Multifunctional Learning and the Supermarket: An Analysis of Training Strategies from a Study at the Unisuper Company.

Name: ZAYNE FARAD CARMINAT
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 30/04/2004
Advisor:

Name	Role
MÔNICA DE FÁTIMA BIANCO	Advisor *

Examining board:

Name	Role
ANTONIO VIRGÍLIO BITTENCOURT BASTOS	External Examiner *
GELSON SILVA JUNQUILHO	Internal Examiner *
MÔNICA DE FÁTIMA BIANCO	Advisor *

Summary: The objective of this work is an analysis, using training given to supermarket employees, of the process of multifunctional learning in the workplace. It deals consequently with aspects which may explain the influence of generative restructuring in the activities developed by the supermarket sector. The Japanese management model is taken as a starting point while at the same time making use in the study of psychological theory about the process of learning from both the cognitive and behaviorist viewpoints. The results of this analysis should permit the formation of a new management model for the development of manpower, as well as a set of new concepts for training which will enable the employee to perform better. To this end the philosophy of multifunctionalism adopted as a management model by Toyota will be discussed and analyzed using Philippe Zarifian’s forms of learning based on psychological theory and the Model of Competence. Generative restructuring in a search for new management models to meet the challenges of competition will be examined; there will also be an analysis of restructuring in the service industries WHERE the concept of service will be touched on, particulary the impact of the subjective relationship between the worker and his work and his performance. In addition, a definition of one type of service industry, the retail trade, will be put forward, with special emphasis on the supermarket sector, the area of this research. Finally, the methodological aspects used in this research, the training practices of a case study and the conception of a multifunctional learning model in Unisuper (a supermarket chain in ES) will be analyzed with reference the field research undertaken and the theoretical references. The conclusions are presented and suggestions are made for new studies. It became clear while working on this dissertation that the modifications both in the processes of production and in the management of organizations have been seen as necessary conditions for the survival of companies in an ever more competitive world. At Unisuper it became clear, through observation of the employees themselves that the performance of someone else’s tasks is seen as helping out a colleague or as a way to future promotion, illustrating how far we still are from a multifunctional approach within companies.

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