Organisational health and the power to act: A reading of the appropriation of standards by France Travail advisers through the prism of the philosophy of Georges Canguilhem

Santé organisationnelle et pouvoir d'agir: une lecture de l'appropriation des normes par les conseillers de France Travail au prisme de la philosophie de Georges Canguilhem

Christine Noël Lemaitre (), Didier Chabanet () and Marco Donato
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Christine Noël Lemaitre: LTD - Laboratoire de théorie du droit - AMU - Aix Marseille Université, LIR3S - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherches « Sociétés, Sensibilités, Soin » - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UBE - Université Bourgogne Europe
Didier Chabanet: IDRAC Business school Lyon - Institut pour le Développement et la Recherche d'Action Commerciale - Université de Lyon, TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Marco Donato: CEREN - Centre de Recherche sur l'ENtreprise [Dijon] - BSB - Burgundy School of Business (BSB) - Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon Bourgogne (ESC), LIR3S - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherches « Sociétés, Sensibilités, Soin » - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UBE - Université Bourgogne Europe

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Abstract: "This article analyses the relationship between the health of an organisation − France Travail − and the power to act of its advisers. In doing so, we follow in the theoretical footsteps of Canguilhem, who defines health as normativity, i.e. the ability to appropriate established norms. The qualitative research is based on a protocol derived from the ergological approach. It was carried out in three agencies in the Occitanie and Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur regions, and involved field observations and individual and group interviews (work encounter groups). We show that the forms of this appropriation reflect relationships to organisational norms that oscillate between compliance, interpretation and transgression. The instability of the norms, and a strong but disembodied management discourse on the advisers' ``room for manoeuvre'', prevent the appropriation strategies deployed from having an overall positive impact on their well-being and health. These results suggest that the advisers' practices would benefit from greater discussion, which would mean strengthening dialogue and collective forms of learning. Beyond this case study, and despite the inherent limitations of this exercise, the link between the appropriation of organisational norms and health at work appears to be a fruitful area for research, particularly in the wake of the upheavals caused by the covid-19 crisis."

Keywords: France Travail; rapports aux normes organisationnelles; recherche qualitative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Published in Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels, 2025, XXXI (85), pp.33-55

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05337354

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