Jean-Claude Thoenig

La régulation des systèmes organisés complexes. Le cas du système de décision politico-administratif local en France

Michel Crozier und Jean-Claude Thoenig : Die Regulierung der organisierten Komplexsysteme. Der Fall des lokalen politischen und verwaltnngsmassigen Entecheidungssystems in Frankreich. ; Der Aufsatz befasst sich mit einem soziologischen Ansatz zur Analyse der mehr oder weniger stabilen Komplexsysteme, die sich um die Beziehungen bilden zwischen verschiedenen und untereinander abhangigen Organisationen. Es wird die Untersuchung der Regulierungsarten unterstrichen, die diese Beziehungen bestimmen. Die vorliegende Methode nimmt, uber die Betrachtung der Entscheidungsprozesse, die Analyse der Machtverhaltnisse und der Spielregeln zwischen den zu diesen Systemen gehorenden Aktoren zuhilfe. Zur Veranschaulichung wird ein konkreter Fall vorgestellt aus einer Untersuchung iiber die Beziehungen zwischen den hauptsachlichen Organisationen, die in die offentliche Fuhrung der Gemeinden in Frankreich eingreifen : staatliche Verwaltungsstellen, ortliche Verbande, politische Stellen, soziale und wirtschaftliche Organisationen, usw. Ein solcher Ansatz, der sich auf die Systemanalyse stutzt, zeigt eine neue Begrifiordnung auf zum Verstandnis der Beziehungen zwischen formellen oder informellen Aspekten innerhalb einer Organisation und ofinet neue Wege in der Untersuchung des Wandels.

Bringing Public Organization and Organizing Back In

Since the late 1990s social science-based studies have allocated much less attention to public organizations. Based on the sixth Organization Studies summer workshop, this introductory paper suggests a diagnosis of such a decline as well as a research agenda. It lists some fundamental issues still to be explored such as publicness and governance. It also considers how social science-based organizational knowledge might be extended to various empirical objects and fields in public domains and set-ups such as inter-organizational arrangements, hybrid organizations, multi-stakeholder arenas, hybrid organizing, and transnationalization processes, that usually are covered by scholars – economists, historians, anthropologists, management academics, etc. – who are not using organizational theory lenses.

Rethinking the Firm: Organizational Approaches:

How does social science based organization theory describe the business firm? Sociology, political science, social psychology and ethnology have inspired two almost classical perspectives. One theorizes the firm as an arena for strategic behavior. The other underlines the way social pressure mechanisms structure a moral community dimension. Two additional approaches exist, less explored. The firm can be defined as a collective actor, the agenda for knowledge being to explain how far collective choice is possible. Or the firm may be studied from a cognitive perspective, as an organization which interprets and thinks. The article argues that organization theory offers a unitary if not limited view of the business firm. Social sciences basically debate around two alternative views which differentiate according to four characteristics: the action arena or the context of behavior; the teleological property of the unit; the payoff matrix or the sources of preferences with which members enter collective choice contexts; and the sources of managerial influence.

In Search of Academic Quality

Introduction I: THE ROAD TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE 1. Addressing Evolving Societal Expectations 2. When Numbers Define Academic Quality II: MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITIES 3. Quality Regimes And Organisational Instrumentation 4. Evaluating Faculty Contributions 5. Social Values, Norms, Cultures 6. Integration And Differentiation Processes III: THE ILLUSION OF A ONE BEST WAY 7. The Top Of The Pile Regime As Quality Reference 8. Is The Reference Model Replicable? Conclusion Toward Post-Excellence Quality?

A Public Policy Approach to Local Models of HIV/AIDS Control in Brazil

OBJECTIVES We investigated involvement and cooperation patterns of local Brazilian AIDS program actors and the consequences of these patterns for program implementation and sustainability. METHODS We performed a public policy analysis (documentary analysis, direct observation, semistructured interviews of health service and nongovernmental organization [NGO] actors) in 5 towns in 2 states, São Paulo and Pará. RESULTS Patterns suggested 3 models. In model 1, local government, NGOs, and primary health care services were involved in AIDS programs with satisfactory response to new epidemiological trends but a risk that HIV/AIDS would become low priority. In model 2, mainly because of NGO activism, HIV/AIDS remained an exceptional issue, with limited responses to new epidemiological trends and program sustainability undermined by political instability. In model 3, involvement of public agencies and NGOs was limited, with inadequate response to epidemiological trends and poor mobilization threatening program sustainability. CONCLUSIONS Within a common national AIDS policy framework, the degree of involvement and cooperation between public and NGO actors deeply impacts population coverage and program sustainability. Specific processes are required to maintain actor mobilization without isolating AIDS programs.

Essal: How Far is a Sociology of Organizations Still Needed?

Any scientific discipline experiences a life cycle. As a specific discipline, the sociology of organizations may well have reached a stage of maturity and entered a declining return of the knowledge process. This is clearly the case with what might be called its standard platform or agenda of research. A major change in recent years has been the emergence of an extended platform or domain. This raises the question: Does this emergence renew the core identity of the discipline or does it dilute the sociology of organizations as a specific discipline? This essai discusses the ambiguity of such a redefinition of the domain ground. It also calls for a more solid and interactive dialogue between general sociology and sociology dealing with organizations.

Modernizing Sub-National Government in France: Institutional Creativity and Systemic Stability

Sub-national government of public affairs in France is quite open to creativity and flexibility. Since the 1950s the State has emitted more than four hundred decrees to decentralize political institutions and to modernize administrative procedures. Regional and local authorities show a relevant capacity to rationalize management practices, to control costs, and to upgrade policy effectiveness. The picture of France as a conservative when not stalled bureaucratic polity is quite inaccurate empirically when not driven by prejudices.

The Power of the Field Staff. The Case of the Ministry of Public Works, Urban Affairs and Housing in France

A widely held view in the field of organisational theory has it that the success of any organisational reform — in public administration as well as in private enterprise — depends mostly if not entirely on the quality and relevance of the objectives set forth by the reformers at the top, and on their capacity to harness and bring to bear the necessary resources with which to attain these goals. There is of course the problem of resistance to change by those directly affected by the reform, but this reaction is viewed as an essentially irrational phenomenon which can be coped with by methods derived from the behavioral sciences. In this way, individuals will be adjusted to new organisational structures and procedures without any fundamental change in the initial thrust or rationale of the reform decided upon by the top.

The Brazilian Experience of ‘Scaling-up’: A Public Policy Approach

The book is based on original data and field studies from Brazil, Thailand, India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Focusing on the issue of universal and free access to treatment (a goal now taken to heart by the international community), it assesses the progress made and presents a rigorous diagnosis of the obstacles that remain, especially the constraints imposed by TRIPS and the poor state of most public health systems in Southern countries. In so doing, the book renews our understanding of the political economy of HIV/AIDS in these vast regions, where it continues to spread with devastating social and economic consequences.

Developing Top Academic Institutions to Support Innovation

Any competitive innovation ecosystem requires a stimulating higher education and research environment. Academic institutions are key contributors and stakeholders to fuel such economic and societal dynamics.