Communities of practice as a national skills development strategy

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The South African society and economy are characterised by a duality - one is highlydeveloped and able to participate in the global KnowledgeEconomy; the other, largely focusedon subsistence with no access to the infostructure and opportunities of the Information Age.At the root of this duality is the disparity in skills between the developed and developingsectors of our society. Whileskills development is required in the developingsector along withother measures to address the digital divide, skills retention through the transfer andsharing of knowledgeis required in the developed sector where various factors are causing aflight of skills from South Africa. These disparate objectives further exacerbate the unequaldistribution of skills, knowledge, opportunities, and income and increase the chasm betweenthe two economies, negating any participation by South Africa in the global KnowledgeEconomy.Communities of Practice, as a proven and mature knowledge management strategy, isproposed as an appropriate method whereby skills development and knowledge transfer cantake place in South African organisations and it is proposed that the National SkillsDevelopmentStrategy recognises communities of practice as a core element.Individual and organisational learning in terms of skills development and knowledge transferas well as the nature, support, structure, and value of communities of practice areconceptualised and described to provide a broad understanding of and illustrate thecontribution that that communities could make to South Africa's ability to participate in theKnowledgeEconomyand closing the divide between our twoeconomies.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University