October 2008

Researchers look to communities of practice for innovation

Rio Tinto Coal Australia’s communities of practice have attracted the attention of university researchers hoping to uncover the secrets of modern innovation.

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something they know how to do, and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.

Rio Tinto Coal Australia has numerous active communities of practice, including Earthmoving Tyres, Drill and Blast, Business Improvement Process, Coal Plants, Coal Processing, Draglines and Reliability Engineers.

Senior lecturer in Strategic Management at The University of Queensland, John Steen, who is leading the research, said networks such as these may hold the key to modern innovation.

"By rearranging and recombining knowledge, people, processes and technologies, social networks, such as communities of practice, are helping organisations to create new connections between knowledge and technology", John said.

The team of researchers, after hearing about Rio Tinto Coal Australia’s work in this area, will be meeting with and surveying representatives from some of our communities of practice.

"Over the next few weeks, my team will be talking to some of the people involved in these networks, to find out how problem solving and learning is influenced by the structure of these networks", John said.

"Our research will help us discover what works for communities of practice, and offer some suggestions about how Rio Tinto could improve the organisation, development and management of its networks as they become increasingly important in a globalised world."