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Imitating CoPs: Imposing formality on informality
Author(s) -
Dessne Karin,
Byström Katriina
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23322
Subject(s) - formality , meaning (existential) , order (exchange) , sociology , construct (python library) , computer science , knowledge management , epistemology , business , political science , law , philosophy , finance , programming language
The aim of this article is to explore the claim that c ommunities of p ractice ( CoP s) can be designed and managed. The concept of CoP s was originally developed as a social learning theory, and CoP s were defined by their informal emergent nature. This informal nature has been recognized to be of value to organizations, resulting in a desire to design CoP s. In this article, the nature of CoP s is addressed by focusing on aspects of formality and informality in relationships and learning; CoP s are described as emergent and designed practices. Furthermore, it is questioned whether a designed CoP may realize the essential characteristics attributed to an emergent CoP . It is argued that it is crucial to recognize the informal nature of CoP s in order to either encourage them as informal phenomena or to use the concept of CoP s as inspiration for designing imitations of them. However, when attempting to design them, the original meaning of a CoP is lost, even though, in some cases, the consequences of such a design may be beneficial to organizations. Nevertheless, when not taking the nature of a CoP into account, a designed construct may have a negative impact on learning and knowing.