Work teams, knowledge production and learning: A critical analysis of quality improvement processes

This critical analysis examined a work team involved with continuing cycles of process improvement within the economic, social and political context of quality management. The study saw quality management used as a tool by corporate capitalism in the global marketplace. Informed by critical theory, this study made visible the role of adult education as a tool of human resource development, molding and shaping workers' attitudes and behaviors that served the organizational interests and goals.;This study was based on the perspectives of members of a functional work team. Starting with an examination of the discourse that focused on the individual as the problem in corporate change models, this research investigated how work team members made sense of workplace change; how work team members experienced participation, collaboration and empowerment; and how work team members conceptualized and made sense of learning within the context of quality management initiatives.;This study incorporated concepts from critical theory and critical ethnography as well as issues related to theories of power as enacted through ideology, hegemony and discursive practices. Using participant observation, intensive interviews, workplace documents and a reflective journal, informal learning within the workplace was examined. Themes that emerged were related to the use of the stress within the change discourse and the contradictory meanings of the concepts of empowerment, participation and process improvement. Suggestions for an adult education for social action are made as a way to move away from adult education for supporting corporate interests and goals toward adult education for social change.