Unravelling the dynamics of knowledge creation in communities of practice though complexity theory lenses

Abstract

Drawing on a longitudinal case study of Alpha Chemicals, we use four complexity theory constructs – adaptive tension, enabling leadership, enhanced cooperation, and boundary spanning – to explain the continuous knowledge creation dynamics in Communities of practice (CoPs). Our findings show that the virtual cycle of knowledge creation results from CoPs oscillating between guided and self-directed modes. In a guided mode, adaptive tension and enabling leadership prevail, resulting in knowledge expansion. In a self-directed mode, enhancing cooperation and boundary spanning are the most significant, resulting in knowledge probing. This research uncovers the value of conceptualizing CoPs as complex adaptive systems with emergent and intentional processes coexisting to create a virtual knowledge creation cycle. Our findings complement the dominant theory on CoPs’ insights by moving beyond the control/autonomy debate and highlighting that knowledge creation dynamics results from a flexible combination and recombination of the different top-down and bottom-up forces.

Keywords:

• community of practice
• knowledge creation dynamics
• complexity theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stefano Borzillo

About the authors

Stefano Borzillo is currently Associate Professor of Strategy and Knowledge Management at SKEMA Business School (Paris Campus). His main research fields are communities of practice, processes of knowledge creation and knowledge transfers in organizations and managing organizational decline. Organizations in which he conducted research in communities of practice include Siemens, Daimler, Oracle, IBM, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Bearing Point, Swiss Re, Holcim, World Bank, CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), United Nations, World Health Organization, International Labor Office, Pictet Bank, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch Bank. He obtained his Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Following his Ph.D., he was a visiting research fellow for a year (2006–2007) at the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Renata Kaminska-Labbé is Professor of Strategy and Innovation at SKEMA Business School (Nice-Sophia-Antipolis Campus), where she also organizes research seminars. Her own research focuses on micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities, strategy process and flexible organizational designs. She is a visiting professor at the Krakow University of Economics and at Kozminski Business School in Warsaw. She has a doctorate in management from the University of Nice, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.