Cultivating Communities of Practice
Cultivating Communities of Practice

Author: Etienne Wenger

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1578513308

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Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy. Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable. Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them. Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them. Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California. Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado. William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Knowledge Sharing in Practice
Knowledge Sharing in Practice

Author: M.H. Huysman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-14

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9401599920

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In this volume organizational learning theory is used to analyse various practices of managing and facilitating knowledge sharing within companies. Experiences with three types of knowledge sharing, namely knowledge acquisition, knowledge reuse, and knowledge creation, at ten large companies are discussed and analyzed. This critical analysis leads to the identification of traps and obstacles when managing knowledge sharing, when supporting knowledge sharing with IT tools, and when organizations try to learn from knowledge sharing practices. The identification of these risks is followed by a discussion of how organizations can avoid them. This work will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in organization science and business administration. Also, consultants and organizations at large will find the book useful as it will provide them with insights into how other organizations manage and facilitate knowledge sharing and how potential failures can be prevented.

Knowledge-in-practice in the Caring Professions
Knowledge-in-practice in the Caring Professions

Author: Heather D'Cruz

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9780754672821

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Knowledge-in-Practice in the Caring Professions explores the nature and role of knowledge in the practical work of the caring professions. It focuses on knowledge of the practical over the theoretical, looking at the application of theory and the implementation of skill, judgment and discretion.

Knowledge Acquisition in Practice
Knowledge Acquisition in Practice

Author: Nicholas Ross Milton

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-05-01

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1846288614

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This is the first book to provide a step-by-step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. The reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its conclusion. Each is described in terms of reasons, required resources, activities, and solutions to common problems. In addition, each step has a checklist which tracks the key items that should be achieved.

Knowledge, Power, and Practice
Knowledge, Power, and Practice

Author: Shirley Lindenbaum

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1993-10-04

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 0520077857

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Ranging in time and locale, these essays, which combine theoretical argument with empirical observation, are based on research in historical and cultural settings. The contributors accept the notion that all knowledge is socially and culturally constructed and examine the contexts in which that knowledge is produced and practiced in medicine, psychiatry, epidemiology, and anthropology. -- from publisher description.

Knowledge Translation in Health Care
Knowledge Translation in Health Care

Author: Sharon E. Straus

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-08-24

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1444357255

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Health care systems worldwide are faced with the challenge of improving the quality of care. Providing evidence from health research is necessary but not sufficient for the provision of optimal care and so knowledge translation (KT), the scientific study of methods for closing the knowledge-to-action gap and of the barriers and facilitators inherent in the process, is gaining significance. Knowledge Translation in Health Care explains how to use research findings to improve health care in real life, everyday situations. The authors define and describe knowledge translation, and outline strategies for successful knowledge translation in practice and policy making. The book is full of examples of how knowledge translation models work in closing the gap between evidence and action. Written by a team of authors closely involved in the development of knowledge translation this unique book aims to extend understanding and implementation worldwide. It is an introductory guide to an emerging hot topic in evidence-based care and essential for health policy makers, researchers, managers, clinicians and trainees.

Comprehension: Knowledge to Practice
Comprehension: Knowledge to Practice

Author: Nancy Eberhardt

Publisher:

Published: 2020-03-04

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13:

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The Literacy How Professional Learning Series translates the latest reading research into how-to instructional practices. Based on the current and comprehensive Literacy How reading model, the Series draws upon the authors' decades of expertise and experience working with thousands of general and special education teachers. Organized for the busy educator who may be trying to find specific information, as well as for the professional seeking deeper understanding of literacy instruction and learning, the Series emphasizes Pre-K-3 conceptual and skill development.Comprehension: Knowledge to Practice is for any educator who's wondered:* What are the big ideas in reading comprehension that can guide instruction for developing readers?* How can text structure impact understanding and recall of what students read?* Why is background knowledge important to readers?* How can we encourage inferential thinking in developing readers?* What is text cohesion and how does it fit into the process of understanding text?* What is the connection between reading comprehension and writing?* How does vocabulary and syntax instruction contribute to reading comprehension?* What is the role of read alouds for developing readers?* Should students work on comprehension with code-emphasis (aka decodable) text?* What activities support the big ideas of comprehension instruction for developing readers?

Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550-1680
Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550-1680

Author: Andrew Wear

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2000-11-16

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 9780521558273

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This is a major synthesis of the knowledge and practice of early modern English medicine in its social and cultural contexts. The book vividly maps out some central areas: remedies (and how they were made credible), notions of disease, advice on preventive medicine and on healthy living, and how surgeons worked upon the body and their understanding of what they were doing. The structures of practice and knowledge examined in the first part of the book came to be challenged in the later seventeenth century, when the 'new science' began to overturn the foundation of established knowledge. However, as the second part of the book shows, traditional medical practice was so well entrenched in English culture that much of it continued into the eighteenth century. Various changes did however occur, which set the agenda for later medical treatment and which are discussed in the final chapter.

Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice
Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice

Author: Robert J. Sternberg

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1999-02-01

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 1135688257

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Those responsible for professional development in public and private-sector organizations have long had to deal with an uncomfortable reality. Billions of dollars are spent on formal education and training directed toward the development of job incumbents, yet the recipients of this training spend all but a fraction of their working life outside the training room--in meetings, on the shop floor, on the road, or in their offices. Faced with the need to promote "continuous learning" in a cost-effective manner, trainers, consultants, and educators have sought to develop ways to enrich the instructional and developmental potential of job assignments--to understand and facilitate the "lessons of experience." Not surprisingly, social and behavioral scientists have weighed in on the subject of on-the-job learning, and one message of their research is quite clear. This message is that much of the knowledge people use to succeed on the job is acquired implicitly--without intention to learn or awareness of having learned. The common language of the workplace reflects an awareness of this fact as people speak of learning "by doing" or "by osmosis" and of professional "instinct" or "intuition." Psychologists, more careful if not clearer in their choice of words, refer to learning without intention or awareness as "implicit learning" and refer to the knowledge that results from this learning as "tacit knowledge." Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice explores implicit learning and tacit knowledge as they manifest themselves in the practice of six knowledge-intensive professions, and considers the implications of a tacit-knowledge approach for increasing the instructional and developmental impact of work experiences. This volume brings together distinguished practitioners and researchers in each of the six disciplines to discuss their own research and/or professional experience and to engage each other's views. It addresses professional practice in its totality -- from the technical to the interpersonal to the crassly commercial -- not simply a few aspects of practice that lend themselves to controlled study. Finally, this edited volume seeks to go beyond the enumeration of critical experiences to an understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underlie learning from experience in professional disciplines and, in so doing, to lay a foundation for innovations in professional education and training.