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From the time our ancestors lived in caves to that day in the late '80s when Chrysler sanctioned unofficial "tech clubs" to promote the flow of information between teams working on different vehicle platforms, bands of like-minded individuals had been gathering in a wide variety of settings to recount their experiences and share their expertise. Few paid much attention until a number of possible benefits to business were identified, but many are watching more closely now that definitive links have been established. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, consultants Etienne C. Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder take the concept to another level by describing how these groups might be purposely developed as a key driver of organizational performance in the knowledge age. Building on a 1998 book by Wenger that framed the theory for an academic audience, Cultivating Communities of Practice targets practitioners with pragmatic advice based on the accumulating track records of firms such as the World Bank, Shell Oil, and McKinsey & Company. Starting with a detailed explanation of what these groups really are and why they can prove so useful in managing knowledge within an organization, the authors discuss development from initial design through subsequent evolution. They also address the potential "dark side"--arrogance, cliquishness, rigidity, and fragmentation among participants, for example--as well as measurement issues and the challenges inherent in initiating these groups company-wide. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy.
Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization.
In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable.
Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them.
Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them.
Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California.
Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado.
William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent Book.......2007-10-01
I have a project focused on communities, and this book seems right on what I needed. I haven't read it completely, so this is only a first sight review.
How to Thoughtfully Steward Knowledge for the Common Good.......2007-01-02
Cultivating Communities of Practice is a manual and guide created by a community of authors in order to help businesses and organizations more thoughtfully and intentionally steward the knowledge of the community for the benefit of the whole. They understand that energy and "aliveness" about any topic is not created or manufactured, but simply cultivated. Just like a farmer must cultivate the soil, plant the seeds, nurture the crop, and identify and deal with the weeds; the authors help us learn the in and outs of how to cultivate communities that learn to manage knowledge for the common good. In this guide they provide us with the three basic elements for communities of practice; the seven principles for cultivating these communities; the five developmental stages of these communities; the common disorders and treatments; and finally how to start communities of practice in such as way that these communities work for the benefit of the whole. This guide enables people to move from theory to practice.
The three fundamental elements of communities of practice.
While communities of practice have many forms - large and small, local and global, within or across organizational boundaries - they all have three common elements, each of which plays a vital role in the health and success of these communities. When one understands the three fundamentals of communities of practice - domain, community and practice - they are able to better help these groups evolve to their full potential.
* The domain is the specific sphere of knowledge or particular issues that identifies the heartfelt concern of this community. A well-defined domain gives focus and depth to the community and allows the community to be on the leading edge in a particular area of knowledge.
* The community is the people who embody and steward the knowledge in this particular domain. It is "a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment." (Pg. 34) While each community develops a unique ethos; trust and respect are key elements for any community.
* The Practice entails a shared set of practical resources, protocols, tools, frameworks and ideas that enable the community to perfect and develop their particular craft. "Whereas the domain denotes the topic the community focuses on, the practice is the specific knowledge the community develops, shares and maintains." (Pg. 29)
Because knowledge with human beings is a complex matter, the head (domain), the heart (community) and the hands (practice) each play a vital role in communities of practice.
This is a great book on how to thoughtfully steward knowledge for the common good.
Excellent seminal material.......2006-08-05
It is an esential book for organization leaders, since it points out the main issues that impact on performace, based on the true social knitting of communities.
It establishes clearly the structure of communities and discusses their stages of development, which by themselves are an excellent tip to develop communities within a company. The doughnut metaphor for the dynamics of performance and strategy is an excellent way of explaining the double fabric of relations in a company.
Making it happen.......2006-05-30
I have a great interest in how organizations, particularly those with Christian leadership, work and how they respond to change. This book is rich with the stuff that will help organizations develop in a globalized society. I asked many questions as I read the book. For example, "How does YWAM's Student Mobilization Centre, as a growing network of ministries internationally, develop community and create truly life changing learning spaces for students and leaders who participate in our ministries?"
How can I contextualize a Community of Practice within the framework of YWAM's ministries?
In recent years, our leadership has begun to weave our international conferences around points of passion, like water, women's issues, justice, and children at risk. Our mission has also begun to look at a new paradigm for global strategy called Project 4K wherein the map is divided into about 4000 geographic units highlighting those areas still requiring engagement. What is needed in YWAM is a new cross-platform, multi-disciplinary team focus to properly engage each of those geographic regions.
Our Student Mobilization Centre, a centre of the University of the Nation, needs to develop field leaders who can coordinate multi-disciplinary field project teams and who harmonize outreach teams to serve the long-term community development project goals with special emphasis on field based learning. The UofN operates with the same conclusion that Wenger, et al present in Communities of Practice; that is, useful knowledge is not a downloadable commodity. It requires participation. The best learning experiences are in the context of relationships, especially those experiences and relationships that at the same time unfamiliar and familiar. In my experience, students learn best when taken out of the familiar culture to serve and learn in a context that challenges their expectations and status quo learning experiences. They also learn best if put in a situation where they are challenged to work together with those who either share their skill set and academic training, or they share the same missionary goals.
The advantage to us if we follow this integrative field project model of ministry in the University of the Nations is that we will begin to share knowledge gained in the field. Wenger argues that we can "establish a common baseline" of curriculum for the training school outreaches of the UofN. We will also increase our ability and speed generating and implementing creative ideas for community development, evangelization, and training. These project teams will help us steward and share the knowledge gained. These long-term community development field projects could serve as "laboratories" for curriculum development as well as cross-disciplinary field project leadership development.
To accomplish this, we will need to form cross-platform, multi-disciplinary, communities of practice at field sites where school outreaches may be hosted and outreach staff leadership may be trained. The most essential element of this field-based learning community is the authentic cross-cultural ministry that must be the foundational intent and the fruit of the project. When these missionary communities of practice exist, the witness of the Kingdom of God will be evident in a much greater way, at that field site. These communities of learning and leadership equipping may in turn affect a change in the whole of our mission through an integrated development model of field ministry and leadership equipping.
How might I develop a Community of Practice in Madison, WI?
YWAM's campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin is going through a re-birth and re-generation since our recent inaugural School of University Ministries wherein key leaders in Madison have been given new insight, developed new international cooperation, and shared vision. I see now how the formation of a multi-faceted community of practice in Madison with strong links to field-based learning communities provides a context for a new model of Church engagement with the university community. This community of practice will be a new international study center at the University of Wisconsin.
This new community will not replace existing structures. It will build connections between these different structures including churches, families, professionals/professors, and student organizations. It will connect students, faculty, families, business and church leaders in the university community from many cultures and nations. For example, families have a reason for engaging the university students, because "God sets the lonely in families" and students need role models for marriage and family. However, families do not have much context or place from which to engage students. Therefore there is a need for this kind of community.
The key knowledge that may be shared in this context will come from the field-based learning communities; these communities will link problems and needs with solutions. The problems will always be relevant to today's global community. However, the solutions will not be presented from the ivory tower of the academy or from the expert in the field. Solutions will be discovered together in a multi-cultural, multi-discipline, cross-platform, international community of practice engaged in serving and learning at home and abroad. The challenge for us in YWAM is to "cultivate" this kind of community by removing barriers and encouraging participation. Wenger et al says, "You cannot cultivate this new community model in the same way you develop traditional organizational structures." Our aim will be to connect these pockets of people who have some interest in engaging students and issues relevant to today, especially in the cause of Christ. Our challenge is to create a space and coordinate these unconnected people at key events that will foster the development of a new community; we must cultivate a community of practice.
What can I do to develop our international network with the Communities of Practice paradigm?
The cross-platform project teams and field-based learning sites I have been referring to are the key to our international development in the Student Mobilization Centre. Internationally, we are equipping and releasing leaders to create network teams within their own context. A "common baseline" of terms and methods is forming as our new course, the School of University Ministries, begins to multiply internationally to equip this generation of YWAM campus ministry workers. What is missing is a field-based outreach practices training experience or a field assignment for the School of University Ministries. What must be done is the formation of field project teams at field sites to host, equip, and train outreach team leaders as they carryout the function of leading a student outreach team on an integrated development project.
I desire to see the practical outworking of this vision within the context of my own life and ministry. The challenge to me is to deliberately form communities of practice in my ministry context. This book give me the tools and the principles to make it happen.
A good book but not for everyone.......2006-04-04
The authors have done an impressive work collecting best practices from industries. The book is a good textbook for all KM and OD practitioners to consider in learning about CoP. However, as one of the reviewers have noted, it does not tell you the steps in nurturing a CoP since human behaviours differ among (as well as WITHIN) organisations. The book does however provide a clear definition of how a working CoP would look like.
Readers who are keen on KM should read other works on social network to complement the learning. At the heart of any CoP is social dynamics. Understanding that will help to create CoP that is sustainable and useful to the organisation.
Book Description
In Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals as well as those African-American women outside academe. She not only provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde, but she shows the importance of self-defined knowledge for group empowerment. In the tenth anniversary edition of this award-winning work, Patricia Hill Collins expands the basic arguments of the first edition by adding several important new themes. A new discussion of heterosexism as a system of power, an expanded treatment of images of Black womanhood, U.S. Black feminism's connections to Black Diasporic feminisms, and more attention to the importance of social class and nationalism all appear in the new edition. In addition, the new edition includes recent developments in black cultural studies, especially black popular culture, as well as recent events and trends such as the Anita Hillhearings and the backlash against affirmative action.
Customer Reviews:
feminist thought and female chauvinist pigs.......2007-10-05
The book were in excellent condition and did not take long to arrive at home earlier than expected.
a great introduction to Black Feminist literature............2007-06-01
I knew little about the Black Feminist movement, when I first read this book over four years ago. It was part of a list of required books for a Black and Indigenous women's course through the school of Women's Studies. This school of thought has more involved in it than meets the eye. For starters, according to the very compelling and highly researched studies of Patricia Hill Collins, it came about in the face of great discrimination against, not only, African-Americans and women, but especially African-American women. They were looked down upon and objectified, due to their race, the means in which many African-Americans were forceably brought to the United States, as slaves (fodder for wealthy, white slave owners in their fields and in their children's nurseries, as well as their kitchens).
What works so well in its book is the acute insight and detail that Collins brings to her body of work. This book is really beautifully put together, and we get a sense of the evolution of Black Feminist Thought, through time. It's unbelievable to me that not more people have heard of this book, and I really think a formal movement needs to be started in schools throughout the country, to bring interracial consciousness to the masses, through literature. Read this book today.
Great Book for All People.......2004-01-26
I'm a gay white male and I loved this book! Collins does an amazing job presenting her compelling thesis, and I continue to thank Sociology in general for being the most daring, critical-thinking academic discipline ever. It's no surprise sociologists like Collins dare to speak out on gay rights issues (see her section on homophobia/heterosexism) - sociology is the only area of thought that consistently questions the status quo. In a day in age where so many (though by no means all!) African-American (heterosexuals) are horribly anti-gay and increasingly pro-greed/pro-capitalism, Collins stands out as a heroine for all peoples. I am still waiting for an openly gay hip-hop artist!! How cool would that be? I recommend this book to absolutely anyone. Five stars!
Inspired.......2001-08-01
Patricia Hill Collins exemplifies a practitioner's and theorist's point of view on black feminism as it relates to Africa American and our African sisters. She references critical and inspiring data and quotes from a varied repetoire of authors, historians, and philosophers. The author explains the context and format of her subject upon initial reading. This book also draws commonalities among the issues and concerns among African American women and our international sisterhood (i.e., African, Carribean, etc.,) It illustrates the social and cultural values among all groups, the commonalities among the values while focusing on the African American feminist aspect. This is a must read for any person, be it woman or not, African American or other. It brings about a social and cultural understanding that is pertinent to the "holonomy" of understanding and appreciating varied cultural, social and historical values and experiences while commencing to the building of community. Please add this title to your collection of literature. You won't be disappointed; if for nothing more than to open your world to receive another perspective.
Insightful.......2000-05-02
Collins'analysis of black feminism is an enlightening piece of literature that forces its readers to chanllenge main stream assumptions and discover the underlying mechanisms of racism and sexism in America. To create this effect, she uses a range of feminist perspectives form the calm subtleties of Angela Davis to the slightly boisterous philosopy of Bell Hooks. Nevertheless, by displaying these perspectives equally Collins shows that the struggle for equally is not an individual struggle but one that requires collectively. This book is intensely thought provoking and it is guaranteed to give its readers profound insight into black feminism.
Product Description
The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.
Book Description
Knowledge Networks: Innovations Through Communities of Practice draws on the experience of people who have worked with CoPs in the real world and to present their combined wisdom in a form that is accessible to a wide audience. CoPs are examined from a practical, rather than a purely academic point of view. The book also examines the benefits that CoPs can bring to an organization, provides a number of case studies, lessons learned and sets of guidelines. It also looks at virtual CoPs and to the future by asking 'what next?' This book is a resource for all people who work with CoPs - both in academia and in the real world.
Customer Reviews:
A Rich crop...Well harvested..........2004-04-06
The management of knowledge is a diverse field of study and within the field new crops of ideas are constantly emerging. One of the most resource-rich crops is that of community of practice. Sometimes generic, often hybrid and capable of being genetically-modified they have vast potential in supporting knowledge ecologies.
The agricultural metaphor lends itself well to the nurturing of knowledge. Of course, this is not the first time it has been used nor will it be the last. My own particular interest in the metaphor is how it not only lends itself to communities of practice but also to the process of learning.
For the last three years, I have been involved in teaching a module entitled "Knowledge Management" to students Mastering in Information and Library Management at a University in the North East of England. During those three years, communities of practice have emerged as a significant tool in understanding the creation, capture and transfer of knowledge within and between organizations.
The method of teaching involves lectures (theory-based) and seminars (case study-based) with the use of specific tasks to link the two areas.
This collection of papers is, perhaps, the single most useful text to emerge for teaching the concept of communities of practice, how they relate to managing knowledge within organizations and how they are cultivated and developed. It is abundant in well-researched and relevant commentary, which avoids the jargon of other works. The case studies are particularly useful to information management students trying to understand the relationship between information and knowledge management.
Congratulations to the editors for their conceptualization of the structure and identification of appropriate areas of content and to the individual authors for the quality of their contributions.
Book Description
"This valuable edited volume provides the foundations of empowerment evaluation by outlining its philosophy, theoretical frameworks, useful tools, basic steps, and lessons learned." --The Evaluation Exchange Short version of copy This outstanding group of evaluators from academia, government, nonprofits, and foundations explores empowerment evaluation, a method for using evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment Evaluation begins with an in-depth examination of this type of evaluation as it has been adopted in academic and foundation settings. The book then highlights the role empowerment evaluation has played in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' substance abuse prevention programs. The contributors also provide down-to-earth tools and technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation. This volume concludes with themes that emerge from the chapters and recommendations concerning next steps. This serves to strengthen the links between empowerment evaluation and community capacity building. Long version of copy This outstanding group of evaluators from academia, government, nonprofits, and foundations explores empowerment evaluation, a method for using evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment Evaluation begins with an in-depth examination of this type of evaluation as it has been adopted in academic and foundation settings. The book then focuses on the various contexts in which empowerment evaluation is conducted, ranging from resistant environments (in which significant effort is required to move from passive-compliance orientations) to responsive environments (that already have a tradition of self-determination and community organizing). Interesting highlights concerning the role empowerment evaluation has played in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' substance abuse prevention programs are detailed throughout the book. The contributors also provide down-to-earth tools and technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation. This volume concludes with themes that emerge from the chapters and recommendations concerning next steps. This serves to strengthen the links between empowerment evaluation and community capacity building. Empowerment Evaluation is of special interest to students and professionals in evaluation, research methods, education, sociology, psychology, marketing, educational administration, management, public health and substance abuse. This book gives readers down-to-earth tools and the technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation.
Product Description
"Information Commons" often refers to the theoretical production, sharing, and democratic discussion of information that is afforded by new technologies. It also refers to the physical manifestation of this concept - new facilities that bring together researchers, instructors, students, teachers, and users into one space and equip them with technology (computers, projectors, Internet) and facilities (workstations, conference and class rooms, print stations) for success. In this comprehensive guidebook, Beagle helps academic, public, and school librarians create new spaces that encourage research, discovery, instruction, and learning and meld the traditional research library with the latest technology. This comprehensive handbook guides librarians through: Space planning, budgeting, and technology set-up; Service modification, staff reallocation, and training; Assessment, improvement, and modification of services and facilities, and Publicity and marketing of the new commons. Descriptions, photographs, and plans from information commons of various types and sizes are included. The companion CD-ROM features model plans from various institutions and working documents from successful information commons projects. Grounded in the theory of information commons, this forward-looking handbook will transform traditional spaces and redefine library service models for the information age.
Customer Reviews:
Excerpts from all five reviews.......2007-08-05
Since its October 2006 release, The Information Commons Handbook has received five reviews in the professional media, and all five have been highly favorable. In a "starred" review in Library Journal (1/15/07), Robert L. Battenfield wrote "There is a great deal of information here from a knowledgeable IC expert...Recommended for all librarians, library directors, library science faculty, and students with a keen interest in this timely issue." In American Libraries (Jan 2007) Mary Ellen Quinn commented "...according to The Information Commons Handbook, the [IC] concept is about more than technology; it is about 'how an organization reshapes itself around people using technology in pursuit of learning.'...this book provides a framework and useful tools for making the process a more proactive one." In the well-regard Canadian journal Partnership, Cees-Jan de Jong states that the IC Handbook "...is much more than a guide to developing a Commons in your library, rather it's a guide that will assist you in positioning your library to take advantage of collaboration, technology, and educational movements...[the book] is well-organized and thoroughly researched...recommended for library administrators, librarians (academic, school, and public), faculty, and teachers interested in realizing a new service model..." And in the July 2007 issue of portal: Libraries & the Academy, Robert A. Seal notes that: "...Beagle is a pioneer in the development of the concept and is perhaps the best-known name in the field." The book, he adds, is "...one of the most thorough and thoughtful analyses of its type in the literature...a thoroughly researched and thought-provoking volume that will be of use to practitioners and administrators alike."
Book Description
When environmental health problems arise in a community, policymakers must be able to reconcile the first-hand experience of local residents with recommendations by scientists. In this highly original look at environmental health policymaking, Jason Corburn shows the ways that local knowledge can be combined with professional techniques to achieve better solutions for environmental health problems. He traces the efforts of a low-income community in Brooklyn to deal with health problems in its midst and offers a framework for understanding "street science" -- decision making that draws on community knowledge and contributes to environmental justice.
Like many other low-income urban communities, the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn suffers more than its share of environmental problems, with a concentration of polluting facilities and elevated levels of localized air pollutants. Corburn looks at four instances of street science in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, where community members and professionals combined forces to address the risks from subsistence fishing from the polluted East River, the asthma epidemic in the Latino community, childhood lead poisoning, and local sources of air pollution. These episodes highlight both the successes and the limits of street science and demonstrate ways residents can establish their own credibility when working with scientists. Street science, Corburn argues, does not devalue science; it revalues other kinds of information and democratizes the inquiry and decision-making processes.
Customer Reviews:
Great Primer.......2007-04-29
"Epistemology" is a near-model introductory philosophical text. It is clearly written and fair to all points of view. It takes the reader slowly and carefully through the definitions, distinctions, arguments and counter-arguments that define epistemology. It gives the reader a solid grounding in epistemological doctrine. Best of all, "Epistemology" teaches by example: it shows how philosophers actually do philosophy by critiquing and restructuring the ordinary features of experience that we usually take for granted.
That said, I took off one star because most of the books and articles discussed in "Epistemology" are less than forty years old. Great philosophers like Descartes and Hume are mentioned only in passing, and giants like Berkeley, Reid, and Wittgenstein aren't mentioned at all! Whatever philosophy is, it isn't a technical science with "state of the art" technical findings. Students who ignore philosophy's canonical texts are missing the most important part of a philosophical education.
A comprehensive introduction to the theory of knowledge.......2005-05-17
Richard Feldmans 'Epistemology' is nothing less than excellent. I am missing the sixth star or an extra crown for the rating.
Starting from the important epistemological questions Feldman gets to The Standard View.
1. We know a large variety of things in many different categories.
2. Our primary sources of knowledge are perception, memory, testimony, etc.
Now the author develops the Traditional Analysis of Knowledge. In two chapters he discusses the justification of knowledge. Then Feldman attacks the Traditional Analysis of Knowledge with four arguments: 'The Possibility of Error Argument',
'The Indistinguishable Argument', 'The Certainty Argument', and 'The Transmissibility Argument.' (Pyrrhonian skeptics are treated with the evidentialist theories of justification.)
Next, Feldman discusses the problem of induction and modern versions of Cartesian Skepticism: The Alternative Hypotheses Argument. Two chapters, finally, cover naturalistic epistemology and epistemological relativism.
All parts have a clear-cut scheme: introduction, explicitly stating the arguments, discussion of premises and conclusion. The chapters end with a rating of the results, Feldman give his own consideration of the position under discussion. So the reader is not left alone with a variety of theories. The book ends with: 'The Standard View is correct after all. However, its defense leads to surprisingly difficult conceptual issues and questions, many of which remain unanswered.'
'Epistemology' is highly recommended and despite only 197 pages (an advantage for the reader) a comprehensive introduction to the theory of knowledge.
Book Description
This volume explores the changing nature of community in modern corporations. Community within and between firms - the fabric of trust so essential to contemporary business - has long been based on loyalty. This loyalty has been largely destroyed by three decades of economic turbulence, downsizing, and restructuring. Yet community is more important than ever in an increasingly complex, knowledge-intensive economy. The thesis of this volume is that a new form of community is slowly emerging - one that is more flexible and wider in scope than the community of loyalty, and that transcends the limitations of both traditional Gemeinschaft and modern Gesellschaft. We call this form collaborative community. The trend towards collaborative community is difficult to detect amidst the ferocious forces of market and bureaucratic rationalization. But close analysis of some of America's most successful corporations reveals three dimensions of the emerging form: DT a shared ethic of interdependent contribution: distinct from the uneasy mix of loyalty and individualism that prevailed for so long; DT a formalized set of norms of interdependent process management that include iterative co-design, metaphoric search, and systematic mutual understanding: distinct from both rigid authority hierarchies and informal log-rolling; DT An interdependent social identity that supports these organizational features: distinct from both dependent, traditionalistic identities and the independence of the autonomous self that is often associated with Western culture. This volume is a collaborative effort of leading scholars in organization studies to delineate the new form of community and the forces encouraging and constraining its growth. The contributors combine sociology and psychology theory with detailed analysis of business cases at the firm and inter-firm level.
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Encyclopedia of Communities of Practice in Information And Knowledge Management
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Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management
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Product Description
The Encyclopedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management is the leading reference source for dynamic and innovative research in the field of communities of practice (CoPs) in information and knowledge management. With knowledge management work on the increase, this single volume encyclopedia provides a comprehensive, critical, and descriptive examination of all facets of CoPs, and includes 550 terms and definitions as well as 1,950 references to additional research. More than 120 researchers from over 20 countries provide in-depth coverage of conceptual and practical issues as well as topics regarding learning, leadership, ethics, social, intellectual, rewards, and language challenges.
Books:
- Cultivating Communities of Practice
- Daddy's Girl
- Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, Second Edition: Leadership in Professional Services
- Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding Strategic Change in Organizations
- Engineering Design: A Materials and Processing Approach
- Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution
- Essentials of Fire Fighting
- Ethics in Crime and Justice: Dilemmas and Decisions (Ethics in Crime and Justice)
- Evaluating Practice: Guidelines for the Accountable Professional (5th Edition)
- Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
Books Index
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