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Why communities of practice succeed and why they fail

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  • Probst, Gilbert
  • Borzillo, Stefano

Abstract

Summary A specific form of intra-organizational networks - a community of practice (COP) - is increasingly regarded as an important structure within organizations. This network structure is well suited for the development and sharing of knowledge and practices across divisions. Our research explores the most salient reasons for the success and failure of such networks. An investigation of 57 COPs from major European and US companies led to the discovery of 10 "commandments" that lead to the successful development and sharing of best practices. It also identified five main reasons for failure.

Suggested Citation

  • Probst, Gilbert & Borzillo, Stefano, 2008. "Why communities of practice succeed and why they fail," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 335-347, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:26:y:2008:i:5:p:335-347
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    Cited by:

    1. Karen Minyard & Tina A. Smith & Richard Turner & Bobby Milstein & Lori Solomon, 2018. "Community and programmatic factors influencing effective use of system dynamic models," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 34(1-2), pages 154-171, January.
    2. Mathias Guérineau & Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini & Florence Charue-Duboc, 2018. "Role of Community of Practices and their Coordination in the Innovation Development and Deployment within a Multinational Corporation [El papel de las comunidades de práctica, su coordinación en el," Post-Print hal-04574372, HAL.
    3. Virginie Jacquier-Roux & Hiroatsu Nohara & Claude Paraponaris, 2020. "La régulation dynamique des dispositifs et des situations de gestion des connaissances au cœur de l’innovation des firmes multinationales," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 23(N° spécia), pages 57-87, may.
    4. Thierry Burger-Helmchen & Patrick Llerena, 2008. "A case study of a creative start-up: governance, communities and knowledge management," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 125-146.
    5. Karin Dessne & Katriina Byström, 2015. "Imitating CoPs: Imposing formality on informality," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(11), pages 2277-2284, November.
    6. Beth Siegel, 2016. "Best practices in the design and implementation of learning communities," Community Development Working Paper 2016-1, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    7. Egan, Cate A. & Webster, Collin & Weaver, R. Glenn & Brian, Ali & Stodden, David & Russ, Laura & Nesbitt, Danielle & Vazou, Spyridoula, 2018. "Partnerships for Active Children in Elementary Schools (PACES): First year process evaluation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 61-69.
    8. Cristina Páez-Avilés & Esteve Juanola-Feliu & Islam Bogachan-Tahirbegi & Mónica Mir & Manel González-Piñero & Josep Samitier, 2015. "Innovation And Technology Transfer Of Medical Devices Fostered By Cross-Disciplinary Communities Of Practitioners," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(06), pages 1-27, December.
    9. Viviana Gutiérrez Rincón & Manoj Chandra Bayon & Jose Javier Aguilar Zambrano & Javier Medina Vasquez, 2022. "Exploring the Configuration of Institutional Practices—A Case Study of Innovation Implementation in Healthcare," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    10. Albizu Gallastegi, Eneka & Otero Gutiérrez, Beatriz & Olazaran Rodríguez, Mikel, 2013. "Jardueran oinarritutako komunitateak enpresa txiki eta ertainetan," Revista de Dirección y Administración de Empresas, Universidad del País Vasco - Escuela Universitaria de Estudios Empresariales de San Sebastián.
    11. Rajeev Sharma & Soumendra Narain Bagchi, 2024. "Projectized Community of Practice: A Case Study of Globally Distributed Information Technology Organization," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 49(1), pages 7-24, March.
    12. Wen-Bing Gau, 2022. "Forming a Learning Environment Within a Senior-Citizen Community of Practice," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    13. Suchul Lee & Jong-yi Hong, 2019. "Analyzing the change in knowledge sharing efficiency of knowledge networks: a case study," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 41-53, March.
    14. Gil-Izquierdo, María & Fernández-Pinedo, Nadia & Pérez-Encinas, Adriana, 2017. "Creación de Comunidades (CoP) y Redes de Práctica docentes (NoPs) para mejorar el aprendizaje activo en el contexto universitario [Creation of teaching Communities (CoP) and Networks of Practice (N," MPRA Paper 77017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Gyewan Moon & Suk Bong Choi & Shaikh Javed Fardin, 2016. "Organisational factors for effective knowledge sharing: an empirical study of Korean learning teams," International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1), pages 102-120.
    16. Harvey, Jean-François & Cohendet, Patrick & Simon, Laurent & Dubois, Louis-Etienne, 2013. "Another cog in the machine: Designing communities of practice in professional bureaucracies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 27-40.
    17. Rogo, Francesco & Cricelli, Livio & Grimaldi, Michele, 2014. "Assessing the performance of open innovation practices: A case study of a community of innovation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 60-80.
    18. Stéphanie Dameron & Emmanuel Josserand, 2009. "Le piège identitaire:identification sociale et stratégie d'acteurs dans une communauté de pratiques," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 12(1), pages 127-154, March.
    19. Li Huiyin, 2019. "From Periphery to the Core: Promoting College English Teachers’ Professional Development From the Perspective of Community of Practice," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 1-74, September.
    20. Natalia Pardo & Mónica Lucía Espinosa & Catalina González-Arango & Miguel Angel Cabrera & Susana Salazar & Sonia Archila & Nancy Palacios & Diana Prieto & Ricardo Camacho & Leonardo Parra-Agudelo, 2021. "Worlding resilience in the Doña Juana Volcano-Páramo, Northern Andes (Colombia): A transdisciplinary view," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 107(2), pages 1845-1880, June.
    21. Louise Shaw & Dana Jazayeri & Debra Kiegaldie & Meg E. Morris, 2022. "Implementation of Virtual Communities of Practice in Healthcare to Improve Capability and Capacity: A 10-Year Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-13, June.

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