December 2019
abstract
Gérer & Comprendre
Issue 138
OVERLOOKED…
Systemic disruption and ambidextrous program management: The case of electric buses
By Christophe MIDLER and Felix VON PECHMANN
Centre de Recherche en Gestion – Institut Interdisciplinaire pour l’Innovation, École Polytechnique – CNRS
Technological developments (mainly digital), worldwide competition based on innovations and societal pressures having to do with the environment have created a context where organizations are faced with major, sudden transitions. Relating the literature on innovation, ambidexterity and project management, this article describes these “systemic disruptions” and, using the concept of “ambidextrous program management” proposes the principles for coping with them. With the help of these concepts, a typical case of such a transition is analyzed, namely the electrification of the city bus service in Paris. It helps clarify the issues raised by such transitions and the forms of project management capable of responding to them. An explanation is made about how these forms compare with the processes adopted since the 1990s to manage innovations in firms. free download
TRIAL BY FACT
Explore and manage discussion spaces for talking about work
By Damien Collard ,
Université de Franche-Comté, Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations, Université de Bourgogne.
“Discussion spaces” devoted to talking about work are described, their characteristics as well as what is at stake and what is said there. A research-action program conducted in a geriatrics service led to exploring the communicational dynamics that unfolds in these spaces and to thinking about how to engineer them, whence several questions. How to define and detect discussion spaces when, as we know, they are potentially numerous? Should they be structured, equipped and connected with each other? Should the proposal be made to set up new discussion spaces, and for what purpose?
Can work groups emerge among the self-employed?
By Jean-Yves OTTMANN
Freeland Group, Laboratoire Missioneo ; Université Paris-Dauphine, PSL Research University, UMR CNRS 7088, DRM/M&O
Cindy FELIO
Freeland Group, Laboratoire Missioneo ; Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, MICA, EA 4426
Mélissa BOUDES
LITEM, Université d’Évry, IMT-BS, Université Paris-Saclay
and Sarah MOKADDEM
Laboratoire NIMEC, IUT d’Évreux, Université de Rouen Normandie
The situation of the self-employed is usually described in terms of solitude since they are not part of a work team. Under the wage-earning paradigm, work groups are a resource for workers. This comparison of three research studies shows how the self-employed use available services and organizations (cooperatives, umbrella companies, coworking) so as to form groups that provide them with resources similar to those available to conventional wage-earners. However a distinct characteristic of these new groups is their relative fragility.
What are the stakes in mobilizing “consum’actors” for the brand C’est qui le Patron?!
By Sophie Renault ,
IAE d’Orléans, Laboratoire de Recherche en Management des Universités d’Orléans et de Tours (Vallorem).
At the end of 2016, a new brand of food products came out on the French market: “C’est qui le Patron?! La Marque du Consommateur” [Who’s the boss?! The consumer’s brand]. Given its objective of being responsible, this brand stands out owing to its determination to empower consumers. Via its website, consumers may select future products for the brand as well as their principal characteristics. These “consum’actors” also play an active role in the brand’s strategy of communication and distribution. Those who choose to do so may become members. What are the issues and limits of this strategy of empowerment? Empowerment sets off a positive process of commitment to the brand, and this strategy draws its force from, in particular, the brand’s educational efforts in behalf of its consumers. Associated with the brand’s decisions and sharing the values it bears, these consumers prefer brand products when making purchases — what is called a “buycott”. This form of consumer loyalty is discussed as well as the difficulties stemming from this strategy of consumer empowerment.
Mosaics
“On Philippe Eynaud and Genoto Carvalho de França Filho’s Solidarité et Organisation: penser une autre gestion ”
By Pascal Glémain
“Underneath the technology, people
On Christophe Deshayes’ La transformation numérique et les patrons ”
By Julie Bastianutti
“Digital labor, human, too human
On Antonio Casilli’s En attendant les robots ”
By Frédérique Pallez
“The administration, a workshop visit
On Jean Marc Weller’s Fabriquer des actes d’État – Une ethnographie du travail administratif ”
By Frédérique Pallez