Marie-Noëlle Albert

To explore new avenues: experiential testimonio research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a qualitative research method for which the empirical material is drawn from the experience of a practitioner-researcher. Design/methodology/approach – First, a review of other autobiographical methods is made to show that the proposed method offers something different. Subsequently, it briefly outlines the epistemological and theoretical anchors that guided the development of the proposed method. Then it follows the path and the peculiarities of this method. And finally a few guidelines are presented for the legitimization of the knowledge generated, illustrated by an example. Findings – The proposed method is aimed at experienced practitioners who are involved in a process of scientific research. Ideally, it is carried out with a co-searcher. Originality/value – A new method of qualitative research to explore new avenues in management science.

The Support to an Entrepreneur: From Autonomy to Dependence

Entrepreneurs are often associated with autonomy, but one of the coauthors, the sole owner of a microbusiness, had a different experience. Based on this, we used an autobiographical narrative method in a constructivist paradigm to explore this phenomenon that is autonomy. The coauthor’s different experience developed the idea that difficulties lived by an entrepreneur can transform autonomy into dependence. This negative complex process is grounded on a request for help by the entrepreneur and the dissymmetric relation between the person who needs help and the support. This kind of relationship promotes a loss of the entrepreneur’s capacities. A non-co-construction of solution (by the entrepreneur and the support) is not only less productive, but could also develop a very negative process. This finding is important to better understand support to entrepreneurs.

From Resource to Human Being

Modern human resource management (HRM) has been found to be unsatisfactory as a model and as a praxis concerning human beings in organizations. This article proposes a conceptual change from resource to human being, which we define as “persons management.” After addressing what a person is (a subject navigating between individualism and collectivism; a creative, ethical, and complex being), this text examines how persons can be managed, remembering that persons manage persons. In a dialogical sense, they can help each other and work together, even if they are adversaries. In that sense, persons management must strive to be sustainable at the human, organizational, and environmental levels. We examine certain theoretical and conceptual aspects implied by this restructuring of the field.

From a Seafarer’s Career Management to the Management of Interwoven Sea- and Shore-Based Careers

This study proposes a model of interwoven careers. This topic stems from interviews that showed that although future deck officers expect their future career at sea to last from 10 to 15 years and that the rest will be spent on shore, the maritime transport industry’s only goal is to attract and retain them as seagoing officers. This ambivalent situation leads us to develop a model of interwoven careers that is new. It takes into account both the individual and the organization. This is neither a traditional career model nor a boundaryless model. We used Morin’s complexity theory to understand boundaries, which move “within” organizations when, for instance, maritime industries offer deck officers to work on shore and sometimes at sea, and “across” organizations when they develop partnerships to help their employees attain their goals as well as retaining them in their organization.

From Disillusion to the Development of Professional Judgment

Using an autobiographical method, this study exposes the knowledge created from an experience concerning the implementation process of a human complexity course. We analyze the pedagogical strategies and explain the facts noticed in the narrative. We also present the generic knowledge that results from this experience. As this is a real-life experience, the reader can learn from the errors committed by a professor who experimented with various strategies. Furthermore, this experience is transferable to other contexts of management education. It is an example of applying humanities to business practices. This study makes it possible to improve how professional judgment is taught in a context of liberal learning.