Communties of Practice-Task 2- Organizational units

This leads on from what was previously said about hierarchy as i believe that although there has to be a certain amount of hierarchical structure within a community of practice (in order to allow people to learn there would have to be to a certain degree) there is a much more distinct hierarchy structure when it comes to organizational units. Organizational units are not necessarily there for people to learn (although they can be in some instances i.e. school) but are there to keep order where people may only be present because they need to be i.e. work, day-care, etc.

In order to look at this in more detail I am going to look at the example which I have just previously used which was day-care/after school care for children. In order to make sure children are safe and well looked after there has to be a more organizational and structured approach. Children can be loud, adventurous and boisterous and therefore it is with the best intentions that people looking after them have to have authority in order to keep them under control and keep them safe. If the carer took wenger's more "informal approach" the children may well become out of control and put themselves in danger. Also, in the organizational structure the carer's have been trained and therfore it is more of a job (most likely getting paid) to them compared to a hobby which it would be within a community of practice (the people who are there to teach may or may not get paid). These carer's therefore have more power and have more say over what the children can do than the children themselves.

Although, it can be said that the children will still be learning as they will be learning how to build relationships with other children their age and also how to build relationships with adults. Although this relates to a community of practice, this sort of relationship building is much more forced compared to a community of practice as the children arent choosing to be there like they would with a community of practice.