Beyond the seeming training: from the learning communities to communities of practices This paper describes the evolution from Learning Communities to Communities
of Practice seen as a fundamental point to obtain ROI in training programs, and debates the role of training in knowledge management policies based on Communities of Practice. At the beginning the paper analyses the concept of Community of Practice, its characteristics, some theoretical implications and, particularly, the negligible role that the art of cultivating Communities of Practice seems to assign to training projects.
Furthermore, focusing on training programs aimed to achieve specific organizational change, the paper investigates by means of some training experiences the problem of transforming Training Communities into Communities of Practice, and emphasizes opportunities and difficulties in such a changing process.