La revue Savoirs nous livre ici en traduction française, cinq articles de fond centrés sur des travaux exceptionnels, sous la plume d'auteurs réputés en provenance de trois continents. Ces contributions sont issues de traditions disciplinaires diverses : sociologie, pédagogie, gestion et communication. Ensemble, elles livrent un tableau inhabituel, parfois décalé, toujours éclairant, de la formation des adultes "vue d'ailleurs" aujourd'hui.

Au moyen d'une cinquantaine de comptes rendus de lecture, ce livre établit un panorama des recherches en formation d'adultes conduites ces dix dernières années en France et en Europe. "Lectures en formation d'adultes" se découpe en cinq parties respectivement consacrées aux "approches", "perspectives internationales", "terrains", "diplômes et certifications professionnelles" et "histoire(s)". Point d'appui pour les étudiant-e-s en master de sciences de l'éducation, il intéressera également les professionnel-l-e-s exerçant dans le champ de la formation d'adultes.

Participation can be a double-edged sword in that it can be used to bind people into agendas and policies they have little control over or it can help enable them to give voice to real and significant issues. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, genuine participation has to be an open and democratic process which enables all to contribute to the creation of meanings. Adult education in communities can then be involved in the process of creating ‘really useful knowledge’, that is, knowledge which enables people – individuals and collectivities who experience systematic forms of oppression, domination and exploitation – to think about, analyse and act on their situation individually and severally. By drawing on contemporary accounts of emancipatory action and participatory research the author elaborates on the role of adult educators in this context. (From the Preface) This book tries to reflect on adult education and its close relationships with communities. It is a modest attempt to maintain adult education in the scope of the community life against the growing schooling, the focus on employability, and on the labour market. In the last years it seems that adult education has become a kind of provider of diplomas, skills and competences and has forgotten its role to enlighten individuals and help them to share their community life with an abundance of richness, diversity, sadness and happiness. Adult Education is intrinsically connected to daily life, and the life that individuals constantly edify in their interactions. If adult education is connected to daily life, one of the major tasks is to recover this feeling and to link daily life and education. I think that at present time, in a moment of intense reductionism, reality is usually presented as very plain, losing its complexity and diversity that are related to the fact that life is being lived everyday by men and women as creators and relational beings.

This progressive -volume introduces the concept of smart power in management, bringing contemporary humanistic values to the power dynamics of organizations and businesses. The chapters review sociopolitical, economic, and technological conditions fueling the recent shift in ideas about power in management, from the globalization of business to young workers’ motivation regarding their jobs and careers. Contributors examine a range of models, processes, and frameworks for planning and implementing smart power across diverse organizations, with accompanying challenges and caveats. In its theory and examples, the book makes a cogent case for the shift from traditional hard power, with its winner takes all culture and potential for abuses, to a more creative and democratic model. Included in the coverage: · The power of change and the need to change power: changing perception of power in the organizational setting. · The dynamics of Information and Communication Technologies and smart power: implications for managerial practice. · Economic growth, management, and smart power. · New Ways of Working: from smart to shared power. · Positive psychological capital: from strengths to power. · Narcissistic leadership in organizations: a two-edged sword. Redefining management : Smart power perspectives is proactive reading for students in professional and business-related academic fields (e.g., organizational behavior, sociology, and business and management), and for managers at all organizational levels. The book is a harbinger of transformative possibilities shaping the management landscape to come.