Evaluation of Effective Factors on the Effectiveness of Expert Communities of Educational Hospitals with an Interpretative-Fuzzy Structural Modeling Combined Approach: A Case Study

The dispersed nature of knowledge in the health and treatment sector indicates that knowledge management in this section was not effective only by focusing on IT tools, and focusing on creating community of practice. Furthermore, paying attention to factors affecting the outcomes of this association can be considered as one of the alternative technologies to technology-based knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting the effectiveness of Community of Practice and provide a model for their better management.
This study is a quantitative- qualitative study. Data were collected by interview and data were collected through interviews with 25 managers and specialists of hospitals in Khorramabad selected by the purposeful sampling method. To analyze the data, interpretive structural modeling was used in the fuzzy environment.
This study led to identify and extract the 11 main factors affecting the effectiveness of community of practice. An integrated model of the effectiveness of community of practice was designed at 4 levels and in 11 stages, and the knowledge of sharing culture as the most effective factor as the cornerstone of the design model, has been identified. Furthermore, the expertise of the community members and the vision and clear goals of the organization, as the factors contributing more to the output of the community of practice, were placed at the next level.
Identifying the sharing knowledge culture as the most influential factor in the effectiveness of community of practice, revealed the need for managers to promote the culture of sharing knowledge to exchange knowledge and experiences, and finally more effectiveness of expert communities of practice in health centers.