Week 6 - Task 2

Organisational Units

I think something like a school or a job could be classified as an organisational unit. In something like this it is more a nescessity to do the work and complete any given tasks. A difference between this and a Community of Practice is that in C of P's it could be said the motivation is self generated and voluntary as it is for something you are interested in and not something you have to do. As in C of P's there will most likely be leaders as opposed to bosses which gives off a much more informal approach.
I also think C of P's is a much more social institution. A lot of people will partake in C of P's for a social reason as well as their interest in the subject/activity. Whereas you couldn't really say jobs are a social task. For example I found this quote by "Each community of practice develops a world view local to that particular community which reflects its shared knowledge, values, meanings, assumptions, beliefs, and practices (Brown and Duguid 1991; Dougherty 1992). I think it descibes the sharing of knowledge that makes up a C of P, whereas in an organisational unit such as a workplace people will be accepted to that institution based on their existing knowledge and not ther keen attitude to learn.

I have divided these pretty clearly, I am also aware that in some cases they divide between the two is much more difficult to determine. For example Kayleigh has a posted about determing whether her cheerleading team is a C of P or an organisational unit. So between this post and Kayleigh's post I think comments could spark a good debate. Her link is http://valentine-gobigblue.blogspot.com and the title of her post is Week 6-Task 2.