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By Dr. Arthur M. Langer

Communities of practice are based on the assumption that learning starts with engagement in social practice and that this practice is the fundamental construct by which individuals learn (Wenger 1998). Thus, communities of practice are formed to get things done by using a shared way of pursuing interest. For individuals this means that learning is a way of engaging in, and contributing to, the practices of their communities. For specific communities, on the other hand, it means that learning is a way of refining its distinctive practices and ensuring new generations of members. For entire organizations it means that learning is an issue of sustaining interconnected communities of practice, which define what an organization knows and contributes to the business. The notion of communities-of-practice supports the idea that learning is an "inevitable part of participating in social life and practice" (Elkjaer 1999: 75). Communities-of-practice also includes assisting members of the community, with the particular focus on improving their skills. This is also known as "situated learning." Thus, communities-of-practice is very much a social learning theory as opposed to one that is based solely on the individual. Communities-of-practice has been called learning-in-working where learning is an inevitable part of working together in a social setting. Much of this concept implies that learning in some form or other will occur and that it is accomplished within a framework of social participation, not solely or simply in the individual mind. In a world that is changing significantly due to technological innovations, we should recognize the need for organizations, communities, and individuals to embrace the complexities of being interconnected at an accelerated pace.

There is much that is useful in communities-of-practice theory and that justifies its use in IT. Indeed, the enormity and complexity of technology requires a community focus. This would be especially useful within the confines of specific departments that are in need of understanding how to deal with their businesses. That is, preparation for using new technologies cannot be accomplished in a vacuum. Instead preparation can be accomplished by creating a community that can assess technologies as a part of the organization's normal activities. Specifically this means that through the infrastructure of a community, individuals can determine how they will organize themselves to operate with emerging technologies, what education they will need, and what potential Strategic Integration they will need to prepare for changes brought on by technology. Action in this context can be viewed as a continuous process, much in the same way that I have previously presented technology as an ongoing accelerating variable. However, Elkjaer (1999) argues that the continuous process cannot exist without individual interaction. As he states:

Based on this perspective, technology can be handled by the actions (community) and interactions (individuals) of the organization as shown below:

It seems logical that communities of practice provide the mechanism to assist particularly with the Cultural Assimilation component of my Responsive Organizational Dynamism theory. Indeed, Cultural Assimilation targets the behavior of the community and its need to consider what new organizational structures can better support emerging technologies. I have in many ways already established and presented the challenge of what should be called the "community of IT practice" and its need to understand how to restructure in order to meet the needs of the organization. This is the kind of issue that supports a community-based process that can deal with the realignment of departmental relationships.

Essentially, "communities of IT practice" must allow for the continuous evolution of learning based on emergent strategies. Emergent strategies acknowledge unplanned action, which are defined as patterns that develop in the absence of intentions (Mintzberg and Waters 1985). Emergent strategies can be used to gather groups that can focus on issues not based on previous plans. These strategies can be thought of as creative approaches to pro-active actions. Indeed, a frustrating aspect of technology is its uncertainty. Ideas and concepts borrowed from communities-of-practice can help departments deal with the evolutionary aspects of new technologies and how they provide business opportunities.

The relationship then between communities of practice and technology is significant. Many of the projects involving IT have been traditionally based on informal processes of learning. While there have been a number of attempts to computerize knowledge using various information databases, they have had mixed results. A "structured" approach to creating knowledge-reporting is typically difficult to establish and maintain. Many IT departments have utilized ISO 9000 concepts. The International Standards Organization is a worldwide organization that defines quality processes through very formal structures. It attempts to take knowledge-based information and transfer it into specific and documented steps that can be evaluated as they occur. Unfortunately, the ISO 9000 approach, even if realized, is challenging when such knowledge and procedures are undergoing constant and unpredictable change. Therefore, Communities-of-practice provides an umbrella of discourses that are necessary to deal with ongoing and unpredictable interactions established by emerging technologies.

Support for the above position is found in the fact that technology requires accumulative collective learning that needs to be tied to social practices; this way, project plans can be based on learning as a participatory act. One of the major advantages of communities-of-practice is that it can integrate key competencies into the very fabric of the organization (Lesser et al 2000). IT's typical disadvantage is that its staff needs to serve multiple organizational structures simultaneously. This requires that priorities be set by the organization. Unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible for IT departments to establish such priorities without engaging in communities-of-practice concepts that allow for a more integrated process of negotiation and determination. Much of the process of communities-of-practice would be initiated by Strategic Integration and result in many Cultural Assimilation changes—that is, the process of implementing communities-of-practice will necessitate changes in cultural behavior and organization processes.

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