This paper seeks to analyze the extent to which organizations can learn in an Information System (IS) context by focusing on the relationship between projects and communities of practice. Adopting a theoretical framework combining the social learning literature (Lave, 1991; Wenger; 1998, Orlikowski, 2002) and a structural approach (Giddens, 1984), we used an ethnographic study to examine two contrasting learning dynamics in the IS Department of a multinational car manufacturer. Our findings highlight embeddedness and facilitating and inhibiting factors in learning process. Our discussion suggests an integrated knowledge management perspective (Pawlowski, Robey, 2004; Levine, Xin, 2007, Srikantaiahet al., 2010).