Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice

Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice

Hildreth, Paul M., Kimble, Chris and Wright, Peter, "Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice" . Proceedings of Ethicomp '98, Erasmus University, The Netherlands, pp. 275-286, March 1998

Abstract:

Within the Knowledge Management context, there is growing interest in computer support for group knowledge sharing and the role that Communities of Practice play in this. Communities of Practice are groups of individuals with a common purpose and who share some background, language or experience. The community is regenerated as newcomers join the group and old-timers leave. The newcomers have access to the old-timers and learn from them. This generally takes place through situated learning. New group knowledge is also created as members of the community have a problem to solve and swap experiences and anecdotes to solve the problem, possibly arriving at a novel solution. This may then be further shared through anecdotes so that it eventually becomes part of the group's store of collective knowledge.

Communities of Practice provide an excellent forum for knowledge sharing and a vital question is whether the new communications media, which provide new possibilities for collaboration and distributed working, could support the existence of such groups in a distributed environment. This question takes on an added relevance with the rapid internationalization of business that can spread the distribution over national boundaries posing problems of cultural and temporal as well as physical distance.

This paper reports on a case study which was the first stage in exploring whether Computer Mediated Communications technologies (CMCs) can support distributed international Communities of Practice. The aim of the case study was to explore the possible existence of Communities of Practice in an international organization, to identify such groups and to ascertain the media used.

Here are some quotes from our visitors about the value of a MBA ... MBA will help you get ahead in today's global marketplace through a strong, in-depth curriculum that balances core courses with experience. ... MBA will help you achieve the goals to succeed in business life. ... MBA will help you improve your business performance and effectiveness by enriching your overall management skills and knowledge.

Facts on MBA Many programs allow students to specialize in a particular area, such as organizational behaviour, marketing, accounting, finance, operations management, technology management, strategy or international business. Unspecialized MBA programs often focus second-year studies on strategy. An EMBA is essentially a part-time MBA, but the average student profile is slightly different. These programmes are aimed at experienced executives who prefer not to take a career break to take a full-time MBA and typically require significant business experience to gain admission.

This site is growing and will contain info on subjects like mba ranking, mba international business and mba university.