Organizational Communities of Practice and Autonomous Learning

This chapter explores ways in which organizational communities of practices (OCoPs) function to promote situated, self-directed learning by individual employees. What distinguishes OCoPs from other collective forms common in organizational settings is that they are much more fluid and dynamic groups of employees than typical teams, with a focus on knowledge sharing and learning in a shared social and organizational context. It is important to recognize that learning-related behavior in OCoPs reflects a complex interplay between knowledge development stages and individual motivational states. The traditional view of OCoPs is that they work best when they operate as relatively informal, loosely structured, independent collectives. Some degree of internal structuring of an OCoP regarding how activities are organized within the community does appear to impact beneficially on learning opportunities and choices. For OCoPs to act effectively as structures that promote autonomous social learning, external support in the form of protection from operational demands and constraints that may otherwise inhibit members learning are needed.