Democratic dialogue and collective learning in the context of self-managed teams

This paper provides a longitudinal, empirical view of the multifaceted and reciprocal processes of organizational learning in a context of self-managed teams. Organizational learning is seen as a social construction between people and actions in a work setting. The notion of learning as situated (Brown & Duguid 1989, Lave& Wenger 1991, Gherardi & al. 1998, Easterby-Smith & Araujo 1999, Abma 2003) opens up the possibility for placing the focus of research on learning in the community rather than in individual learning processes. Further, in studying processes in their social context, we cannot avoid taking power relations into consideration (Contu & Willmott 2003). The study is based on an action research with a methodology close to the ‘democratic dialogue’ presented by Gustavsen (2001). This gives a ground for research into how the learning discourse developed in the case study organization over a period of 5 years, during which time the company abandoned a middle management level of hierarchy and the teams had to figure out how to work as self-managed units. This paper discusses the (re)construction of power relations and its role in organizational learning. Power relations are discussed both in vertical and horizontal work relations. A special emphasis is placed on the dialectic between managerial aims and the space for reflection on the side of employees. I argue that learning is crucial in the search for the limits for empowerment and that these limits are negotiated both in actions and speech. This study unfolds a purpose-oriented learning process, constructing an open dialogue, and describes a favourable context for creative, knowledge building communities.

Falar, falar,de que agora? Tudo acabou. Le cas sogntal (1974-1977)

«Lors de cette étude, nous avons interrogo et écouté les habitants du lieu. (-) Nous les avons tous rencontrés et avec presque tous, nous avons eu de longs et múltiples entretiens. Sollicitant T Information, provoquant les remémorations, laissant s'égrener les souvenirs..., nous avons cru recueillir les faits et, peu à peu, s'est imposée une parole: une vision du monde, une manière collective et originale de Ia dire et de Texpliquer.» Dans ces mots d'introduction à son livre La mêmoire longue, Françoise Zonabend met d'emblée Taccent sur Ia parole comme substrat de Ia mêmoire d'une communauté: parole individuelle recueillie au cours des entretiens menés auprès des informateurs, parole «collective» reconstituée par Tanthropologue après-coup et par écrit. Pour acquérir validité scientifique, les récits de vie recueillis auront été entretemps düment contextualisés grâce à d'autres sources d'Information, comme celles tirées de Tobservation ethnographique, des archives, etc.