1. Developing a Community of Practice in Local Authority Information Workers
Paul Haslam, Head of Learning Technology
Mike Hart, Professor of Business Informatics
King Alfred’s, Winchester, UK (wkac.ac.uk)
Bristol Business School Teaching and Learning Conference 24 September 2002

2. Communities of Practice - common features
evolve from informal rather than espoused practices
common interests and challenges provide the basis for regular sharing and learning
exhibit high levels of trust and collaboration
responsible for their own destiny
members gain a sense of identity from belonging, and recognise that continual learning is required to keep their knowledge and skills up to date

3. Underlying themes
informal communities of practice potentially offer more fruitful ground for learning and generating new knowledge than formal corporate structures
both tacit and explicit knowledge shape learning communities
the nurture of their evolution and interaction within formal organisational structures is a challenge

4. Issues from the paper
How has a community of practice emerged during an academic programme and how might it be sustained?
Given Wenger’s (1998) contention that people must work with CoPs from the inside rather than manipulate them from the outside, how far can external partners facilitate the process?

5. Hampshire County Council
Large, prosperous local authority (30,000 employees)
Economy (GDP) of Hampshire is worth £16.3 billion (equivalent to N. Ireland)
Hantsweb 5.1m accesses; 542,177 unique visits by 170,000 unique hosts
Possibly "the most comprehensive site of its nature for a local or county government in the world” - Bill Gates, on discovering Hantsweb

6. Hants CC Information Strategy
Up to 1000 ‘para-information professionals’ in the Hampshire region
4 information centres, plus 100 information points
No recognised programme of continuing professional development
Development traditionally provided by short courses and skills training

7. Support offered in PSIM modules
‘Communities of practice are mostly self-sufficient, but they can benefit from some resources, such as outside experts, travel, meeting facilities, and communications technology’ - Wenger, 1998
discussion
presentations
outside experts
work-based tasks
computer-mediated communication

8. Discussions Create space and acknowledge value
Uncover tacit understanding of roles
Discover shared commitments and values
Offer the opportunity to talk about how they contribute to organisation as a whole

9. Presentations Work-related, practice-based topics
Share narratives and experiences
Explore synergies
Uncover common challenges
Exploration of common ‘wicked problems’

10. Outside experts
Senior figures from Hampshire County Council e.g Director of IT Strategy
External experts in particular fields e.g project manager for e-Delivery from other local authority
Attendance at seminars organised by HCC
Course tutors as catalysts

11. Work-based tasks
Present own service, imperatives, strategies and current challenges
Identify ways of contributing to initiatives, such as e-Govt and potential bids for projects to make a difference on the ground
Outline current challenges of the role and appropriate forms of continuing professional development

12. Computer-mediated communication
Network the know-how in non-canonical forms
Self select themes or areas of interest
Work as a larger CoP or in sub-groups
Develop understanding of broad aspects of job faster than through traditional training (Wenger, 1998)
Make tentative suggestions about how to maintain expertise (McDermott, 2001)
Use of VLE as exemplar support system

13. Relationship to official organisation (Wenger, 1998)

14. Moving forward
Explore concepts of facilitative leadership appropriate to communities of practice
Ensure codification does not compromise the tacit knowledge it tries to capture (Button et al, 1995)
Focus on empowerment rather than leverage
Encourage managers to accept the gap between power and knowledge (McKinlay, 2000)
Recognise that radical insights often occur at the boundaries between communities (Wenger 1998)

15. Issues arising
Knowledge management assumes that knowledge and experience (explicit and tacit) should be levered for organisational advantage
Over-management of communities of practice can be a problem
CoPs need space and resources, rather than managerial direction