Chapter 4 – Community of Practice

In today’s world, we do almost everything online – we don’t have to, but we choose to. That said, it is important to be prepared to navigate the online ecosphere. In business, where transactions are international, parties are not always able to physically shake hands and seal the deal. Business communities of practice are online groups of people who share a common interest or fervor for that interest, and they interact frequently to learn how to become better at it.

Sounds like a discourse community – but there are differences. The discourse community has members from the same professional discourse and more formal or methodical communication practices, while a community of practice is less formal and members may not be in the same professional discourse – anyone can join the community of practice (CoP), regardless of their profession (Lave & Wenger, 2011)[1]. For example, Sally is a veterinarian by trade, but she has an interest in building a mobile application for dog owners. She may join a WhatsApp group for sharing ideas and knowledge about building mobile apps.

A CoP is very socially-oriented and it is not always about business. However, the The discourse community has members from the same professional discourse and more formal or methodical communication practices business-related CoPs can be as helpful to entry-level business people and they are to veteran business owners. It’s about engaging in one venue or channel with a collection of people who want to learn the same thing and share what they know about it with others.

CoPs can be as important to the development of business students as discourse communities; it is up to the business student to seek them out, get engaged, and grow his or her knowledge base.