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In France, the fuelwood sector has greatly developed since the last decade. This can be explained by the strong support of public authorities in favour of renewable energies, which include fuelwood. With the example of the French Ardennes, we show in this article how this growth resulted in ongoing tensions and raised new issues for the operators as well as for the State. The access to wood resources is the cornerstone of these tensions. After being originally an “extra activity” for the sawyers, the fuelwood sector has been developing more recently as an industry per se, needing more and more resources. This resulted in a more acute competition between wood's uses and in the risk of wood being harnessed by other territories. Given these tensions, which are exacerbated by the ambitious goals set by the European Union, knowledge and information stakes become the core of the State's regulatory activity.

With the adoption of an integrated watershed management orientation in its national water policy, the Quebec Government (2002) confirmed the involvement of civic society in water governance. Therefore, the arrival of new deliberative approaches forces local actors to reorganize their interactions. Using the general concepts of organizational strategic analysis within three cases studies, we describe the adaptations and tensions observed inside watershed organisms and more broadly on the regional scene. We highlight the fact than in the first years of existence of these organisms, procedural issues outclass the intern dynamic, while, on the regional arena, local actors' behaviours are influenced by two distinct conceptions of the model : (1) organisms that support public policy or (2) a community that directly takes care of water issues.

Even though the transmission of firms is one of the major stakes of the French economy, the psychological drags shown by some company heads during the process of managerial succession are not thoroughly known. Based on the case study of a family Smaller Business Firm (SBF), this article puts forward a methodological frame of study (the biography method) along with a theoretical one (dynamics psychology), which may shed a new light on this phenomenon. On lines other than those of the social and political paradigm, we will try to show to what extent the lives and histories of company heads can inform us about the psychological blocks shown by some of them when they have to leave their business.

Keywords: Transmission d'entreprise, Succession managériale, Freins psychologiques, Attachement, Méthode biographique

This paper proposes a method to accompany the start-up of very small enter- prises, or even small and medium-sized enterprises. This method originates from a prior proposal, in which a new strategic management tool is used, namely cognitive mapping. This research has an operational aim, and is based on an application carried out by a young firm in the distribution sector. A five-step process is tested, investigating an individual's cognitive universe relative to his or her start-up project. The individual is made aware of the important factors to be controlled if the firm is to survive and prosper, and is assisted in the implementation of control systems and procedures.

Keywords: Entrepreneuriat, Carte cognitive, Cognition, Création d'entreprise, Accompagnement, Stratégie, Contrôle et audit, Méthode qualitative, PME et TPE, Prospective

Over the last few decades, various countries have adopted laws and regulations fostering joint regulation and labour participation approaches in occupational heath and safety through joint health and safety committees, safety representatives, and workers' rights to be informed about work hazards and to refuse dangerous work. In order to succeed, these mechanisms should not remain isolated, but should be accompanied by larger organizational changes in labour relations, union and management practices. This article is about one of these organizational changes, namely, the transformation of supervisory management practices in occupational safety towards a more participative approach.Concepts and HypothesesGetting supervisors to adopt a participative management approach in occupational safety means changing their tasks and their way of doing them. From the perspective of a Systems theory of organizational change, it can be hypothesized that such a change will succeed only if consistent changes are brought about in other major components of the organizational System, namely : the individuals and groups involved; the formal organizational structures supporting and controlling individuals in their tasks; and the informal political and cultural dynamics of the organization. Each of these other components may present problems during the change process: resistance to change from individuals and groups; loss of control from formal structures; or loss of support from power groups and fallure of adjustment of cultural corporate values. The concept of organizational change strategy is used to designate all actions taken in the organization to address the aforementioned problems. Consequently, change strategies, which are the independent variable in this study, may be more or less developed and systematic. It is hypothesized that when the change strategy is more developed and systematic, (1) supervisors will use a more participative approach in managing prevention activities (inspection, task analysis, safety meetings, design of corrective measures, etc.) that is, getting their employees to participate in these activities, and (2) the lost-time accident frequency rate will be reduced. Variations in participative supervisory management of occupational safety and lost-time accident frequency rate are, therefore, the dependent variables in the study. A third hypothesis is that a greater use of safety participative management by supervisors should be related to a lower accident frequency rate. Figure 1 in the article illustrates this conceptual model and the hypotheses.MethodsThe study was conducted in five industrial firms located in the province of Quebec, Canada. These firms were selected from a larger sample, using a quota method, in order to include (1) different industrial sectors, (2) different firm sizes, (3) unionized and non-unionized firms, and (4)various geographical locations. In each firm, data were collected through (l)semi-structured interviews (n = 55) with supervisors, workers' representatives, top and middle managers, safety managers and members of the health and safety committee, and (2) questionnaires filled out by all supervisors (n = 63) and various other managers (n = 29).The development level of each change strategy (the independent variable) was measured using a scale (1-10) theoretically constructed by defining a total of ten dimensions referring to the three major change problems (resistance, control, and power and culture) that should be addressed and can be solved by consistent action steps during the change process. Data on actions taken, means and measures used by firms between 1988 and 1992 to encourage supervisors to use safety participative management, were collected and analyzed according to these ten dimensions.Variations in the use of participative safety management by supervisors (the dependent variable) were estimated (+/-) using data collected from various sources, including supervisors, about the evolution of the latter's management practices between 1988 and 1992. The last dependent variable, variation in the lost-time accident frequency rate, was measured by comparing the rates between the first and last year of a given strategy during the period under study. ResultsTable 2 presents the main results of the study. On the left side of the table, each of the ten strategies observed is identified, its level of development is indicated, and the number of dimensions for which action steps were taken is mentioned for each of the three major problems of the change process. On the right side, data is provided about dependent variables. Generally speaking, results largely support the hypotheses. More developed and systematic strategies (A-2, D-2, D-4, E, B, C-2) are all followed by an increase in the supervisors' use of participative safety management and a decrease in the accident frequency rate, while three out of the four less developed and systematic strategies (A-l, C-l, D-3) have inverse results.Discussion and ConclusionAlthough the results provide strong support for the hypotheses and confirm the results of previous studies about the positive impact of participative supervisory management on accident rates, the case studies also shows that non-effective strategies have had an important function in the social construction of effective strategies of organizational change. In brief, all non-effective strategies are characterized by an important unsolved problem of supervisors' and workers' resistance to the change in the safety practices expected by the organization. It appeared that this resistance is not only psychosocial, as generally conceptualized in the Systems theory of organizational change, but is also sociological in terms of a strategy used by supervisors and work teams to negotiate their place in the new "organizational order" which is constructed in the change process. Actually, this social process of "implicit bargaining" appears to be the main mechanism for the social construction of more effective strategies, that is, strategies addressing the resistance problem by developing change ownership by supervisors and workers, the power and culture problem by raising the top management commitment in the change process, and the structural support problem by adapting formal Systems of management in a manner consistent with the desired change.

SummaryIf we are to believe the contributors to a debate launched in the 40th anniversary issue of Administrative Science Quarterly (1996) and recently taken up in German and French publications, academic studies on organizations have long been committing a sin of omission by not linking theory and empiricism. As a result, we have not been able to understand organizational change. In this article, this shortcoming is attributed to the absence of references to action theories. Only through action theories can change be understood as an interaction. Drawing on concrete examples, this article shows that, in productive organizations, these interactions are born out of the meaning given to these changes by workers.There is a fierce debate between those who maintain that socio-economic structures play a determining role and always impose changes, and those who think that changes only occur if they are appropriated in one way or another by social actors. While for the former, people are governed by economic logic; for the latter, including this author, the effectiveness of changes depends on the actors who have to implement them.This article begins with a review of social action theories, which help us to understand the link between structures and actors. The author then analyzes how change is implemented today through the use of management tools, and shows that they are effective only if they are recognized as being fair and rational, which in turn gives rise to forms of co-operation. Change is always a particular response to particular situations.One such theorist, Georg Simmel, who has been recently rediscovered in Europe, defines sociology as the study of socializing forms of interactions and the construction of society as a reciprocal action, that is, as a relation. According to Simmel, change originates in interaction, which produces micro-adjustments, the only ones that can regulate behaviour in organizations.Parsons analyzes the role of values in forming a society in order to explain its equilibrium rather than its evolution and ability to change. To understand change, it must be acknowledged that the system is transformed through daily relationships—power relationships in the case of organizations—which, influenced by the global values of society and management tools, introduce a new logic for the actors. The meaning given by the actor to daily power relationships links societal values, management tools and interactions.Goffman shows that even in the most controlled institutions (prisons and asylums), actors have room to manoeuvre and this can endanger and change the system. The forming and changing of society occur through exchanges between individuals, with interaction altering the elements that come into contact with each other. Reciprocity is thus linked with social construction. Members of the organization are subject to official standards and values defined by the organization, but its members, even in those controlling institutions, have enough autonomy to circumvent, transform and adapt these standards and values. Their interactions can provoke structural changes, depending on the meaning given to them by the actors. It is necessary to search for this meaning in order to understand the action. It is impossible to talk about human action without referring to the meanings that individuals give to their acts.The debates resulting from the publication of Labor and Monopoly Capital by Braverman (1974) and the studies in the following period on workers' behaviour in plants (Burawoy 1979; Bernoux 1982; Edwards 1986), have highlighted the importance of worker consent and work appropriation, and their role in the restructuring of work stations and organizational changes. Managers gradually abandoned Taylorism, not only because they found it less effective in a rapidly changing environment, but because worker resistance and work appropriation made the standards and values of this Taylorism seem counter-productive.Studies on the new management tools, such as ISO standards or ERP (Enterprise Planning Resources), show that they do not in the least eliminate the autonomy of workers nor their capacity for resistance and transformation of the organization. These tools are quite constraining but do not eliminate the actors' abilities to interpret them and make compromises, which give each firm and each national model a particular form. Moreover, firms now expect greater involvement on the part of their employees and give them greater autonomy to bring about, among other things, the innovation that is so necessary for the firm's success. Why do employees accept this and contribute to change?The main reason can be found in instrumental rationality or productive prestige. Production actors recognize the global effectiveness of techniques, the value of objects produced and that of the tools used to produce them. But they contest the organization and seek to change it. Studies conducted in the 1980s on quality circles, autonomous teams and worker participation had already demonstrated that workers were far from indifferent to the possibility of expressing their views on workshop operation for better management of work tools and organization of production tools. The organization of production, such as the operation of machines, has always generated attention and interest among production workers. Interest in work and the meaning given to it are key factors in the acceptance of the system. It is based on the following principles: equity—responsibilities and benefits are equitably shared; effectiveness—workers are proud to produce effectively and without supervision; and independence—the break with supervision is affirmed.Organizations may be characterized by the formal structures imposed on them by management. However, this definition is inadequate. These structures are also produced in the interactions and the latter are the central element of organizational changes. From an epistemological perspective, structuralism does not explain how organizations operate and consequently change, because human relations are overlooked. Only an interactionist conception of human action will allow us to understand the meaning of change in organizations as well as in societies.Practical observation shows that management cannot succeed in imposing changes, at least long-lasting changes, without appealing to worker acceptance, and this acceptance is created through interactions. This is especially true nowadays, when managers expect a great deal of workers, in particular in terms of innovations. Less motivated workers can produce but do not innovate.Organizational change is possible if it is perceived as a joint production through daily interactions. For this reason, research studies on change based on this interactionist perspective should be developed further. This type of study will help respond to the concerns of the contributors to that special issue of Administrative Science Quarterly as well as bring to light the terms and conditions of change.

This paper attempts to shed some light on the sociopolitical dynamics of centralized public organizations. The Quebec Health and Social Services system is the object of the study. More specifically, the authors analyze and compare two cases of hospital mergers decided and imposed by the provincial Ministry of Health and Social Services on the administrators, the professionals and the populations of two regions, namely those of higher Cote-Nord and Beauce. Results show that centralized decision making power of government can be hampered by strong opposite coalitions of actors at the bottom level, when such coalitions succeed in shifting administrative stakes into the political arena. The doctors' role has been a determining factor in that respect.

AbstractThe evolution of criminal and penal law is not solely dependent on the evolution of legislation and the reorientation of public policies concerning crime repression and offender rehabilitation. Since Max Weber, the sociology of law has taught us that the implementation of the law is realised through the activities of professionals, that is, jurists responsible for the mobilisation and interpretation of the law. The present study, in question, the results whose are presented in this article, concerns the decriminalisation, the diversion from the judicial process and the depenalisation of criminal offences in Quebec. An analysis of the data reveals that these trends are discordant with the situational rationale (raisons pratiques) characteristic of judicial field functioning, and also with the reasoning held by the actors involved: the crown prosecutor and the defence attorney. It is, in fact, the situational rationale that is the key factor in the conditions of implementation of an eventual reform of penal intervention, and in a larger sense, of a reorientation of judicial activities