What is it about?
The study shows how the Silver Academy (a project involving over 100 unemployed and self-employed managers over the age of 50, who came together with the purpose of starting up their own business), matches the notion of a community of practice, including mutual relationships, shared engagement and a common consensus of membership. However, applying Bion’s (1961) theory of groups, we challenge the homogenous and consensual notion of a community of practice, illustrating how, through unconscious group processes, some group members exhibit work-group mentality and the capacity for realistic hard work (and leadership), while others are caught in a basic-assumption mentality, prone to feelings of anxiety, guilt and depression.
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Why is it important?
There are now many communities of practice operating in a host of professional and occupational fields. Our study illustrates that group dynamics and the workings of unconscious group processes need to be recognised as fundamental elements of community of practice processes.
Perspectives
We hope that our study provides some insights into the workings of communities of practice to improve their functioning and outcomes.
Professor David E Gray
University of Greenwich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A community of practice or a working psychological group? Group dynamics in core and peripheral community participation, Management Learning, April 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1350507618761774.
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