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Conceptual Foundations of Communities of Practice as Organizational Structures

Conceptual Foundations of Communities of Practice as Organizational Structures

Sandra Sanz, Mario Pérez-Montoro
Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 18
ISBN13: 9781605668024|ISBN10: 1605668028|EISBN13: 9781605668031
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-802-4.ch006
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MLA

Sanz, Sandra, and Mario Pérez-Montoro. "Conceptual Foundations of Communities of Practice as Organizational Structures." Handbook of Research on Communities of Practice for Organizational Management and Networking: Methodologies for Competitive Advantage, edited by Olga Rivera Hernáez and Eduardo Bueno Campos, IGI Global, 2011, pp. 83-100. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-802-4.ch006

APA

Sanz, S. & Pérez-Montoro, M. (2011). Conceptual Foundations of Communities of Practice as Organizational Structures. In O. Hernáez & E. Bueno Campos (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Communities of Practice for Organizational Management and Networking: Methodologies for Competitive Advantage (pp. 83-100). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-802-4.ch006

Chicago

Sanz, Sandra, and Mario Pérez-Montoro. "Conceptual Foundations of Communities of Practice as Organizational Structures." In Handbook of Research on Communities of Practice for Organizational Management and Networking: Methodologies for Competitive Advantage, edited by Olga Rivera Hernáez and Eduardo Bueno Campos, 83-100. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-802-4.ch006

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Abstract

In recent years, the interest in and development of communities of practice (CoPs) has undergone exponential growth. However, this uncontrolled expansion has, to a large extent, led to the name of community of practice being attributed to working groups or communities that are not communities of practice. The aim of this work is to shed a little light on this confusion and identify and characterise communities of practice compared with other types of groups or organizational structures. To achieve this aim, first of all, we are going to introduce an intuitive and agreed definition of community of practice. In a second movement, we will identify and define the principal groups or organizational structures that are used, besides communities of practice, by organizations to improve their strategies when meeting these aims that they are pursuing. We will then present a comparison between these organizational structures or groups and communities of practice. The chapter ends by offering a number of conclusions and providing some guidelines on the future development of communities of practice.

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