The idea of community underlies much of the more participative, if not experiential, approaches to management education and development. More recently the idea has entered the conceptual vocabulary of the `learning organization'. The appeal of community lies in its implied promise of solidarity, belonging, and a sense of personal significance. But these promises can mask darker tendencies towards coercion and the assimilation of differences. This article offers a critique of the notion of community. It proposes an alternative basis for a management pedagogy in which differences are the grounds for debate, dispute and understanding, rather than the reason for assimilation or exclusion.