Islands of Practice: Conflict and a Lack of ‘Community’ in Situated Learning
通过一家公用事业公司的案例，研究现有实践和绩效系统如何限制情境学习的范围，并探讨冲突、系统和人工制品如何塑造学习轨迹，导致‘实践孤岛’和绩效差异。
We examine how, in a utility company, existing practices and performance systems limited the scope of situated learning. We contribute to the understanding of situated learning by exploring how conflict, systems and artefacts also shape the trajectory of situated learning rather than just a sense of identity or meaningful participation. Systems and artefacts mediate interactions in organizations and potentially contribute to boundaries between teams, resulting in ‘islands of practice’ and stark variations in performance. This case study broadens our understanding of situated learning in organizations by challenging the relevance of ‘community’ in contemporary organizations where conflict and transience may be prevalent. We argue that practices and objects/artefacts are a fruitful way of researching organizational learning; situated learning in organizations is likely to be continually emerging against a constant battle to stabilize an appropriate set of practices that support the aims of management.