Francophone Organizational Analysis (1950-1990): An Overview

Abstract

Interest in organizations first appeared between World War I and World War II, with the American studies led by Mayo. Since then, interest has grown and spread to most industrialized countries. In the sixties, in Anglo-Saxon countries and especially in the United States where research was first conducted, organiza tional analysis developed into an independent field of investigation. Economic growth, the proliferation and expansion of organizations and a marked tendency 'to rationalize the world' have compelled an increasing number of West ern researchers to question the social dynamics of organized groups. This interest has been reinforced over the past few years by the failure of collectivist solutions, the growing popularity of private enterprise as well as by the type of management thinking that presently predominates in Western countries, but more generally by the prevalence of thinking about the world in organizational terms. Given this general tendency, which is observable in most industrialized countries, this paper aims to demonstrate how Francophone analysis has evolved and remains distinct to this day from Anglophone — and more particularly from the American main stream — analysis.