Communities of Practice for Functional Learning in Agile Contexts: Definition Approach and Call for Research

Authors

  • Atilla Wohllebe MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-3453
  • Michael Götz MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v14i1.21939

Keywords:

community of practice, agile, scrum, cross-functional teams, organizational learning

Abstract


With the increasing relevance of information technology and software development in particular, the popularity of agile working methods like Scrum and Kanban has grown significantly in recent years. Characteristic for many agile frameworks like Scrum is the work in cross-functional teams. While this has many advantages in development, cross-functional teams make functional learning very challenging. Therefore, so-called Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been established in practice. This paper defines CoPs in the agile context and reviews existing literature on CoPs in agile context. There is very little literature how CoPs in the agile context are employed to enhance functional learning. The author calls for more scientific research for example on CoP’s success factors and contribution to functional learning outcomes in agile environments.

Author Biographies

Atilla Wohllebe, MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary

Atilla Wohllebe is currently a Ph. D. student at MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary. His research topics include mobile apps & digital marketing, e-commerce & retail, and agile working methods. He holds a M. Sc. in E-Commerce from Wedel University of Applied Science, Germany. Working in stationary retail and e-commerce, he advises companies on how to meet the challenges of digitalization both strategically and technologically.

Michael Götz, MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary

Michael Götz is currently a Ph. D. student at MATE Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Kaposvár Campus, Kaposvár, Hungary. His research topics include agile working, agile and low-hierarchy organizations, and the transformation to agile organizational forms and their impact on employees and management. He holds his Diploma in Economics and his M.A. in Political Science, Macroeconomics and Psychology from the University of Augsburg, Germany. He advises industry and government on how best to meet the challenges of moving towards agile ways of working and agile organizational forms.

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Published

2021-06-29

How to Cite

Wohllebe, A., & Götz, M. (2021). Communities of Practice for Functional Learning in Agile Contexts: Definition Approach and Call for Research. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC), 14(1), pp. 62–69. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v14i1.21939

Issue

Section

Position Papers