Work organization and learning processes: A reflection on the concept of competences

ABSTRACT The review of the literature on organizational learning argues that the process of competence acquisition and development is a crucial dimension of work organization. Currently, it is essential to foster their development in order to achieve competitiveness in a changing environment, especially in the context of new or small and medium-sized enterprises. The objective of this article is to analyze the concept of competences and its relevance for understanding changes in the organization of work and the generation of learning processes in firms. For the analysis, an exhaustive review of different academic texts is made, whose reflection on the evolution of the concept based on the idea of qualitative “leaps” in its construction, contributes to the understanding of the changes that occur at the intracompany level, and in the learning processes that they deploy.