-J. et coll, « Constructivisme et formation à distance », dans DistanceS, 1(1), 9-26, disponible à HTTP//:CQFD.TELUQ.UQUEBEC.CA/DESCHENES.PDF
FAERBER, Richard, Apprentissage collaboratif à distance : outils, méthodes, et comportements sociaux, Biennale éducation et formation, en ligne http: WWW.INRP.FRANCESBIENNALE5BIENNALECONTRIBLONGL139.HTM
FOUCHER, Rolland et al. (2000), L'autoformation relié au travail : apports européens/nord-américains pour l'an 2000 Collectif sous la dir. de Rolland Foucher, Éditions Nouvelles, 2000
GUZZO, R. A. ET F. P. SHEA (1992), « Groupe performance and intergroup relations in organizations », dans DUNNETTE, M. D. ET L. M. HOUGHT (Eds), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 3, Palo Alto, Consulting Psychologists Press.
HACKMAN, J. R. (1987), « The design of work teams », dans LORSCH, J. W. (ed.), Handbook of Organizational Behavior, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall.
HENRI, France et Karin LUNDGREN-CAYROL (2000) L'apprentissage collaboratif : essai de définition, Télé-université, 2000.
HENRIKSSON, Kristina. (2000) When Communities Of Practice Came To Town : On Culture And Contradiction In Emerging Theories Of Organizational Learning, 2000/3, Issn 1103-3010
HILDRETH, Paul; KIMBLE, Chris; WRIGHT, Peter, Communities of practice in the distributed international environment, Journal of Knowledge Management; Volume 4 No. 1; 2000
LEMIRE, Gilles, HARVEY, Pierre-L. (2002) Et si l'autoconstruction des savoirs dans des espaces communautiques était l'une des voies privilégiées par les TIC!, Actes du colloque 2001 bogues : globalisme et pluralisme, Montréal, 24 au 27 avril 2002.
LETIZE, L. ET M. DONOVAN (1992), Un siècle de rationalisation taylorienne : sociologie du travail, représentations et subjectivité, Université de Paris VIII.
MASIE, Elliot, « Knowledge Management - Training's New Umbrella », http://www.abouthr.com/hrwork.asp?articleno=5#article
McDERMOTT, R. (1999). Nurturing Three Dimensional Communities of Practice : How to get the most out of human networks. Knowledge Management Review Fall Edition.
McDERMOTT, R. (2000). Knowing in community : Ten Critical success Factors in Building Communities of Practice . at http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/iknowledge
MITCHELL, J. (2002). The potential for communities of practice Australia : John Mitchell and associates. 102 p.
SHEA, G. P. ET R. A. GUZZO (1987), « Group effectiveness : what really matters? », Sloan Management Review, printemps, p. 25.
SUNDSTROM, E., DEMEUSE, K. P. ET D. FUTRELL (1990), « Work teams : applications and effectiveness », American Psychologist, n° 45, p. 120-133.
TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004a). Virtual Communities of practice : towards a new mode of Knowledge sharing and learning ? dans R. Ruzicka, J.H. Ballantne et J.A.Ruiz San Roman (2004, eds). Key Contexts for Education and Democracy in Globalising Societies. Prague: Accentura M Agency -Charles University. Pp. C117-124.
TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004). Les communautés virtuelles de praticiens : vers de nouveaux modes d'apprentissage et de création de connaissances ? Possibles, numéro spécial sur la formation. septembre 2004.
TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004c). "Informal Learning Communities in the Knowledge Economy ; "Knowing Whom" As a Source of Knowledge Development in Multimedia Sector" in D. Passey ; M. Kendall (dir.). Tele-Learning : The Challenge for the Third Millenium. Proceedings of the 17th World Computer Congress Amsterdam/New York : Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2002. pp. 241-248
TREMBLAY, D.-G et ROLLAND, D. (2000). Labour regime and industrialisation in the knowledge economy; the Japanese model and its possible hybridisation in other countries. Labour and Management in Development Journal. No 7. Brisbane : The Australian National University. http://www.ncdsnet.anu.edu.au
TREMBLAY, D.-G et ROLLAND, D. (1998). Gestion des ressources humaines; typologies et comparaisons internationales. Québec : Presses de l'université du Québec.
TREMBLAY, D.-G., ROLLAND, D. and E. DAVEL (2000). Travail en équipe, compétences et pratiques de sélection au Québec. Dans Cadin, Loïc (2000, sous la dir.). Internationalisation de la GRH ? CD rom des Actes du XI Congrès de l'Association francophone de Gestion des ressources humaines. 25 p.
WENGER, e. (1998). Communities of Practice - Learning as a social system. Systems thinker June.
Wenger, E., R. McDermott and W. Snyder (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice. A guide to manatging Knowledge Boston : Harvard Business School Press.
Wenger, E. and W. Snyder (2000). Communities of Practice : The Organisational Frontier. Harvard Business Review V.78. no0 1, pp. 139-145.
Wenger, E. and Lave (1991). Communities of practice.

1

This research was conducted under the aegis of the Cefrio (

www.cefrio.qc.ca). It was conducted in partnership with colleagues from Université Laval (T.Laferrière), Université de Montréal (M. Campos) and HEC Montréal (C. Bareil, A.Bourhis, L. Dubé, and R.Jacob; see Jacob et al., 2003, for information on the project's participants). The organisational and HRM part of the research was conducted with Anne Bourhis, from HEC Montréal; we wish to thank Mireille Gaudreau, research assistant, for her excellent work on the statistics and Anne Bourhis for her cooperation in the organisational part of the project.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
27 Oct 2014
Date of issue
Dec 2004

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] ADAMS, Eric , FREEMAN, Christopher, (2000),Communities of practice: bridging technology and knowledge assessment, Journal of knowledge management; volume 4 no. 1; 2000, pp 38-44

[2] BENOIT, Jean, LAFERRIÈRE, Thérèse (2000). Une communauté de pratique en réseau : le forum de discussion et la base de connaissance des inspecteurs de la commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) 1996-1999, Étude de cas soumis au réseau des centres d'excellence en télé-apprentissage du Canada, 27 pages. HTTP://WWW.TACT.FSE.ULAVAL.ÇA/FR/HTML/TELECAST/CPCSST.HTML

[3] BOURHIS, A. and TREMBLAY, D.-G. (2004). Nouveaux modes de travail et de collaboration à l'ère d'internet : les communautés de pratique virtuelles. Rapport organisationnel. Québec: Cefrio. 140 pages. Disponible sur www.cefrio.qc.ca

[4] DAVEL, E., J.R. Gomez da Silva, Rolland, D. et Tremblay, D.-G.. (2001). Comunicaçao e competências no trabalho em equipe. Dans Arche interdisciplinar Vol. 9 no 28. Rio de Janeiro .SBE Universidade Candido Mendes. Pp. 39-59.

[5] DELOITTE Research (2001), Collaborative Knowledge Networks : Driving workforce performance through Web-enabled communities

[6] DESCHÊNES, A.-J. et coll, « Constructivisme et formation à distance », dans DistanceS, 1(1), 9-26, disponible à HTTP//:CQFD.TELUQ.UQUEBEC.CA/DESCHENES.PDF

[7] FAERBER, Richard, Apprentissage collaboratif à distance : outils, méthodes, et comportements sociaux, Biennale éducation et formation, en ligne http: WWW.INRP.FRANCESBIENNALE5BIENNALECONTRIBLONGL139.HTM

[8] FOUCHER, Rolland et al. (2000), L'autoformation relié au travail : apports européens/nord-américains pour l'an 2000 Collectif sous la dir. de Rolland Foucher, Éditions Nouvelles, 2000

[9] GUZZO, R. A. ET F. P. SHEA (1992), « Groupe performance and intergroup relations in organizations », dans DUNNETTE, M. D. ET L. M. HOUGHT (Eds), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 3, Palo Alto, Consulting Psychologists Press.

[10] HACKMAN, J. R. (1987), « The design of work teams », dans LORSCH, J. W. (ed.), Handbook of Organizational Behavior, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall.

[11] HENRI, France et Karin LUNDGREN-CAYROL (2000) L'apprentissage collaboratif : essai de définition, Télé-université, 2000.

[12] HENRIKSSON, Kristina. (2000) When Communities Of Practice Came To Town : On Culture And Contradiction In Emerging Theories Of Organizational Learning, 2000/3, Issn 1103-3010

[13] HILDRETH, Paul; KIMBLE, Chris; WRIGHT, Peter, Communities of practice in the distributed international environment, Journal of Knowledge Management; Volume 4 No. 1; 2000

[14] LEMIRE, Gilles, HARVEY, Pierre-L. (2002) Et si l'autoconstruction des savoirs dans des espaces communautiques était l'une des voies privilégiées par les TIC!, Actes du colloque 2001 bogues : globalisme et pluralisme, Montréal, 24 au 27 avril 2002.

[15] LETIZE, L. ET M. DONOVAN (1992), Un siècle de rationalisation taylorienne : sociologie du travail, représentations et subjectivité, Université de Paris VIII.

[16] MASIE, Elliot, « Knowledge Management - Training's New Umbrella », http://www.abouthr.com/hrwork.asp?articleno=5#article

[17] McDERMOTT, R. (1999). Nurturing Three Dimensional Communities of Practice : How to get the most out of human networks. Knowledge Management Review Fall Edition.

[18] McDERMOTT, R. (2000). Knowing in community : Ten Critical success Factors in Building Communities of Practice . at http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/iknowledge

[19] MITCHELL, J. (2002). The potential for communities of practice Australia : John Mitchell and associates. 102 p.

[20] SHEA, G. P. ET R. A. GUZZO (1987), « Group effectiveness : what really matters? », Sloan Management Review, printemps, p. 25.

[21] SUNDSTROM, E., DEMEUSE, K. P. ET D. FUTRELL (1990), « Work teams : applications and effectiveness », American Psychologist, n° 45, p. 120-133.

[22] TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004a). Virtual Communities of practice : towards a new mode of Knowledge sharing and learning ? dans R. Ruzicka, J.H. Ballantne et J.A.Ruiz San Roman (2004, eds). Key Contexts for Education and Democracy in Globalising Societies. Prague: Accentura M Agency -Charles University. Pp. C117-124.

[23] TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004). Les communautés virtuelles de praticiens : vers de nouveaux modes d'apprentissage et de création de connaissances ? Possibles, numéro spécial sur la formation. septembre 2004.

[24] TREMBLAY, D.-G (2004c). "Informal Learning Communities in the Knowledge Economy ; "Knowing Whom" As a Source of Knowledge Development in Multimedia Sector" in D. Passey ; M. Kendall (dir.). Tele-Learning : The Challenge for the Third Millenium. Proceedings of the 17th World Computer Congress Amsterdam/New York : Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2002. pp. 241-248

[25] TREMBLAY, D.-G et ROLLAND, D. (2000). Labour regime and industrialisation in the knowledge economy; the Japanese model and its possible hybridisation in other countries. Labour and Management in Development Journal. No 7. Brisbane : The Australian National University. http://www.ncdsnet.anu.edu.au

[26] TREMBLAY, D.-G et ROLLAND, D. (1998). Gestion des ressources humaines; typologies et comparaisons internationales. Québec : Presses de l'université du Québec.

[27] TREMBLAY, D.-G., ROLLAND, D. and E. DAVEL (2000). Travail en équipe, compétences et pratiques de sélection au Québec. Dans Cadin, Loïc (2000, sous la dir.). Internationalisation de la GRH ? CD rom des Actes du XI Congrès de l'Association francophone de Gestion des ressources humaines. 25 p.

[28] WENGER, e. (1998). Communities of Practice - Learning as a social system. Systems thinker June.

[29] Wenger, E., R. McDermott and W. Snyder (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice. A guide to manatging Knowledge Boston : Harvard Business School Press.

[30] Wenger, E. and W. Snyder (2000). Communities of Practice : The Organisational Frontier. Harvard Business Review V.78. no0 1, pp. 139-145.

[31] Wenger, E. and Lave (1991). Communities of practice.

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Communities of practice: what are the conditions for implementation in a virtual multi-organization community?

Abstract

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