Tomoye Sponsors Communities of Practice Event
March 22, 2002
Hull, In his first-ever Ottawa speech, internationally renowned learning theorist and author Dr. Etienne Wenger will address senior government executives on driving public sector performance through Communities of Practice. The armchair session will be held on Thursday, March 28, at the Canadian Centre for Management Development.
"Today, knowledge is at the core of all functions of government, and it needs to be managed as a critical asset," said Dr. Wenger. "Leading government organizations have discovered that technology alone is not enough and that cultivating Communities of Practice is the cornerstone of an effective knowledge strategy."
John Mertl, CEO of Tomoye, which is sponsoring the event, says, "It is a real pleasure to have Etienne Wenger here to do this session. He is one of the most important organizational thinkers in the world, and his thoughts on Communities of Practice are having an impact in organizations and governments globally." "
Senior government officials will have an opportunity to explore with Dr. Wenger how they can lead their organizations in the creation and growth of Communities of Practice to retain and expand corporate knowledge, disseminate intellectual capital and improve organizational effectiveness.
Global organizations such as the World Bank, the US Government, British Petroleum and Daimler Chrysler have all adopted Communities of Practice as the dominant response to rapid change and creative problem solving.
Dr. Wenger is a leader in learning theory, its application in business and a pioneer of the management literature on Communities of Practice. His latest book, Cultivating Communities of Practice (Harvard Business School, 2002), has been praised by academic and business leaders alike. Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer, MIT and Chairperson, Society for Organizational Learning, says, "Cultivating Communities of Practice stands as a milestone for helping managers to see knowledge as a social phenomenon, not as a 'thing' and, most important, for prescribing sound ways to translate this way of seeing into practice."