Quality judgments in terms of academic standards of excellence required by external stakeholders such as labour markets and steering hierarchies obviously exert strong pressure on universities. Do they generate an "iron cage" effect imposing a passive and uniform conformity on global standards?...

Qu'apporte l'analyse sociologique des universités comme organisations à la connaissance de la transformation des disciplines qui les composent? La présente contribution suggère une boîte à outils analytique. Elle caractérise les universités comme étant des organisations relevant d'un...

La sociologie des organisations éclaire-t-elle la question de la responsabilité des acteurs économiques, sociaux et politiques? A priori son regard et son programme de travail sont largement consacrés à élucider un mystère scientifique qui a priori ne relève pas du registre de la...

Integration appears among the core concepts of organizational theories, which have supported the progresses of social sciences. Faced to difficulties in collective actions, researchers and managers have been thoroughly studying the levers for action, in search of the key conditions for unity,...

Based on recent field research, the paper suggests an interpretative model of territorial government in France. Relations between national and local authorities as well as policy- making processes suggest that the centralized State has faced a major decline of its hegemony and that...

Le texte élabore une typologie de la diversité des formes locales d'appropriation des nouvelles normes d'action, en s'appuyant sur la prémisse de Merton selon laquelle la qualité académique repose sur l'appui réciproque de dimensions instrumentales et honorifiques. Depuis les années où...

This chapter covers the evolution of institutional theory and its application to public adminsitrations in the last 20 years. It discusses the various streams, their reseach agendas and their contributions, but also their limits to add value to knowledge.

The concept of power provides a unique analytical tool to study, understand and explain organized action set ups. The paper lists a series of examples derived from the research practice of its author. Such a perspective does not imply that this tool by definition makes sense only for theoretical...

Le texte critique la dérive dans laquelle sont pris beaucoup d'entreprises et qui consiste pour leur gestion des ressources humaines à renvoyer le malaise de ses cadres à des facteurs exclusivement psychiques. Il passe en revue les parties prenantes qui ont à gagner d'une telle...

Administration in organizations emerged as a specific field of inquiry for social sciences in the middle of the twentieth century. Herbert Simon has defined a program that allows social sciences to move from principles to concepts about action and action taking. Four main perspectives of...