Applying Communities of Practices for Know-how Management- Case Study

The objective of this study is to investigate how Community of Practice –concept is functioning in practice in the case company, and what are the biggest challenges in this area. The research questions are − Is the Communities of Practice -concept feasible way for know-how management? − What are the biggest pains in applying CoP in the case company? − What are the best pain relievers in applying CoP in the case company? This research will provide answers to these questions. The strategy for this research is case study and it has some characteristics of action research. Data for this study is collected using a questionnaire and unstructured interviews. Data is analysed mostly using qualitative methods. The result of this study is that for the case company CoP –concept is a feasible way for know-how management, but the implementation in the case company limps. Three (3) root causes were identified − obscurity of the deployment of the concept − lack of strategic guidance − confusion about involvement and membership The target of the CoPs need to be defined more clearly and employees need to understand their roles and responsibilities in the concept. Now the concept lies too heavily on self-organizing, CoPs need to have strategic guidance, clear link to company’s core competencies and vision for future