Chapter 3: The Community as a Collective

This chapter focuses on the community component of the model. The treatment of community in knowledge sciences is compared and contrasted with its treatment in sociology. The authors address historical criticisms of CoPs from sociologists to deepen knowledge science professionals’ understanding of the community component. The chapter also aims to heighten awareness of lessons learned about the community component over the past 70 years. The chapter also highlights the need to understand invisible and visible community structures. It also stresses the importance of building strong and varied types of relationships and supporting a spectrum of interactions.

The community is the foundation of a community of practice (CoP). Without a community, there can be no CoP. In the past 30 years, thought leaders have treated the community component as a given. There has been an implicit assumption that a community will emerge and coalesce around a common purpose. Sociologists remind us that a group is not a community without three essential elements – a social structure, relationships among members, and interactions. The past 30 years of practice have demonstrated that an important cause of the failure of communities of practice (CoPs) is the lack of a social structure. In other communities, community members have failed to understand the underlying social structure, to negotiate that structure, and let it grow. An underlying social structure, relationships, and interactions are precursors to developing practice and engaging in situational or experiential learning. This chapter provides an overview of these essential elements for future CoPs.