Communities of practice in healthcare: A framework for managing knowledge sharing in operations

• Author: Rasmus Jørgensen,Kasper Edwards,Enrico Scarso,Christine Ipsen
• Date: 01 April 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1590
• Published date: 01 April 2019

CASE STUDY

Communities of practice in healthcare: A framework for

managing knowledge sharing in operations

Rasmus Jørgensen

1

|Enrico Scarso

2

|Kasper Edwards

1

|Christine Ipsen

1

1

Implementation and performance

management, Technical University of

Denmark, DTU Management Engineering,

Copenhagen, Denmark

2

Department of Management and

Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Correspondence

Rasmus Jørgensen, Implementation and

performance management, Technical

University of Denmark, DTU Management

Engineering, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Email: rajor@dtu.dk

Communities of practice (CoPs) have been adopted by several industries, in particular

healthcare, and researchers have proposed explanatory frameworks and guidelines for

development. However, first‐line managers are left with sparse research‐based advice

on how to develop CoP due to a lack of empirical studies from operations. In

response, this paper proposes and tests a framework for intentional development of

CoPs in healthcare operations. The proposed framework is structured in six steps,

which incorporate seven factors for CoP development as identified in the literature.

A double case study test demonstrates that the proposed framework can be applied

to develop CoPs within operations, resulting in knowledge sharing between CoP

participants, creation of new knowledge, and improvement of practice. In particular,

the tests find the following steps to be especially crucial for CoP development: An

introduction to the manager of the functions and benefits of CoPs to ensure resource

allocation (e.g., time to participate and a meeting room), choosing a practice with rel-

evance for manager and employees, appointing a coordinator, and inviting employees

to participate voluntarily. This paper contributes to CoP theory with explanations of

how and why specific actions develop CoP within operations. The contribution to

practitioners is a step‐by‐step framework to intentionally develop CoPs within oper-

ations to improve knowledge sharing and practice improvement.

1|INTRODUCTION

Process efficiency and effectiveness are significantly influenced by the

knowledge developed, shared, and applied by employees in operations

(Hislop, 2013). An organisation must therefore make deliberate

choices about how to organise knowledge sharing within their

operations context. The operations level in public healthcare is

characterised by 24‐hour‐day, seven‐day‐week shifts, few occasions

to meet, the need for compliance, and small groups of employees with

specific competencies. These factors must be carefully considered

when organising knowledge sharing as they limit opportunities for

face‐to‐face meetings and require task standardisation.

Written guidelines are a frequently used tool for sharing knowledge

in operations; however, their impact can be limited (Bhattacharyya,

Reeves, & Zwarenstein, 2009), particularly as they rely solely on explicit

knowledge and separate knowledge from the used context and the

social system (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Indeed, knowledge has both tacit

and explicit elements that require distinctly different sharing methods

(Hislop, 2013). Tacit knowledge sharing requires face‐to‐face meetings

for interpretation, negotiation, and storytelling to take place (Orr, 1996;

Wenger, Snyder, & McDermott, 2002), whereas explicit knowledge can

be shared via information processing methods such as guidelines

(Hislop, 2013; Zack, 2000). A coherent approach to operations

knowledge sharing should therefore include complementary methods

for both tacit and explicit knowledge sharing.

Tacit knowledge sharing in organisations is associated with com-

munities of practice (CoPs), and although some scholars describe a

CoP as an activity which is self‐organised by employees (Gabbay &

le May, 2004; Orr, 1996), others suggest that a CoP can be

intentionally developed to improve organisational knowledge sharing

(Aljuwaiber, 2016; Barbour, Armstrong, Condron, & Palermo, 2018;

Wenger et al., 2002). CoPs have been intentionally developed in a

variety of contexts: finance (McDermott & Archibald, 2010), engineer-

ing (Schenkel & Teigland, 2008), healthcare (Li et al., 2009;

Ranmuthugala et al., 2011), tourism (Akkerman, Petter, & Laat,

2008), and manufacturing (Yamklin & Igel, 2012). Explanatory

Received: 14 September 2018 Accepted: 3 October 2018

DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1590

152 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Knowl Process Manag. 2019;26:152–162.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/kpm