This paper presents a critical review of some of the claims made for CoPs. It will address questions such as "Are CoPs really suitable for use in a business setting?" and "Can a CoP ever be truly virtual?"
Review of "UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS AND IMPACT OF COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE" by Michael A. Fontaine and David R. Millen, Chapter 1 in Knowledge Networks: Innovation through Communities of Practice
Directing their discussion at a general audience, Hildreth and Kimble present 24 separately authored chapters exploring the application of the concept of "Communities of Practice" to knowledge management in business or commerce organizations.
In this paper, we argue that this approach is flawed and some knowledge simply cannot be captured. A method is needed which recognises that knowledge resides in people: not in machines or documents ...