The CULTURE model as a mediation framework between managerial cognitions and actions: how communities of practice can drive strategic change

The interaction between managerial cognitions and managerial actions plays an important role for an organisation undergoing change. The interpretative processes through which managers enact with environmental and organisational context are crucial for how they act in the change management process. And even if, according to the literature, the interaction between managerial cognitions and managerial actions is most explicit through individual learning, in this paper, we propose an integrated framework baptised the CULTURE Model as the main mediator for explaining the interactions between these two concepts. The CULTURE Model, which is an acronym of Community, Understanding, Language, Trust, Unification, Reflection and Emotions, is built upon the theory of Communities of Practice and advances our understanding of the sharing of managers' knowledge structure in three principal ways. First, it acts as an enabling and motivating mechanism for sharing knowledge structures. Second, it provides a useful illustration for comprehending the interplay between cognition and action. Third, it helps managers to make sound decisions during the progress of change processes. In such processes, actors inevitably participate and share their knowledge structures, experience and practices that may help to define appropriate actions and move forward in the change process. We discuss how the interaction between managerial cognitions and managerial actions within Communities of Practices affects the effectiveness of the change process.