The numerous, ongoing and profound changes taking place in society and in the business arena impact on direct and indirect workers, in the sense that, each time more, they have learning demands to show updated skills in their daily work. In this investigation prevails the understanding that organizational learning occurs by means of individual learning in organizational environments, understood from the perspective of learning as a social process. This research explored the organizational learning processes present in the organizational space of three restaurants in the city of São Paulo. A basic question guides the research reported here: how do people who work in restaurants have learned and keep learning the necessary working practices to operate the business? Upon this question, two objectives were set: 1. identify how workers, back and front of house, have learned and learn the necessary everyday practice for this type of organization; 2. describe the individual and collective processes through which these social actors have learned the duties of their jobs. The research conducted in international databases and national journals of administration, focusing on organizational learning within restaurants, in the period 1995-2013, shows that the issue has received little attention to the type of organization proposed here. The qualitative case study was used, and a descriptive and interpretive approach was adopted, complemented by the life stories of the kitchen and dining room staff. The textual analysis allowed the identification of a set of eight categories revealing the learning processes: learning in stages; learning from mistakes, success and feedback; learning by repetition, memory, past experience and analogy; learning by perception and by the use of the senses; learning from the expertise and experience of others; learning from the steps, rhythm and rotation; learning through conflict, stress and work pressure; learning from the values and self-motivation. Such processes have been described and articulated with results presented in international and Brazilian studies that have covered the topic.
Organizational learning; Restaurants; Qualitative case study; Life history; Interpretative paradigm