Organizational Learning the Objective of This Study

Organizational Learning

The objective of this study is to address the question of if an organization cannot harvest the learning and teaching that is happening in a community of practice then does the organization as such learn? Secondly, this study will address the question of whether one can speak of organizational learning, even when the company has not learned anything as only the community of practice share the knowledge within their circle.

Defining Organizational Learning and the Community of Practice

Organizational learning is stated in the work of Schulz (2001) to be such that "denotes a change in organizational knowledge. Organizational learning typically adds to, transforms, or reduces organizational knowledge." (p.1) Organizational learning is reported by Schulz to be "captured in a learning cycle in which organizations responded to external shocks by adjusting the likelihood of reusing specific operating procedures (SOPs) A concept essentially equivalent to March and Simon's performance programs." (2001, p.1) The community of practice, according to the work of Wenger (2006) is stated to be formed "by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope." (p.1) Otherwise stated the community of practice is a group of people "who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." (Wenger, 2006, p.1)

II. Answering the Questions Posed in this Study

To address the questions posed in this study one must first examine what precisely what 'community of practice' means as well one must examine what organizational learning means. Organizational learning means that all members of the organization are privy to the benefits of knowledge that is generated within that organization and when this happens, organizational learning occurs. However, if a community of practice within a larger organization shares among itself what has been learned but fails to share that knowledge with the larger organization then organizational learning will not and cannot occur. The community of practice is not a closed community in the form of a clique like some social club with privileged membership. Wenger (2006 ) states of the domain of the community of practice that the community of practice "… is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people. (You could belong to the same network as someone and never know it.) The domain is not necessarily something recognized as "expertise" outside the community." (p.1) Wenger goes on to state that members in the community of practice "engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other and share information." (Wenger, 2006, p.1)