An empirical investigation for alignment of communities of practice with organization using fuzzy Delphi panel

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design a model to outline the structure of communities of practice (CoPs) corresponding to organizational context. Design/methodology/approach – This research utilizes both descriptive and prescriptive approaches, as the authors are looking for a comprehensive relational model to deal with the problem of selecting suitable CoPs concerning organizational context. Thus, this study applies interviewing and fuzzy Delphi methods to explore the model. Findings – The work provides a new and comprehensive relational model of CoPs and organizational variables affecting CoPs structure. In this model, three basic concepts of the literature were developed. First, the components concerning types of CoPs were identified and then the organizational variables related to CoPs were determined. Finally, the authors extracted the relationships between the organizational variables and the components of CoPs. Practical implications – From a practical perspective, the relationships among the components concerning types of CoPs and the organizational variables may provide a model which can effectively guide firms how to promote, design and manage CoPs within organizational contexts. Originality/value – The results of this study contribute to CoPs literature in terms of identification of two variables (CoPs components and organizational variables) to produce a matrix for the construction of a holistic CoPs model. The significant finding of this research is the guidance it provides for designing a relational model involving relations between organizational variables and CoPs components.

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