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Title: Cultivating Communities of Practice by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder ISBN: 1-57851-330-8 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An essential reading for the knowlege economy
Comment: This book, just published by "the three musketeers of Communities of Practice", is a practical guide to managing knowledge. What makes this book special is that it goes far beyond the simple explanation and advocacy for communities of practice, which we have all been reading about for the last five years. Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors expand on many practical aspects one should have in mind when engaging in a community development: The "seven principles", the "five development steps" are presented in practical terms and with great details so that they can be used as a framework for all practitioners.
The approach to "cultivating" and nurturing communities, as opposed to "managing" them, is also explained so that managers will hopefully resist the urge to try and control them using mechanistic mental models. At last, the question of measuring value creation for organizations is addressed in convincing and, again, practical ways.
There is also some wisdom in this book. The "dark side" of communities of practice is also addressed. If unproperly managed, communities of practice can indeed create isolation, collusion, or tensions, which can be quite destructive for community members and sponsoring organizations.
This book is an essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy. It will undoubtedly remain as a reference for all of us practitioners who want to develop communities of practice for the benefit and long-term success of organizations and their employees.
Rating: 5
Summary: Creating Knowledge while Cultivating Life
Comment: You may know the privilege of working with a group that chooses to interact on an on-going basis, that builds on the strengths of its members, that is both highly motivated and productive. This book delves into what allows those groups and communities to thrive.
It answers the question: How do you create work communities that discover their own fire, create their own magic? The authors draw on their extensive experience and research to take us into work communities around the world. Their many case examples allow us to see what actually happens in these groups; their models, concepts, and processes tell us what we can do to build our own successful communities.
This is the most practical book on communities of practice and knowledge management that I've seen so far-and from three founders of the field.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting and Practical Guide for Organizational Leaders
Comment: The metaphor in this book's title says it all. Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder have written a practical guide aimed at helping you grow and develop semi-informal communities capable of having a life of their own. The model they put forward is fairly simple and easy to understand.
Communities of practice, according to the authors, have three essential focal points. The first is the "domain" which is essentially the topic area or subject that people gather around to discuss, learn, and improve. Next is the "community" which includes the people who want to learn, share, and engage one another. In the words of the authors, these communicating people are the "social fabric of learning." Finally you have the "practice" which is a specific set of frameworks, tools, information, language, stories and documents that the community shares and produces with one another. All communities of practice must address the domain, community, and practices if they are going to be successful and meaningful.
With this framework in mind, the authors go on to discuss how communities of practices move through five idfferent stages--from potenital to transformation--as they mature. The majority of the book discusses the opportunities and obstacles that we face when working with a community of practice throughout the five stages. Many key ideas emerge in these chapters. Stewrdship seems to be more important than management. We cannot expect communities of practice to only solve the problems we face (which they can), but we must also expect them to create problems of their own. Building connections and aiming to add value to each community member should be an early priority. These statements are just a small sample of the ideas discussed.
Finally, the book ends by discussing how you might measure the value added and how community-based knowledge initiatives can help an organization improve its overall learning and performance.
No doubt the addresses a "soft" topic. My reaction is that effectively stewarding a community of practice requires a fairly unique person who is able to work for the good of the group and has particularly strong networking and opportunity identification skills. That said, the authors do a superb job of helping us see exactly what skills are needed for growing our own community.
This is a highly practical and easy to read book. I read this cover-to-cover in a single day. The theory of communities of practice is largely limited to only essentials and most of the time is spent helping the reader see how communities operate. If you are looking for advice about how to form a learning or discourse community around a particular issue or topic at work, or if you are interested in forming a collegial group that shares and learns about a topic, then this book is for you. This book is very much about life long learning in a professional context. It presents the community of practice as a nice alternative to the formal team or ad hoc committee. In short, this is a users' guide for meaningful and productive knowledge management groups and learning communities.
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Title: Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity by Etienne Wenger ISBN: 0521663636 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Leveraging Communities of Practice for Strategic Advantage by Hubert Saint-Onge, Debra Wallace ISBN: 075067458X Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title:Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier by Etienne Wenger, William M. Snyder ASIN: B00005RZ9V Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 24 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.00 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $6.00 |
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Title: Working Knowledge by Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak ISBN: 1578513014 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Situated Learning : Legitimate Peripheral Participation by Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger ISBN: 0521423740 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 27 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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