Purpose – This paper seeks to surface less positive aspects of communities of practice (CoPs), regardless of emergent or organisationally managed, grounded in political‐power interactions. Examples are provided from the authors' experiences of a research‐based CoP within UK higher...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how appreciative inquiry (AI) as a pedagogical tool can be generative in nature creating opportunities for development and change in a business school context. Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative approach this research involved...

Offers the view that learning in organizations is mainly a social activity because work is most often done by people in the context of communicating with others. Briefly assesses how learning can be managed in organizations.

Purpose – To critique individual learning experiences in organization, explore the role people play in inhibiting learning in organization and explore theories of individual learning as “theories in use”, drawing on a metaphor of steps and dance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a...

Purpose – This paper aims to explores consultants' experiences of communities of practice (CoPs) in one of the world's largest information technology companies against organisational strategies. The research focus concerns experiences of formal top‐down and underground CoPs....

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore strategies used by communities of practice (CoPs) managers when managing intentionally created CoPs. Design/methodology/approach – Four intentionally created CoPs in Ireland are explored, using a qualitative research design with data from...

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the emergence of communities of practice in a temporary event organisation involving public and private partners. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs qualitative methods in the form of 31 semi‐structured interviews, a five‐week period of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose that a form of communities of practice (CoP), a community of innovation (CoInv), is the best support for sustainable innovation. It aims to outline a method for identifying champions of innovation in organisation. Design/methodology/approach...