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Environmental stakes, as defined by public policies, result in developments in rural space, confronting local societies to transformations of their close environment. The article aims at explaining the process through which global stakes, such as the struggle against climatic change and the protection of biodiversity, are converted into local stakes through the action of local political structures. Two main factors determine the perception of these stakes by the population : the structure of local societies, and the degree of adaptability of these developments.The communication is based on the comparison of different developments (two Aeolian parks and two pedestrian paths). In all cases, the public debate has been organised by local political structures to adapt the developments to the stratification of local societies and to the local power stakes.

Keywords: Les échelles des dispositifs environnementaux, pouvoir local, concertation, intérêt général localisé, scales of the environmental stakes, local power, consultation, located general interest

The trend towards the computerization of organizational processes raises once more the question of the importance of the technological variable in understanding organizations. The present article suggests that while the technology variable has a determining effect on organizational life in the long run, in the short term these effects are inhibited by individual, organizational and cultural factors. In the long run, present computer technology suggests that organizations will be more flexible, less standardized and that they will require more involvement from personnel. In an information rich environment, organic forms of management (Burns and Stalker) and networks (Donald Schon) will replace mechanical and bureaucratic styles of management. These long term trends seem to raise questions about the future of middle management and labor unions. The traditional role of transmitting orders downward and information upward, inherent in middle management, will be superseded by management information Systems. As the organizational pyramid will flatten, individual middle managers will either be promoted or demoted. In expanding organizations, middle managers will have better chances of being promoted than demoted. In the case of labour unions, a renewed importance of employee involvement and participation and a decreased importance of standardized categories of workers will combine to weaken the relevance of collective bargaining. However these are long term trends. In the short run, individual, organizational and cultural factors will prevent these long term trends to have their full impact. On an individual level, persons who enjoy routine and repetitive work might be unconfortable with future technological trends that will require a fuller understanding of organizational data. On an organizational level, the shortcomings of computer specialists will prevent organizations form benefiting fully from technological possibilities. On a cultural level, cultures that have traditionally stressed centralization and standardization will experience difficulties in adapting to the more flexible management processes required by more sophisticated technologies.

SummaryWhile not claiming to review the results obtained in the sociology of work, the author examines the possibility of extracting a paradigm of more general use from this corpus. From reflections on the labor market, new technologies, organizational theory, collective action and industrial relations systems, he attempts to draw up the principles of a sociology of social regulation in which social rules define the collective actor at the same time as it is created by it. He concludes with a few thoughts on quantification and statistics, the study of social process and the critical function of sociology.

Managers' workload is a well-documented topic: the literature underlines, among other things, the intensification of managers' workload as well as the effects of restructuring and other changes on this intensification. A case study conducted in a company that has gone through restructuring and is faced with the threat of open competition, and is also characterized by a corporatist model illustrates these aspects and goes deeper into the analysis.An initial descriptive and quantitative analysis shows that workload, and notably ‘uninteresting work, increase when managers move up the hierarchy, an observation that can seem surprising. An in-depth analysis mixing quantitative and qualitative methods within the theoretical framework of the strategic analysis of organizations makes it possible to show that workload is the result of various factors. These can be linked to the opening up of competition and the implementation of a constraining reporting system, as well as the strategies put in place by the actors themselves to manage their work, according to their resources and their role in the system.A typology allows us to identify four groups of managers characterized by homogenous perceptions and strategies concerning their workload. The strategic analysis of organizations allows us to better understand these strategies. Finally, this study underlines the systemic structuring of managers' workloads and the usefulness of a mixed-method design to study it.

Keywords: charge de travail, cadres, typologie, méthodologie mixte, analyse systémique des organisations, méthode quantitative, workload, manager, typology, mixed methodology, strategic analysis of organizations, quantitative method, carga de trabajo, tipología, metodología mixta, análisis sistemático de organizaciones, métodos cuantitativos

Work, this central value over all time, continues to mar the common life of all social categories, including that of senior citizens. All homes, families and spaces are formed, directly or indirectly, around this value which never ceases to disappoint! In this new international division of labor, work and dignity do not seem to coexist for long as long as a significant part of workers try to give meaning to their work so as not to reduce it to a simple quest for bread. The most telling sign of this new configuration is that of the call centers where young engineers, masters and doctors perform repetitive activities in a routine system with very low added value, spending the day answering calls to give information or to make a sale via the net. This article takes an x-ray of the production process of these closed systems, designed to standardize tasks, minimize innovation and control exception.

Keywords: Centres d'appel, processus de production, standardisation, routine, gestion des ressources humaines, Call Centers, Production Process, Standardization, Routine, Human Resources Management

In Algeria, enterprises have been until now creatures of an all powerful government party. These enterprises have been managed in a bureaucratic manner by the central authority, leading the participants to realize that the crucial issues were being decided outside their sphere. The socialist model of enterprise (ESA) created through planning initiatives in the state sector beginning in 1971, institutionalized participation. However, because the enterprises into which participation was introduced were traditional organizations based on the division of capital and labour, conflict ensued.Moreover, the model of participation is fundamentally managerially driven. In our view, such models have demonstrated that they are nearly always fatally flawed at resolving workplace conflict. This model of participation proved equally unable to attain the widespread support, within the economic and political Systems, which had been promised at the planning stage.It is equally apparent that the conflict surrounding the ESA was a kind of a mechanism whereby a dominant state party faced a labour movement seeking to end its subservience. The ESA was an instrument through which the rules of the game could be determined, as each of these groups attempted to modify the situation to its own advantage. At its root, it was simply an exercise for the groups in question: the one to try to perpetuate its domination; the other to set in motion changes that might reverse the status quo. Naturally enough, this led to conflict of a dual character. Not surprisingly, conflict emerged at the workplace level and was played out in an industrial relations context. Conflict was also of a political and strategic nature, however, between actors competing for both organizational and societal power. Certainly the conflict that is evident in ESA has spilled over into other arenas.In this study, we have attempted to identify the relationship between conflict and participation within the ESA model, in terms of both its significance and evolution. We have examined the actors within the ESA to ascertain their objectives and their inter-connections. The ESA model creates a dual relationship between the union and management: on one hand there is a relationship with respect to certain decision making; on the other hand, there is a confrontation al relationship that is euphemistically called "collective disputes of the workplace". One finds, as a resuit, a dialectic of intégration and conflict, which develops into différent forms. In a very real sensé, the ESA model is a forum for the unfolding of two distinct types of conflict. The first type is that which can never be eliminated, but which can be accommodated within a libéral System of enterprise. This type of conflict is concerned with the conditions of employaient and the methods of determining those conditions. The second type of conflict emerged within the ESA model itself. The model is conflictual for three reasons: 1) the ESA was a focus of competition between the two main social actors, the labour movement and the state party; 2) the type of relationship that emerged between the elected workers councils and management. At stake is the retention and exercise of managerial power; and 3) the fact that those at the level of production did not accept the ESA model, and by reference, the state party.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to understand what motivates physical education teachers from the County of Geneva to get involved in or to withdraw from becoming supervising teachers (ST). Empirical data collected through an “indirect” qualitative method (plotting the responses of teachers asked to be ST) and a “direct” method (interviews with six teachers) led us to formulate two explanatory theories: (1) Teachers agree to be ST when the idea they have of this function and the conditions under which they will exercise it are in line with the resources they have to do the job (2) Teachers withdraw from the ST function when the symbolic and mobilizing stake of social recognition is not attained. These two theories, discussed in relation to a variety of sociological approaches the organizations use, need to be validated with more consistent empirical data. By virtue of the analytical generalization principle, they can nonetheless be transferred to other contexts, and also suggest a few ways to increase the attractiveness of the ST function.