Managing Knowledge in Large-Scale Virtual Projects : A Community-Based Approach

In this paper we focus on the development of virtual communities of practice (V-CoP) in large-scale projects. We identify a literature gap in the lack of research on V-CoP in the project management literature and we conduct a study of a large-scale ES (Enterprise System) implementation to explore how V-CoP emerge in a globally distributed environment. We found that management can encourage the formation of V-CoP if, along with the creation of virtual project teams they promote informal interaction between the team members, encourage commitment, and put together “the right mix of people.” We conclude suggesting avenues for further research on knowledge-intensive projects that consist of multiple (virtual) communities of practice