Communities of Practice and Development of Best Practices

View Sample PDF

Author(s): Miles G. Nicholls (RMIT University, Australia)
Copyright: 2006
Pages: 2
Source title: Encyclopedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Elayne Coakes (University of Westminster, UK)and Steve Clarke (University of Hull Business School, UK)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-556-6.ch014

Keywords: Information Science Reference / Media & Communications / Social Computing / Virtual Communities & Virtual Reality

Purchase

View Communities of Practice and Development of Best Practices on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.

Abstract

Communities of practice and the development of best practices have a particularly strong base in an industrial setting where the intellectual capital—or more correctly, the tacit knowledge—is a ‘craft’ bordering on ‘alchemy’. The concept of ‘craft’ tacit knowledge in this context relates to industrial processes where the operation is often based on a body of individuals’ experience and is not able to be determined or analysed in a scientific or repeatable manner. Some examples of industries where these processes exist include aluminium smelting and float glass manufacturing. In both of these industries, a large proportion of the production processes rely on factory floor operators utilizing ‘craft’ (tacit knowledge) in the pursuit of best practice. These types of situations see many individuals involved in the manufacturing process sharing a community interest, and seeking the determination of best practice as a challenge and a means of enhancing personal and group pride. Best practice is used here in both a general and a mathematical sense, since there are no deterministic solution algorithms that can be used for solving certain aspects of the processes described below.

The IRMA Community

Research IRM

Communities of Practice and Development of Best Practices

Purchase

Abstract

Related Content

IRMA Sponsors