Formation of a community of practice through interfacilitation:

Case study on new product development

Abstract

“Communities of practice,” wherein acquisitions of knowledge and skills are conducted through practice, are effective in knowledge creation activities such as new product development. A leader with excellent communication skills is considered to be important to form a community of practice. However, sometimes a community of practice is formed through bottom-up activities. In this case individual members motivate each other and lead from within to form a community of practice without depending on a person in a leadership role. We termed the mutual motivations by members rather than by leaders interfacilitation.” The objectives of this study are twofold. First, this paper aims to establish the concept of interfacilitation as a motivational management technique to encourage the formation of communities of practice in new product development. We incorporated motivational theories intrinsic motivation, flow theory, dialogue theory, and“ Katari=Antenarrative” theory）and Bakhtinʼs theory of carnival（squares, clowns, and strangers）, which promotes the extraordinary to the development team. Second, this paper tries to use a case study to examine the effectiveness of interfacilitation. We applied the technique of interfacilitation to a development team and conducted research and analysis from a perspective of a researcher=practitioner. We confirmed the appearances of dialogues and“ katari,” which motivated members to practice intrinsically. Moreover, new practices and a new community were being formed. These results suggest that a community of practice emerged and that the interfacilitation functioned as a motivation management technique. Interfacilitation would be applicable not only to new product development but also to various organizations.