KM 101
Communities of Practice Part 1: Why?
Dennis Pearce
November 2025
What is a Community of Practice?
Elements of a Community of Practice
Types of Organizational Structures
Organizational Structure | What’s the Purpose? | Who Belongs? | How Clear are the Boundaries? | What Holds Them Together? | How Long Do They Last? |
Formal Department | To deliver a product or service | Everyone who reports to the group’s manager | Clear | Job requirements and common goals | Intended to be permanent (but last until the next reorganization) |
Operational Team | To take care of an ongoing operation or process | Membership assigned by management | Clear | Shared responsibility for the operation | Intended to be ongoing (but last as long as the operation is needed) |
Project Team | To accomplish a specified task | People who have a direct role in accomplishing the task | Clear | The project’s goals and milestones | Predetermined ending (when the project has been completed) |
Communities of Practice | To create, expand, and exchange knowledge; to develop individual capabilities | Self-selection based on expertise or passion for a topic | Fuzzy | Passion, commitment, and identification with the group and its expertise | Evolve and end organically (last as long as there is relevance to the topic and value and interest in learning together) |
Communities of Interest | To be informed | Whomever is interested | Fuzzy | Access to information and a sense of like-mindedness | Evolve and end organically |
Informal Networks | To receive and pass on information; to know who is who | Friends, business acquaintances, friends of friends | Undefined | Mutual need and relationships | Never really start or end (exist as long as people keep in touch or remember each other |
Wenger et al: Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
Types of Organizational Structures
Organizational Structure | What’s the Purpose? | Who Belongs? | How Clear are the Boundaries? | What Holds Them Together? | How Long Do They Last? |
Formal Department | To deliver a product or service | Everyone who reports to the group’s manager | Clear | Job requirements and common goals | Intended to be permanent (but last until the next reorganization) |
Operational Team | To take care of an ongoing operation or process | Membership assigned by management | Clear | Shared responsibility for the operation | Intended to be ongoing (but last as long as the operation is needed) |
Project Team | To accomplish a specified task | People who have a direct role in accomplishing the task | Clear | The project’s goals and milestones | Predetermined ending (when the project has been completed) |
Communities of Practice | To create, expand, and exchange knowledge; to develop individual capabilities | Self-selection based on expertise or passion for a topic | Fuzzy | Passion, commitment, and identification with the group and its expertise | Evolve and end organically (last as long as there is relevance to the topic and value and interest in learning together) |
Communities of Interest | To be informed | Whomever is interested | Fuzzy | Access to information and a sense of like-mindedness | Evolve and end organically |
Informal Networks | To receive and pass on information; to know who is who | Friends, business acquaintances, friends of friends | Undefined | Mutual need and relationships | Never really start or end (exist as long as people keep in touch or remember each other |
Wenger et al: Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
How most of the learning takes place
How most of the work gets done
The Power of Networks
“It’s not what you know but who you know”
“I know a guy who knows a guy who …”
The Power of Networks
“It’s not what you know but who you know”
“I know a guy who knows a guy who …”
Small World Networks (Watts & Strogatz 1998)
In Small World networks:�
Networked organizations tend to be:�
“It’s not how many people you know, it’s how many kinds.”
-- Clay Shirky
CoPs Break Down Silos
Department D
Department C
Department B
Department A
CoPs Break Down Silos
Department D
Department C
Department B
Department A
Community of Practice
“Double-Knit Knowledge”
Benefits of CoPs to the Organization
Benefits for Team Formation
Benefits of CoPs to Their Members
Benefit of Weak Ties (Granovetter)
You
Friends and�Family
Acquaintances
Strong Ties
Support and Wellbeing
Weak Ties
Information
References
Books
Articles