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GROWING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE MANUAL VISIONARY

A guide to knowledge management Cultivating Communities of Practice A Guide to Managing Knowledge Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PRESS, 2002

The authors have spent more than a decade working on communities of practice. Etienne participated in original research at the Institute for Research on Learning, and the beginning of the Communities of Practice (*) at Xerox and National Semiconductor; Richard worked, among other companies, Shell and Hewlett Packard, Bill Colgate-Palmolive, McKinsey & Company, and the federal government.

Acceptance of communities of practice is due mainly to the development followed by the "knowledge management" (Knowledge Management). Knowledge management has been a remarkable evolution:

· first was based on technology derived
· after behavioral issues, culture and tacit knowledge
• Now they are discovering that communities of practice are a handy way to organize task of managing the knowledge.

Communities of practice offer a concrete organizational infrastructure to realize the dream of the "learning organization" (the learning organization). More and more organizations are created on that base of knowledge management in communities of practice: Microsoft, Hallmark Cards, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, World Bank, Daimler Chrysler, federal agencies, military services, schools , NGOs and civic associations.

1. VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS OF PRACTICE

When Japanese competition was about to take the market to Chrysler Corporation, No one suspected that the recovery of the company (now part of Daimler Chrysler) would depend on an innovative system based knowledge management in communities of practice.

While competitors took three years to bring to market a product, Chrysler took five. Search for a drastic reduction of these deadlines. To do this, it went from a functional structure (design, engineering, manufacturing, sales) to a "units of vehicles (large cars, small trucks, vans, SUVs) with cross structures, and product-oriented.

Then, to facilitate communication between these units began meet informally with former colleagues from the functional units. Tech emerged Clubs. In 1996, he initiated the creation of an Engineering Book of Knowledge (Eboko), a database to collect relevant information that engineers need for their tasks, including set standards, best practices, lessons learned, and specifications suppliers.

(*) to see summaries of articles in April 2003 and April 2000.

companies at the forefront of the "knowledge economy" are succeeding in building communities of practice, they are called they are called:

• The World Bank responds to your vision to combat poverty, both in knowledge as money, based on communities of practice formed by employees, customers and external partners.
· Shell Oil is based on community of practice to maintain its technical excellence in its various business units, geographic regions, and project teams.
· McKinsey & Company has communities of practice to maintain first-world experience on issues important to customers are becoming more knowledgeable, more demanding.

What is a community of practice?

are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, a passion for a subject, and who deepen their knowledge and skills in these areas, interacting, and continuously

Do not necessarily meet every day.
· Reverse time together and share information, views and advice.
· We help each other solve problems.
• Discuss their situations, their aspirations and needs.
· weigh common issues, explore ideas, act as sound advice.
• They can create tools, standards, generic designs, manuals and other documents
Develop personal relationships and ways of interacting.
• They can develop a common sense of identity ... They become a community of practice.

A key to success in the global economy

Communities of practice are not a new idea. What is new is the need for companies to be more systematic about managing knowledge. Companies need to know what knowledge is of competitive advantage, why is an important asset. Among other things because the half-life of knowledge is becoming shorter, so that no communities focusing on areas of critical knowledge is difficult to maintain the rapid pace of change.

The change from the internal point of view, means that companies are disaggregated into smaller units, from the outside, to try to make alliances with other organizations. Moreover, markets are becoming global knowledge.

addition, companies are no longer competing for market share, but also compete for talent and people with skills and abilities to generate and implement innovative ideas. In some sectors, hiring, developing and retaining talent is more challenging than compete in the markets. It takes time to develop a knowledge strategy allied with business strategy and depend on communities of practice, and have included Amoco and the United States Navy.

Nature knowledge: a challenge for the leadership

Recently, new information technologies have inspired dreams of incorporating all the knowledge of an organization in databases that make it accessible to all employees. Early attempts at knowledge management have focused on ......

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