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891.More information
Organization development can be looked upon as a global strategy which tends to improve the problem-solving capacity of an organization and its ability to cope with changes in its environment. It is global in the sense that it takes the entire organization as a target of intervention. However, any organization development activity will rely on a particular strategy using a framework that draws heavily from the behavioral sciences. This paper intends to analyse and compare six particular approaches on four different grounds : the nature and the theoretical background of each strategy, the level of intervention and the goals each tries to achieve. The strategies will be reviewed and compared in the following order : action-research ; process consultation ; socio-technical systems ; transactional approach ; social-analysis ; non-directive orientation.ACTION-RESEARCHIs a term carried by Kurt Lewin in an effort to incorporate research work into action. The idea was to study group processes by participating in the life and the evolution of the group. Lewin realized that individual attitudes and behavior can be changed if the attitudes and norms of groups are changed. Action-research made explicit the main phases of any change process : diagnostic-feedback- commitment to action. This approach follows the stream of thought elaborated by the gestalt theorists and the hegelian concept of social evolution. It is particularly used at the group level. Since groups interact with other groups in large organizations, sooner or later, the structure and the inner working of an organization are put to question. Applied to an organization development activity, action-research will help to identify the forces that hamper or facilitate any change process.PROCESS CONSULTATIONIs a particular strategy developed by Edgar Schein. It bears upon the organization processes : decision-making, communications, leadership, conflict resolution, etc... The change-agent and the client-system engage in a set of activities which helps the latter to have a better understanding of the processes at work in its own organization. The fundamental idea is « to help the client to help himself ». The phases of the intervention are spelled out in a way that the beginning and the end of the change process may be visualized by the client-system. This approach makes use of the studies in social psychology dealing with leadership styles, communication openness, and conflict resolution methods. The organization development activity is conducted on an organization-wide scale while the effort bears on culture and processes. By helping the client to find better ways of solving problems, the strategy will in the long run tend to change the work climate of the entire organization.THE TECHNO-STRUCTURAL APPROACHTakes into account ail the major organizational and environmental variables that can explain the behavior of individuals and groups with the organization as well as the overall performance of the latter in its transaction with the environment. The major part of the organization development intervention consists of a thorough diagnostic of the strengths and weaknesses of an entire organization. The results of the diagnostic are fed back to the management at ail level in order to devise and implement a change program. The theoretical framework used in this planned effort comes from organization theories and related works which underline the impact of technology and environment on the performance of an organization. The intervention is conducted at many levels : organizational culture, structure, work groups and technology used. The objective sought is a better harmonization of the technology and the environment with the variables that characterizes the social system of a going concern.THE TRANSACTIONAL APPROACHThis strategy is a refinement of the previous one. It has been developed by Lorsh and Lawrence. The diagnostic will begin with a study of the degree of certainty and stability in the environment, the market for the product or the service being the most important variable. Once the environment is known to the people in the organization, the structure is questioned to find whether it is ad equate or not to support the kind of transactions the organization entertains with its environment. The framework used in this planned effort has been elaborated by the authors in their book Organization and Environment. Lorsh and Lawrence would leave aside a cause-effect stream of thinking to resort to a circular process which yields a better picture of the interdependencies between segments of the organization and relevant parts of the environment. The intervention would be conducted at the level of the entire organization and its environment in order to achieve a better ad equation of the structures to the requirements of a changing or stable environment.SOCIAL-ANALYSISThis particular approach has been developed by Elliot Jaques in his Consulting work at the Glacier Metal Company. The main ingredient that differentiates this strategy from the previous ones is the type of helping relationship that evolves between the consultant and the organization in the course of the intervention. The consultant would take a non-interpretative attitude and would maintain an independent role vis-à-vis his client. In helping the client to have a better awareness of his problem, the consultant would provide a non-evaluative feedback so that the client discovers by himself what is meaningful to him. A better assessment of problems and their meaning will be conducive to more adequate solutions. The client is put into a position to learn by himself to cope with the problems he faces in assuming his management responsibilities. « In essence, social-analysis requires that an individual or individuals in an organization, with a problem concerning the working of the organization, should seek the help of an analyst in sorting out the nature of the problem. The analyst is independent in the sense that he is not embroiled in the organization and its problem ; he is from outside. He offers analytical help, rather than pushing for a particular course of action » (Elliot Jaques, « Social-analysis and the Glacier Project », Human Relations, vol. 17, 1964, p. 364). Elliot Jaques conducted his main intervention at the Glacier Metal with a background and an experience in the field of psycho-analysis. This was an « unplanned » effort which used the knowledge and methods of clinical psychology. The purpose was to improve the working of the organization while helping people to deal with the socio-affective dimension that enters in the analysis and solution of problems pertaining to the performance of a task.THE NON-DIRECTIVE ORIENTATIONThe non-directive orientation do not differ very much from the social-analysis. Again, this is an « unplanned » effort to bring about change in organizations. It has been developed by Max Pagès and his colleagues. The intervention is centered on self-regulation phenomena within groups and organizations. In other words, communications among members of groups may be hampered by the various perceptions, attitudes and motivations of the members and by group norms. These phenomena must be assessed in order to increase openness and trust. The help the change-agent can provide consists of mirroring in a selective manner what is meaningful for the group or the organization. Max Pagès, in working with groups, uses a conceptual scheme drawn from the Lewin's theory of quasi-stationary equilibria. Max Pagès is also familiar with the Rogerian approach in the field of clinical psychology and education. This non-directive strategy tends to improve communications within groups and organizations, to help people to solve interpersonal conflicts, and to bring changes in the culture and the work climate of the organization.It seems obvious that all effort of bringing change within organization seeks to increase its efficiency and health. The end-result is about the same ; however, some strategies seek to introduce new values in the dealing with human resources, other seek to increase the capacity for an organization to cope with changes in the environment. Differences appear among these particular strategies to the extent that a structured analytical framework is used at the beginning and in the course of each intervention. The action-research, the social-analysis, and the non-directive orientation will draw its conceptual scheme and learning material from the experience itself. Process-consultation, techno-structural and transactional strategies will tend to import learning instruments and material from the outside. Consequently, the degree of « directivity » will differ according to the structuring of the intervention process. More research has to be done on the characteristics of the helping relationships and the evaluation of ongoing experiences in order to assess properly the similarities and differences among various strategies of organization development.
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895.
L'éthique du care en archéologie préventive : un retour d'expérience et quelques pistes de réflexion
More informationAfter reviewing what constitutes preventive archaeology, I propose mobilizing, for this field of activity, the notion of an ethics of care. This notion is polysemous and has ethical, sociological and political dimensions. It does not remain theoretical but is instead rooted in reality and in the full diversity of practices. An ethics of care can offer new avenues for reflection and action for archaeologists, but also for supervisory staff and the various archaeology institutions to gain a new understanding of the behaviours, discourses, practices and practical needs of archaeologists. Over the past twenty years, archaeologists have had to integrate the presence of multiple professional risk factors, in the face of which attitudes and discourse have varied between responsibility, prevention and sometimes denial. Archaeologists work in a variety of terrains where their bodies and practices intersect and reflect their “embedded” relationships in archaeological sites and remains. Archaeologists’ field areas are also places of sociability where their professional identities and collective histories are built, which are a very powerful glue for the functioning of their social groups. The importance of these interdependent relationships is also emphasized by an ethics of care.
Keywords: éthique, care, archéologie, prévention, pratiques professionnelles, identité professionnelle, ethics, care, archaeology, prevention, professional practices, professional identity
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896.More information
A methodology whose only goal is the systematic assimilation of curriculum content does not allow the student to exercise his creative ability in the learning process. To overcome this constraint in teacher-directed instruction we advocate methodologies no longer based on the idea of externally structured learning in reference to the intrinsic nature of the subject matter but guided by the learner's experience. But, we realize today that establishing learner experience as an undisputed guide in education involves major risks. To surmount this antinomy between teacher-directed and learner-directed instruction this article proposes an approach based on the dialectic relation that exists, in all learning processess, between two kinds of knowledge: knowledge from the learner's experience and theoretic knowledge conveyed by the curriculum.
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899.More information
SUMMARYIn this, the first of two articles, the author describes his approach of listening to the psychotic. From personal childhood experience, in this case the character Miss Withers, he explains the concept of significant language and its relation to the erotic body. He then integrates the notions of repression, the unconscious and transference into this perspective. Then he outlines the motives justifying a clinical psychoanalysis of the psychoses concluding that it is within the institutional milieu, that the question concerning the conditions 'necessary to a psy-
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900.More information
SUMMARYThe author traces the evolution of psychiatrie services in Montréal and the province of Québec up until 1977. Following this summary, the author describes what has been undertaken in the area of mental health since that year. He also recounts his observations in the course of visits made in the fall of 1986 to certain hospital centers catering to short term patients (centres hospitaliers de courte durée), at the request of the Harnois Committee. Among his findings, he points out that the projects started at the onset of the Bédard and Castonguay reforms have been implemented, if not in spirit by the book, and that the integration of the entire psychiatric services of the C.H.C.D. is about to be completed.