Facilitating Communities of Practice: A Case Study

Abstract

Communities of practice (CoP) have become a popular source of knowledge-sharing and learning in organizations. However, several problems occur in managing them and more knowledge about this area is needed. This article addresses this knowledge gap and aims to understand and describe how to facilitate communities of practice in a large corporation. The research draws on a qualitative case study based on interviews with people involved in CoPs in a large multinational technology company and the analysis followed the method introduced by Gioia et al. (2013). The findings relate to participants' conceptions of the nature of CoPs, how CoPs align with the organizational structure of the company in which they operate, and a CoP’s working model. This research extends the knowledge of how to facilitate CoPs, with several findings about the characteristics and challenges of CoPs and potential solutions to their problems. It also helps practitioners who are responsible for establishing and leading CoPs in organizations by proposing a pragmatic approach to doing that.