Organization and communities of practice

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the ideas of communities of practice. The boundaries of a community are determined by the nature of the practices of its members, and may extend and impact across many constellations of people both within and across organizations. The chapter presents a brief historical example which explores the politics of information sharing and sense making. It discusses how ideas of communities of practice may be valuable in supporting the richness of activity in the healthcare domain, where the negotiation of meaning is rich, omnipresent and crosses many boundaries. The chapter also provides a description of social theories of learning as they relate to communities of practice. Theories of learning have traditionally been the province of psychology and have tended to focus on the individual. They can be divided into three categories: behaviourist, cognitive, and constructivist. Interest in the environment in which learning occurs is condensed in theories of social and situated learning.