Renewing the Object of Work as a Trigger for Inter-Organizational Learning

Purpose: The study refers to a health-care organization engaged in adopting "home health care" as a new object of activity. This study aims to explore how the reconfiguration of the object influences the transformative perspective, affecting not just a service but a broader approach and meaning behind patient care. It also investigates the main contradictions at play and the levers to support inter-organizational learning while facing the new challenges and change processes. Design/methodology/approach: The work is based on a qualitative and ethnographic methodology directed to examine cultural, practical and socio-material aspects. The activity theory is assumed as a powerful approach to understand collective learning and distributed agency processes. Findings: The renewal of the new object of work is analyzed as a trigger for shifts in representations, cultural processes and collective support implemented by the organization. Three agentic trajectories -- technical, dialogical and collaborative agency -- were cultivated by the management to deliver home health care through joint exercises of coordination and control, dialogical spaces and collaborative process. Research limitations/implications: The data collection was disrupted by the pandemic. A follow-up study would be beneficial to inquire how the learning processes shifted or were influenced by the contextual changes. Practical implications: This contribution provides a practical framework for health-care organizations aiming to navigate and explore the physiological tensions and contradictions emerging when the object of work is changed. Originality/value: The paper develops the field of intra- and inter-organizational learning by presenting an intertwined and structural connection between these processes and the renewing of the object of work. It advises that processes of transformation must be handled with attention to the critical and collective dynamics that accompany sustainable and situated changes.

Decent work: Between hybrid professionalism and adhocratic organisations

The concept of decent work highlights important aspects related to the tangible and intangible aspects that render work sustainable and adequate in different organisational contexts. This paper, starting with an introduction about the etymology of the term decent, outlines its distinctive aspects connected to canonical themes of work and organisational psychology, from well-being and safety to tangible and intangible, personal and collective, and managerial and organisational conditions. The value of the paradigm of meaning for decent work is underlined. Furthermore, in the current complex scenario and with the Covid-19 pandemic, we raise awareness of the fact that in order to manage the unexpected, adhocratic organisations (which are flexible, adaptive and agile) are needed, and these in turn require hybrid professionalism, generated by well-developed organisational learning processes. The dialogue between the Psychology of Working Theory and other, consolidated conceptual frameworks (practice-based studies, social constructivist perspectives etc.) is opened in order to spark generative and productive debates on additional issues, points of focus and research questions, and create tangible, authentic decent work experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Italian) Il tema del decent work sottolinea importanti aspetti relativi alle condizioni materiali e immateriali che rendono sostenibile e adeguato il lavoro nei differenti contesti organizzativi. Il presente contributo partendo dall'etimologia del termine decent, ne delinea aspetti distintivi connessi con temi canonici della Psicologia del lavoro e delle organizzazioni, dal benessere, alla sicurezza, alle condizioni materiali e immateriali, personali e collettive, manageriali e organizzative. Viene ribadito il valore del paradigma del significato per il decent work. Inoltre nella complessita dello scenario attuale e della pandemia Covid-19 si evidenzia la consapevolezza che per governare l'inatteso servono organizzazioni adhocratiche (flessibili, adattive, agili) che richiedono a loro volta professionalita Ibride, generate da processi di apprendimento organizzativo opportunamente sviluppati. Viene aperto il dialogo tra la Psychology of Working Theory e altri e consolidati framework concettuali (practice based studies, prospettive socio-costruzioniste, ...) per alimentare dibattiti generativi e produttivi di ulteriori interessi, centrature e domande di ricerca e costruire in concreto autentiche esperienze di decent work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

New Working Capabilities for Coping With COVID Time Challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic played as a booster to the cultural, social, and economic transformations triggered by the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, increasing the diffusion and employment of technological devices and requiring to reconsider the traditional approach to work and organization. Dealing with an emblematic organizational case, the article highlights the main key capabilities requested to face the current scenario, suggesting transformed attitudes needed to cope with the unfolding complex, uncertain, changing digital and blended world. The findings, gathered through an extensive survey involving 500 people who started working at a distance during the 2020 lockdown period, underline the main actionable skills to be achieved for enhancing agile work, hybrid professional roles and new work, and organizational and managerial cultures.