Facing “Agile” and “Project-Based” Organization: The Challenges of Engineering Work in France

• In Event: Engineers: Makers of the World or Cogs in the Machine? - I: Engineers and Power in Politics, Organizations and Everyday Life

Abstract

The engineering profession in France has a long and rich history. Probably nowhere else this professional group enjoys such a prestige. Indeed, French engineering schools (Grandes Ecoles) are considered as elite educational institutions and their graduates have an access to the strategic positions within most technological companies. However, once recruited, young engineers would be facing a number of challenges that could be summarized into several dichotomies: collegiality versus bureaucracy (Bourgeault and al., 2011;), occupational versus organizational professionalism (Evetts and al., 2006), contribution to society versus organizational value creation (Brint, 1996), and, finally, professional autonomy versus bureaucratic control (Bailyn, 1985). These challenges are renewed and reinforced with the current changes in organizational environment, with new strategic orientations and with evolving expectations about the modes of work in modern organizations. The “project-based” organization is one of the trends that transforms considerably the nature of engineering work. Indeed, many organizations are willing to break the frontiers of specialized, department-based work in order to bring more “transversality” and agility in the work of their employees. It is expected that such a « project-based » organization of work will allow to increase the number of innovations and to accelerate their deployment. The present study, based on the long-term action research in Paris-based multinational organizations, uncovers the challenges of transversal organization of work, discusses its impact on the development of expertise of engineers and on their capacity to innovate, and, finally, provides some suggestions to the organizations in order to preserve the delicate balance between the transversality and specialization.

Author

• Olga Lelebina, ISG International Business School