Community of practice (CoPs) is when a group of people purposely come together with the aim of achieving a certain objective which is of benefit to them and often improve on their professional practice. It helps them tofocus on creating new knowledge and sharing best practices and ideas. Historically, human beings have formed different groups that share cultural activities that mirror their shared knowledge. The fundamental components of social, educational structures are communities of practice. The CoPs are the social containers of the abilities that are composed in the system (Wenger, 2000, p 229). This essay will reflect on the experiences of being a member of the CoP that dealt with historic banknotes and its role in making an individual a professionally complete person.

CoPs promote members’ competence. According toWenger (2000, p. 230), a description of competence in a community of practice incorporates three elements. The first element is the joint enterprise where for one to be competent, he or she should be able to contribute to the enterprise and understand it well. Secondly, sharedsupervision is a prerequisite for building a community of practice. Therefore, Mutuality enhances the association of people through meeting together; the result of this is the interaction because of relationships. Thirdly, the sharing of the collections of community resources such as styles, stories, tools, artifacts, sensibility, routines, language and othersare present in the community of practice. Thus, the access and use of this repertoire makes the members competent (Wenger, 2000, p 230). These three elements existed in my CoPof the historic banknotes.The growth of a community of practice involves interplay of experience and competence that deals with mutual management. It also includes learning a lot. For instance,Weick and Westley (1991, p. 375) defines learning “a combination of the same stimulus and different responses.” Indeed, my CoP of historic banknotes composed of people drawn by their love for ancient notes.However, their differences in life experiences enabled them to learn different things from one another.

My experiences inhistoric banknotes were immense because the work was made easy through the sharing of responsibilities. The work environment was divided into various activities such as the collection, repairs of the notes, preparing and storing. The group also had a sales unitthat would assist the people in need of historical banknotes. The running of the CoP was easy since all its members had a passion in the work they did.

The community had the following elements in its structure: relics such as historic banknotes, plans, membership, links, management, and even events. Public events that brought people together were organized to help institute an identity for the group. The community decided on the activities needed, and these ranged from luncheons, problem-solving sessions, informal and formal meetings. Although these events were scheduled beforehand, their occurrences changed from time to time. The community had its leadership that included longstanding members in the group. These leaders were responsible for the events that involved the organizations work and those activities meant to develop the workers.

My community brought about harmony in its actions by coordinating its diverse activities. For instance, the collection of banknotes, mending and storingwas planned before embarking on them. All the members depended on one another since the activities of historic banknoteswere interconnected. A proper supervision and sense of responsibility was crucial in the performance of these duties. There was the creation of trust between the employee’sand the sectors, which led to the effortless undertaking of the functions of the community of practice (Hume, 2012, p. 49).

The members helped each other in matters that concerned work and emotional issues.Friendshipwas created in the workplace such that every associate minded the other. The members looked out for each other’s needs, and every activity was conducted in a way that would suit the group members. The activities in our group helped foster unity that was translated to improved work ethic. Moreover, the sessions such as guiding and counseling that were organized for the group helped the members in their private as well as work life. The ideas instilled into them by the counselors brought about impeccable results in the workplace as well as in their personal relationships.

The attributes that characterized Historic Banknotes provides a perfect description of a CoP. The activities of Historic Banknotes were inclusive, and every member had a mutual interest in their course. As Wenger put it, a CoP is the foundation of any system of learning in a social perspective (Wenger, 2000, p. 229). The community became a learning center in the organization and hence became a crucial part in the development of the organization. Taking into consideration the characteristics and definition of a CoP, it is true to suggest that Historic Banknotes is a community of practice. Its activities are very comparable the example of “Jane and the young nurses’ group” (Ellen, 1993, p. 235).

Part 2

Brown and Duguid (1991, p. 45) concur that several CoPs exist within an organization. The apparent benefit of a CoP is the help that the group members offer one another. Coming in contact with a CoP whose main activity is concerned with historical banknotes as was my case, does not help to give one a bright idea about the group. In essence, this “historical banknotes” gives a definite meaning to the activities and roles of a CoP. The importance is not given to the activity of dealing with historic banknotes but to how the activities included in the running of the community of purpose are undertaken. First, the members had a mutual interest in the bank notes, which makes the activities in the group easier and enjoyable. The work is also completed satisfactorily, for instance, in “the Ford story” (Ayas and Zeniuck, 1997, p. 275-277).The success of the company was attributedto community of practice. Secondly, the work of safeguarding the history of the country makes the CoP more interesting. When each one takes their time to collect, mend, and then store those notes, satisfaction comes with it since they have helped in keeping a vital part of history. The CoP makes one competent in the work involved since the members take time to teach and help each other through the work (Henry, 2012, p. 300).

Moreover, being in Historical Banknotes enhancedmy ethical standard of the members. For instance, in the case of Jane (Ellen, 1993, pp. 233-239), the sixty-year-old nurse, her presence in a CoP with young nurses enabled her case to be clearly reviewed. The review of her case and the awarding of the wheelchair were ethical decisions that the young nurses took by the virtue of belonging in a community of practice.

Additionally, the CoP helps its members to deal with challenges better through sharing of problems and responsibilities, improving one’s confidence and provision of access to expertise via knowledgeable members in the group (Enthoven and De, 2010, p 295). For instance, when Powell shared his idea with Cooper, a new idea that led to the manufacture of “Cooper scale Powell flutes” came up (Cook and Yanow, 1993, p. 382). The group also made me feel at home in their working environment and improved reputation professionally by working with reputable people. The greatest long-term benefit that one can derive from a CoP is the expansion of skills and knowledge and keeping up to date in one’s field of operation. Moreover, a community of purpose creates a fun-filled working environment, hence enhancing productivity (Francis, 1997, p. 170).

Although the benefits of belonging to a community of practice in an organization may be many, these benefits tend to favor the group and not the individual. An individual can indulge too much into the group to a stage where personal development is no longer a priority. A community of practice can be limiting through two ways: individual actions and the group members’ actions. The main purpose of a CoP is sharing ideas, ideals and helping each other out. That is why more often than not, members of a particular CoP are either from the same department in the company or a similar job description if they are from different firms (Raktic, 2013).

However, a member of the group may rely too much on the others in solving work-related problems. The reliance may be due to laziness in the part of the worker or maybe at first the worker needed help, but later when the help is rendered without any expense or questions, the worker becomes accustomed to it. In both situations, the professional development of the worker is hampered such that; when caught up in a situation where there is no help, the worker is rendered useless (Scott and Divora, 1993, p. 373). On the other hand, the group may exert too much control of the individual such that any activity or decision that the person is bound to take is subjected to too much scrutiny by the group. Just like any other group, a CoP is bound to comprise of jealous members, who do not like seeing others succeed. These associates will make decisions on behalf of the community to undermine the hard work of the others (Alpert, 2010, p. 671).

In sum, the existence of a CoP in an organization is crucial. Its importance comes to the fore when the members are involved in problem-solving in relation to the institution. It also promotes anexcellent rapport between the workers in the company, hence fostering a friendly working environment. However, the disadvantages of a CoP to the members or to the organization should not be downplayed.

REFERENCES

Alpert, J. S. 2010. Learning to Write: A Personal Reflection. The American Journal of Medicine, 123(8), pp.671-672.

Ayas, K., and Zeniuck, N., 1997. Project Based Learning: Building Communities of Reflective Practitioners. Essential Readings in Management Learning, pp. 271-287.

Brown, S. J., and Duguid, P., 1991. Organizational Learning and Communities of Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning and Innovation. Organization Science, 2 (1), pp. 40-55.

Ellen, M. R. T., 1993. Linking Ethical Principles with Community Practice. Journal of Community Health, 10(4), pp. 233-239.

Enthoven, M., and De Bruijn, E., 2010. Beyond locality: the creation of public practiced based knowledge through practitioner research in professional learning communities and communities of practice. A review of three books on practitioner research and professional communities.” Educational Action Research 18.2, pp. 289-298.

Francis, S., 1997. A time for reflection: learning about organizational learning. The Learning Organization 4.4 pp. 168-179.

Henry, D. H., 2012. Community oncology editors’ practice changers.Community Oncology,9(9), pp.298-300.

Hume, M. 2012. Adopting organizational learning theory in the classroom: advancing learning through the use of blogging and self-reflection. International Journal of Learning and Change, 6(1/2), p.49.

Ratkic, A., 2013. Images of reflection: on the meanings of the word reflection in different learning contexts, 28(3), pp.339-349.

Scott, D. N. and Divora, Y., 1993. Culture of organizational learning.Journal of management inquiry, 2, p. 373.

Senge, P. M., 1997. Communities of leaders and learners.Harvard Business Review, 75, pp. 1-2.

Weick. K. E., and Westley, F., 1991. Organizational learning: affirming an oxymoron.Handbook of Organization Studies, pp. 440-456.

Wenger, E., 2000. Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems 7 (2), pp. 225-246.

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