Rémi Jardat

HOW DEMOCRATIC INTERNAL LAW LEADS TO LOW COST EFFICIENT PROCESSES: PRACTICES AS A MEDIUM OF INTERACTION BETWEEN INSTITUTION AND ORGANIZATION

According to Sewells principle of the multiplicity and the intersection of the structures, we consider here a retailing bank as an organization and as an institution. As an institution, the studied bank appears to be a constitutional democracy, whereas, as an organization, it proves to be a very efficient low cost company. Organizational and institutional features of this firm look correlated and this correlation is interpreted as an interaction between institution and organization, which takes place through the medium of interconnected practices inside the firm. Institutional features are analyzed through Haurious institutionalism and Turpins Constitutional laws theory, whereas organizational routines are described through a triadic model (Ostensive aspect, performance and artifacts) proposed by Pentland and Feldman. Through the study of induction practice and interactions between this practice and other ones inside the firm, we map systematically inductions practising in the sense of Pesqueux and establish a dual influence of institution on organization. Firstly, there is a mainstream influence from constitutional law to organizational routines, through interconnection with an intermediate step called “institutional routines”. Secondly, there is a “coherence” effect, by which some peculiarities of several organizational routines reinforce each other in the day-to-day life of the firm. Finally, we discuss the possibility of building a constitutional theory of the firm. We emphasize the structuring role of law and the specific influence of political constitutional law on the empowerment of employees, through the dialectic tension between law and other components of the institution.

Understanding expert practices in order to control expert activities: The case of trading

Experts are important actors of organizational control. Nevertheless, experience suggests that they must be controlled as well. This is particularly the case for traders in financial institutions. We first identify the limits of traditional control patterns when the managing the activities of experts is at stake. Hyperspecialization, which is the ability to act within different logics and multiple time horizons, suggests that multidimensional representations of these activities be adopted and made explicit, which has the potential to prevent such activities from turning problematic. By examining bank risks and conducting additional interviews with actors from bank trading services, we recommend that multiple components of complexity be preserved when dealing with expert-related operational risks, instead of reducing this complexity to a single concept. Such an approach implies to turn back expertise against itself.

Crowdfunding Seen through the Lens of the Psychological Contract

In this chapter, we explore to what extent psychological contracts occur between the crowdfunded and the crowdfunders. First argument: fundamentals of finance imply a psychological dimension in financial transactions, which are at the same time contractual. Second arguments: some concrete cases of crowdfunding scandals pertain to contractual violation, which provides evidence for the importance of psychological contracts in crowdfunding projects and processes. This leads to two contributions: (1) a systematic review of the concepts related to psychological contracts theory and the assessment of their transferability to crowdfunding and (2) a list of questions and operational recommendations for every crowdfunding project developer.

« Pour Piketty » Une nouvelle pensée des Lumières pour les sciences humaines et de gestion

Cet article vise a aider les managers comme les chercheurs en gestion a prendre la juste mesure scientifique et societale du desormais celebre travail de Piketty. Les critiques francophones actuelles y sont confrontees a une lecture serree du « systeme » Piketty, et de premieres lecons pour les sciences de gestion y sont proposees. Enfin, le positionnement de Thomas Piketty par rapport au marxisme est specifie et argumente sur des bases scientifiques et epistemologiques.

La rationalité est-elle une illusion mentale ?: Irrationnel, dominance et résistance dans les organisations, une lecture transdisciplinaire

Nous proposons ici de penser l’irrationnel en organisation dans sa relation de contrariete – contradiction ternaire avec la rationalite et la non-rationalite. Une premiere etape, conceptuelle, etablit cette trinite, qui fait apparaitre la rationalite comme un enchainement regle d’occurrences. Une seconde etape, anthropologique, plonge cette relation dans les processus non rationnels de rationalisation, qui prennent un sens double sens pragmatique et representationnel. Enfin, dans une troisieme etape, on illustre cette relation ternaire et ces processus par une typologie des manifestations les plus evidentes de l’irrationalisme organisationnel reactif.

Fragments du discours stratégique

Comment le discours du management strategique conditionne-t-il les savoirs ? Les riches enseignements d’une etude menee selon la methode archeologique de Michel Foucault.