Communities of practice and their contribution to organisational Essay

Communities of practice and their contribution to organisational learning - Essay Example According to Jeanand Etienne (1991, p21), learning is not dependent on whether the learner and the teacher has a common code and in most cases only requires a congruent participation of both the one seeking knowledge and the source in the same activities. Once different professionals within an organization come together, whether in a formal alliance (team) or informally, they are able to collaborate on projects and this increases productivity. For instance, if one professional has something they want to do, like if instance a project, they can bring together their resources, that is, knowledge and skills, to work on that project. Most of the collaborations within an organization are actually informal and the members are usually in the group because they enjoy working together and sharing ideas. In fact, according to Hasanali et al (2002, p.59), most organizations don not assess the usefulness of communities of practice until after the communities have set themselves and manifested th emselves in a good way. When employees within an organization come together to collaborate on projects, they are better able to share knowledge, skills and ideas. Apart from being able to deliver better work efficiently, collaboration in a firm is one of the most effective methods to manage an organization’s knowledge base. As the employees within the same domain of practice share information and pass on skills, they are more able to guarantee that the knowledge of the organization will remain in the organization. This can happen across all the departments of an organization as long as the collaboration is within one domain of profession. As Etienne (1998, p.4), says, such participation in collaborative teams defines what people do as well who we become and how we interact with what we do.? this is why communities of practice are so crucial within the organization as a tool to manage the organizational knowledge. At the same time, as Etienne et al, (2002, p.17), argued, commu nities of sharing are remarkably efficient implementing corporate strategy in the organization by bringing their ideas together. Experience sharing Within an organization, sharing experience is one of the ways in which communities of practice pass on their benefits to each other. This is probably one of the best forms of informal apprenticeship within an organization. One employee who is carrying out a project will be able to seek experience from others who have in the past achieved it. Again, this can also happen in any of the organization’s department and employees will benefit from the experience of others. For instance, if an employee is supposed to carry out some tasks such as advising a client on the best product to meet his needs, the employee can seek, among his or her community of practice in the organization, an individual who has done this in the past and then enlist their help. As the employee gets help from the other individual they will also be able to learn a l ot about the project they are carrying out. Reusing assets This refers to the fact that the individuals within a community of practice can and do use intellectual and knowledge assets that have already been made by members of the community of practice within the organization. For instance, if one accountant within an organiz

Critically evaluate the role and effectiveness of the Environment Essay

Critically evaluate the role and effectiveness of the Environment Agency (UK) in improving air quality in the United Kingdom - Essay Example The organisation plays a regulative role in reducing the emission of air pollutants into the atmosphere from huge industrial processes and thereby improving the air quality in the country. Recently, the agency has planned to extent its operational area to large scale agricultural activities too while giving exception to some agricultural activities that cause release of air pollutants. This paper will critically evaluate the role and effectiveness of UK’s Environmental Agency in promoting air quality in the country. Air pollution in UK Air pollution is a drastically growing issue in the United Kingdom at both local and national levels. Although the air pollution in UK has been better improved over the last decade, it still struggles with air quality issues. Official data indicate that CO2 emissions significantly contribute to the UK’s pollution issue. The UK Air Quality Strategy gives specific focus on emission of air pollutants including benzene, 1,3-butadiene, lead, o zone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides (DEFRA, 2012). Road transport, fuel combustion, and industrial emissions are some of the major sources of air pollution in UK. Historically, the UK has been greatly suffering from sulphur dioxide and smoke emissions. Nowadays, traffic emissions are growing to be a potential impediment to the UK’s air pollution control efforts. Combustion of fossil fuels has an increasing impact on the UK’s urban air quality. As we mentioned above, air pollution has a range of negative effects on both health and environment. Even though moderate levels of air pollution are not likely to have any serious effect on a normal individual, continuous and long term exposure to air pollution may result in threatening health conditions including inflammatory and respiratory system failures. Air pollution more severely affects the long term sustainability of the environment. Emission of air pollutants like CO2 causes depletion of ozone layer and allows i nfrared and other harmful rays to enter the earth’s atmosphere. Such rays are dangerous to a number of ecosystems and therefore cause to destroy the balance of ecology. Researchers argue that air pollution can have devastating impacts on biodiversity and crop yields. In UK, several studies are being conducted to accurately explore the effects of air pollution on vegetation. Primarily, the UK has started its response to air pollution by the middle of the 20th century when issues like urban smog, black smoke, and sulphur dioxide had begun to threaten the country’s environmental safety. The United Kingdom started to monitor its air pollution issues on a national scale in 1961 (UK Air Pollution, 2003). In the strength of such initiatives, the country could notably reduce coal burning emissions to a great extent. When the country focused more on the reduction of combustion related emissions, transport sector grew to be the most potential source of air pollution in most regi ons of the UK. In order to effectively address this historic change, the UK government’s focus has progressively turned to traffic pollutants including ozone, fine particular matter, and nitrogen dioxide. Some data indicate that UK’s air monitoring networks have noticeably developed over the last two decades; but, this growth did not much contribute to air quality level improvement. Increasing awareness of environmental sustainability, UK’