Becoming a Strategy Practitioner in a Community of Practice: A Social Learning Perspective

Abstract

<p>Strategy-as-practice sees strategizing as a social practice that is multifaceted and alert to situated adaptations. Actions are adapted in context based on the competence and experience of practitioners. Therefore, strategy practitioners’ practical and social skills learned in practice affect strategizing. Learning is often seen as a cognitive endeavor; however, seeing strategizing as a social practice implies that learning is also social. This conceptual paper adopts a perspective of social learning that emphasizes participation in practice as pivotal for learning. Drawing on the theory of social learning in communities of practice, this conceptual paper proposes that social learning in strategy practice is formed around three dimensions of competence, resonating with the main concepts of the strategy-as-practice literature. Social learning through legitimate peripheral participation produces a relational, professional, and instrumental understanding, which enables strategy practitioners’ knowledgeable engagement in strategizing.</p>