Conference proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Sharing 2009. Abstract paper: Communities of Practice (CoP) are a strategic asset for innovative organisations. However, managers have problems to manage and facilitate CoPs, and therewith to harvest the benefits of these communities for the organisation. The goal of this research is to supply managers with a support framework to facilitate the development of CoPs, the CoP activities, and their contribution to the organisation. A design science study is conducted, which comprises of a literature research to develop a knowledge base and a study of cases to develop an environment base. Combined these sources are used to create a support tool, which was then evaluated by an expert panel.

1. Communities of Practice
and the Challenge of
Management Support
Eric Bun | eric.bun@vka.nl
Pieter de Vries,
Gwendolyn Kolfschoten
& Wim Veen
Delft University of Technology
International Conference
October 6, 2009
on Knowledge
Management
and Information
Sharing,
Co-created by:
KMIS 2009

2. Meet Mark
Mark works as a
software developer
at an international
IT company.

3. Mark freely
participates in a
Community of
Practice (CoP) to
think about new
marketing tools.

4. It all started with aa
It all started with
brainstorm….
POTENTIAL
POTENTIALbrainstorm….
STAGE
STAGE
CoP evolvement in stages

5. ...everyone enjoyed it,
...everyone enjoyed it,
so we decided to build
so we decided to build
aa community…
community…
BUILDING
BUILDING
POTENTIAL
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
STAGE
STAGE
CoP evolvement in stages

6. ….common goal: “to
….common goal: “to
leverage our knowledge
leverage our knowledge
and build new
and build new
marketing tools for the
marketing tools for the
web”
web”
ENGAGED
ENGAGED
BUILDING
BUILDING
STAGE
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
STAGE
STAGE
CoP evolvement in stages

7. …… new innovative marketing
new innovative marketing
tools that were based on the
tools that were based on the
knowledge of people across
knowledge of people across
the company
the company
ENGAGED
ENGAGED
ACTIVE
ACTIVE
STAGE
STAGE
BUILDING
BUILDING
STAGE
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
STAGE
STAGE
CoP evolvement in stages

8. Interesting right?
“CoPs are a
strategic asset
for innovative
organisations”

9. However, did you
notice….

10. ….that the value was
actually created without
any visible support of
Mark’s management?

11. Meet Mr. Burns
Mr. Burns is Mark’s
manager. He is a
good manager but
certainly not used
to manage informal
value netwerks such as
CoPs.

12. Mr. Burns
classical Classical
Classical
Management Styles
management Management Styles
(Fayol, 1949)
My manage- (Fayol, 1949)
style does not ment style
•• Planning
Planning
seem to fit to •• Organising
Organising
•• Commanding
new Commanding
•• Co-ordinating
Co-ordinating
organisational •• Controlling
Controlling
formats such
as CoPs.

13. Nevertheless, Mr. Burns tries to intervene
since he acknowledge the importance of
the CoP for the organisation.
How classical management styles are handled in a CoP
Planning
Planning CoPs emerge spontaneously
CoPs emerge spontaneously
Organising
Organising CoPs organise themselves & roles emerge
CoPs organise themselves & roles emerge
Commanding
Commanding Relationships are leading, not hierarchy
Relationships are leading, not hierarchy
Co-ordinating
Co-ordinating CoPs motivate/engage resources themselves
CoPs motivate/engage resources themselves
Controlling
Controlling Controlling structures subject ofofnegotiation
Controlling structures subject negotiation

14. The Management Paradox
“BUSINESS MANAGERS ARE ABLE TO CULTIVATE
COPS BY PROVIDING THE RIGHT SUPPORT […], BUT
MANAGERS COULD RATHER EASILY DESTROY
THE VALUE OF COMMUNITIES BY IMPOSING TOO
MUCH, OR WRONG MANAGEMENT EFFORTS. […]”
(based on Wenger and Snyder, 2000)

15. Since Mr. Burns, David, is now aware of
the management paradox, he uses a
support tool to cultivate the CoP of Mark
Best Practices from casestudy:
55Best Practices from case study
study:
study
•• Appoint Energisers;
Appoint Energisers;
•• Assess people on how they
Assess people on how they
share their knowledge;
share their knowledge;
•• Lower tresholds to constitute
Lower tresholds to constitute
CoPs;
CoPs;
•• Obligate employees to store
Obligate employees to store
‘lessons learned’;;
‘lessons learned’
•• Utilise intervision and
Utilise intervision and
empower employees.
empower employees.

16. In the future, David, would like to
conduct additional research on…
1. Transition 2. Effectiveness of
management the Support Tool
Support
Tool
ENGAGED
ENGAGED
ACTIVE
ACTIVE
STAGE
STAGE
BUILDING
BUILDING
STAGE
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
POTENTIAL
STAGE
STAGE
STAGE
CoP evolvement in stages

17. Communities of Practice
and the Challenge of
Management Support
Eric Bun | eric.bun@vka.nl
Conference Proceedings for KMIS, 2009
Thank
you!