An empirical investigation for alignment of communities of practice with organization using fuzzy Delphi panel
| Pages | 322-343 |
| Published date | 10 August 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/VINE-06-2014-0040 |
| Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Author | Abdollah Jassbi,Javad Jassbi,Peyman Akhavan,Mei-Tai Chu,Morteza Piri |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,Knowledge management systems |
An empirical investigation for
alignment of communities of
practice with organization using
fuzzy Delphi panel
Abdollah Jassbi
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Javad Jassbi
CTS-UNINOVA, Departamento De Engenharia Electrotécnica,
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Caparica, Portugal and Department of Industrial Management,
Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Tehran, Iran
Peyman Akhavan
Department of Management, Malek Ashatar Technology University,
Tehran, Iran
Mei-Tai Chu
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law,
La Trobe Business School, Australia, and
Morteza Piri
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design a model to outline the structure of communities of
practice (CoPs) corresponding to organizational context.
Design/methodology/approach – This research utilizes both descriptive and prescriptive
approaches, as the authors are looking for a comprehensive relational model to deal with the problem of
selecting suitable CoPs concerning organizational context. Thus, this study applies interviewing and
fuzzy Delphi methods to explore the model.
Findings – The work provides a new and comprehensive relational model of CoPs and organizational
variables affecting CoPs structure. In this model, three basic concepts of the literature were developed.
First, the components concerning types of CoPs were identied and then the organizational variables
related to CoPs were determined. Finally, the authors extracted the relationships between the
organizational variables and the components of CoPs.
Practical implications – From a practical perspective, the relationships among the components
concerning types of CoPs and the organizational variables may provide a model which can effectively
guide rms how to promote, design and manage CoPs within organizational contexts.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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VINE
45,3
322
Received 11 June 2014
Revised 5 November 2014
10 January 2015
Accepted 21 February 2015
VINE
Vol.45 No. 3, 2015
pp.322-343
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0305-5728
DOI 10.1108/VINE-06-2014-0040
Originality/value – The results of this study contribute to CoPs literature in terms of identication of
two variables (CoPs components and organizational variables) to produce a matrix for the construction
of a holistic CoPs model. The signicant nding of this research is the guidance it provides for designing
a relational model involving relations between organizational variables and CoPs components.
Keywords Communities of practice, Applied knowledge management
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Considering the signicance of knowledge as a valuable resource to create competitive
advantage (Duguid, 2008), organizations are always trying to create an environment to
exchange knowledge and experiences among the staff. According to IBM’s experience,
the most important concern of managers regarding human issues is interpersonal
relations and exchange of knowledge and experiences of task completion within
organizations (IBM, 2008). In this regard, McDermott and O’Dell (2005) stated that
knowledge management is neither as simple as it is dened nor as straightforward as
placing a book in a library or saving information in a computer.
Lave and Wenger (1991) identied some informal structures named communities of
practice (CoPs). They reported that members of such communities can easily share their
knowledge and experiences with each other (Kim et al., 2011). The main reason why
researchers are interested in studying CoPs refers to their way of sharing and
composing knowledge and also the best experiences of these communities (Galliers,
2011;Harvey et al., 2013). Studies on CoPs show that they provide not only a learning
setting for who are new to the eld but also an opportunity for insights to be changed
into knowledge resulting in innovation (Hara and Kling, 2002).
The question before organization managers is:
Q1. What is the best and most suitable way to design, lead and manage these
communities. How could the best be identied?
Q2. How can organizations contribute to their structure and function?
Pursuant to Wenger et al. (2002), CoPs cannot achieve their basic potentiality without
the interference of the organization. Therefore, researchers, including Kimble and
Bourdon (2008), have observed that it is better for CoPs to be developed systematically
and strategically. These issues and the advantages of CoPs not only induce
organizations to use these informal structures along with their own goals and strategies
(Dubé et al., 2005), but also make researchers of knowledge management seek working
procedures for the purpose of leading and managing these communities (Iaquinto et al.,
2011;Blackmore, 2009), as well as developing working procedures on the basis of their
basic structure introduced by Wenger et al. (2002) (Wenger and Snyder, 2000).
Concerning this, the main objective of the present research is to design a model for the
identication of appropriate construct for CoPs within organizational setting by way of
a set of variables.
To meet manager’s needs, the design of this model would be implemented in three
steps. First, some components should be characterized to be able to identify CoPs well.
Our literature review revealed just two studies on components of CoPs, namely by Dubé
et al. (2005) and Hara et al. (2009). Both deal with components of virtual CoPs. As it was
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An empirical
investigation
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