The notion of culture in contemporary studies of Organizational Learning in Brazil: unfolding the network by using literary inscription

Abstract

This article aims to describe how certain conceptions of culture have been addressed in the subject Organizational Learning, within the field Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management. To do this, the notion of “literary inscription” was used as a methodological principle to analyze intellectual networks in Brazilian studies concerning the procedures to acquire knowledge in organizations. The wires that connect the components of these networks are explored through the analysis of a chapter in a recently published collection intended to provide an overview of the main notions, perspectives, and theoretical and methodological affiliations that rule research focused on learning procedures in public and private organizations across the country. By means of the work under analysis, the construction of a polysemic agenda of uses and interpretations of the term culture is noticed. In the end, data obtained reveal how the movement to incorporate certain perspectives on culture through this subject enabled, over time, certain intellectual flows between Social Sciences and Administration and prevented others.

Keywords:
Organizational learning; Culture; Scientific field; Literary inscription; Actor-network theory.