Esplicitazione e capitalizzazione del patrimonio di conoscenze dei lavoratori in un processo di sviluppo organizzativo dell’azienda

Based on an advantageous University-Enterprise relationship, this research is designed to engage with a real contingent problem – the organisational change in a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) in the Riviera del Brenta Industrial District (ID) for footwear manufacturing, that is representative of the more general change taking place at the present time in SMEs, which make up 95% of the Italian production sector. The question of the utility of pedagogic research in Italy is well known: Damiano and Scurati (1982) have noted that “the results of scientific research do not systematically reach the educational field with the desirable frequency; even more rarely do the results obtained in educational activities nurture scientific research”. In line with these views, outside of Italy, G. de Landsheere (1973) observed that “the pedagogic progress carried out lacks that necessary communication that should exist between the person who does the research and the person who works on the practical aspects of it”. Of a similar idea is Baldassare (2010), for whom educational research means “producing knowledge that, in varying time and space, leads to the finding of solutions to the problems encountered”. The contribution made by research is not only to better understand and interpret reality but also to intervene in real situations, being careful however not to reduce “the whole to a part”. This research examines the problems of the theory-practice dialogue right from the first training and intervention practices conducted in 2008 within the ID with the transfer from a French Continuing Vocational Training model (the CVT) set up on the basis of Pastré's theoretical indications and methodology (the Osmose European Project, 2006), the Professional Didactics (PD), to a new framework of action, the SMEs. Every training situation developed since then has become, therefore, an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the means used, and to define issues and solutions, with the aim of “realization after having succeeded” (Piaget, 1974). It is through the Ph.D that this realization, together with an in-depth theoretical investigation, becomes systematization, improvement of the informal learning of the trainer and new formulations of the problem, of the training approach, of the practices, of the means, and of the results. The first chapter of the thesis presents the problem: the SME under consideration is located in an ID that, starting from 2008, has been experiencing the effects of an enduring economic crisis that has caused marked changes in the footwear sector market. All the participants in the district have rallied together in response to the newly imposed situation: the companies have had to reconsider their internal organisation and reinvent a new identity in order to become competitive; the CVT has had to think up an effective training course: the solution arrived at is work and activity analysis for the development of skills which, making the most of the employee's know-how and experience, enables the planning of a training course “during” and “through” the work itself. So the following research question takes shape: “What is the role of training in an organisation in an ID that is undergoing change?” The second chapter deals above all with an epistemological focalisation on the subject of the research, illustrating the epistemological paradigms governing the complexity of the subject-environment relationship. This step leads to a theoretical investigation both of the individual and organizational subject who learns and knows by doing, and of the training process itself. The latter is no longer merely a process of knowledge-transmission and teaching, but takes place in close contact with the subject, allowing him to build his skills independently. To engage in reflective practices as part of the organizational process means dealing with the relation between pedagogic research and training, by identifying Research-Intervention as a possible solution that allows the researcher to “know in order to intervene”, in a context that is not necessarily known but may become familiar, exploiting the combination of different skills. The third chapter illustrates the training approach adopted in its theoretical and methodological cornerstones, the PD. The wide range of work and activity analysis tools available in reflective practices allows the investigation of that part of the action that is not visible, but present, the conceptualization, which once made explicit, can be formalised and designed into an adequate training resource. Finally, the French operative model is illustrated in its first theoretical and methodological adaptation to square up to the contextual size of the problem of the SME, characterised by company worked with a low qualification level but in need of swift placement in the workplace. The fourth chapter, the heart of the thesis, coincides with the moment of transformation of the training practice, thanks to the contribution from the research: adapting the PD to the new situations posed by the work market requires the researcher and practitioner to apply forms of mutual collaboration and learning in order to acquire new knowledge that takes account of the complexity of the situation. The researcher, engaged in maintaining scientific thoroughness and linearity, includes PD within a Research-Intervention approach to verify and innovate the instrument itself. The fifth chapter brings together the considerations on the results attained: the PD can become a relevant part of the Organisational Development within a theoretical framework of the professionalization of individuals, activities and organisations (Wittorsky, 2007), in which the operative models outlined support the practice in rethinking in action and contribute to the individualisation, formalisation, capitalisation and improvement of informal learning.