Organizational Psychology

Management methods, which are based on organizational and behavioral models inherited from the past, are not fully adequate in the current conditions of globalization, increasing competition, and rapidly changing customer needs. The authors of the article, relying on the experience of the learning networks in the French National Railway company (SNCF), offer consideration of the learning  networks as an innovative method of management corresponding to the purposes of the increase in productivity. The learning networks promote the appearance of initiatives and creations of innovations, raise an organizational commitment, and also improve satisfaction and quality of life at work. Moreover, the use of the learning networks favors the creation of conditions for exchange of experience and collective learning in the course of activity, as well as to develop an entrepreneurial spirit during work on joint projects. One of the principal results from the activity of the learning networks is the development of decisions and their introduction in production. Their functioning is based on trust and mutual understanding between the participants whose contributing cooperation is characterized by aspecial model of their relationships. The article gives a definition of the learning networks and contains elements of methodology of application of the learning networks in the SNCF. This experience allows us to speak about the perspectives of the use of the learning networks, in particular, for the development of the action plans, carrying out diagnostics of various situations, the possibility to resolve various problems, etc. To illustrate a new approach in management, the article shows the relationship between the activity of a learning network and its effectiveness with the example of one of the SNCF learning networks.