Building a Community of Practice in the Workplace: A Case Study at a University Information Technology Call Center

Abstract

This study adopts Wenger's (1998) community of practice (CoP) framework to understand the relationships and professional learning community formed at an information technology call center at a large research university in the United States. Forming CoP in the workplace can facilitate organizational knowledge sharing and improve employee performance. In this study, 14 indicators are used to investigate the phenomena of a community of practice at an IT call center. Data on key features of a community of practice was collected from multiple sources, including on-site observations, surveys, interviews, and documents and artifacts. A social network analysis was performed to reveal the connections among employees at the IT call center. The findings indicate that a community of practice was formed at the IT call center based on the Wenger's CoP indicators. These determining features can be used to evaluate the successful adoption of a community of practice within an organization as a means to enhance informal workplace learning and facilitate professional development.