Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcast
  • Managing the Future of Work Podcast
  • About Us
  • Book
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Podcasts
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • Archive

    Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier

     
    2/22/2000
    A new organizational form is emerging in the information economy, alongside work groups, project teams and informal networks.  It's called a community of practice — a group of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise — and it promises to radically galvanize knowledge sharing, learning, and change. Etienne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder explain in this excerpt from their article in the Harvard Business Review.

    by Etienne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder

    Communities of Practice

    Today's economy runs on knowledge, and most companies work assiduously to capitalize on that fact. They use cross-functional teams, customer- or product-focused business units, and work groups — to name just a few organizational forms — to capture and spread ideas and know-how. In many cases, these ways of organizing are very effective, and no one would argue for their demise. But a new organizational form is emerging that promises to complement existing structures and radically galvanize knowledge sharing, learning, and change. It's called the community of practice.

    What are communities of practice? In brief, they're groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise — engineers engaged in deep-water drilling, for example, consultants who specialize in strategic marketing, or frontline managers in charge of check processing at a large commercial bank. Some communities of practice meet regularly — for lunch on Thursdays, say. Others are connected primarily by e-mail networks. A community of practice may or may not have an explicit agenda on a given week, and even if it does, it may not follow the agenda closely. Inevitably, however, people in communities of practice share their experiences and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to problems.

    Because its primary "output" — knowledge — is intangible, the community of practice might sound like another "soft" management fad. But that's not the case. During the past five years, we have seen communities of practice improve organizational performance at companies as diverse as an international bank, a major car manufacturer, and a U.S. government agency. Communities of practice can drive strategy, generate new lines of business, solve problems, promote the spread of best practices, develop people's professional skills, and help companies recruit and retain talent.

    If communities of practice are so effective, why aren't they more prevalent? There are three reasons. The first is that although communities of practice have been around for a long time — for centuries, in fact — the term has just recently entered the business vernacular. The second is that only several dozen forward-thinking companies have taken the leap of "installing" or nurturing them. The third reason is that it's not particularly easy to build and sustain communities of practice or to integrate them with the rest of an organization. The organic, spontaneous, and informal nature of communities of practice makes them resistant to supervision and interference.

    But we have observed a number of companies that have overcome the managerial paradox inherent in communities of practice and successfully nurtured them. In general, we have found that managers cannot mandate communities of practice. Instead, successful managers bring the right people together, provide an infrastructure in which communities can thrive, and measure the communities' value in nontraditional ways. These tasks of cultivation aren't easy, but the harvest they yield makes them well worth the effort.


    Communities of practice differ from other forms of organization in several ways. "A Snapshot Comparison", below, looks at some of those differences.

    A Snapshot Comparison

    Communities of Practice, formal Work groups, teams, and informal networks are useful in complementary ways. Below is a summary of their characteristics.

    What's the purpose? Who belongs? What holds it together? How long does it last?
    Community of practice To develop members' capabilities; to build and exchange knowledge Members who select themselves Passion, commitment, and identification with the group's expertise As long as there is an interest in maintaining the group
    Formal work group To deliver a product or service Everyone who reports to the group's manager Job requirements and common goals Until the next reorganization
    Project team To accomplish a task Employees assigned by senior management The project's milestones and goals Until the project has been completed
    Informal network To collect and pass on business information Friends and business acquaintances Mutual needs As long as people have a reason to connect

    · · · ·

    Excerpted from the article "Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier" in the Harvard Business Review, January-February 2000.

    [ Order the full article ]

    Etienne C. Wenger is a consultant in knowledge management and communities of practice and the author of Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge University Press, 1998). He is based in North San Juan, California.

    William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, a research and consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    ǁ
    Campus Map
    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
    Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
    Soldiers Field
    Boston, MA 02163
    Email: Editor-in-Chief
    →Map & Directions
    →More Contact Information
    • Make a Gift
    • Site Map
    • Jobs
    • Harvard University
    • Trademarks
    • Policies
    • Accessibility
    • Digital Accessibility
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College