Autonomy, from imaginary to practice. The case of the emancipated factory at Cookiz

Montpellier, 1 et 2 avril 2014

Critical Perspectives on ManagementDoctoral Workshop

Hélène PICARDEMLYON Business School – Université Paris Dauphine

AUTONOMY, FROM IMAGINARY TO PRACTICE

THE CASE OF THE “EMANCIPATED FACTORY” AT COOKIZ

Hélène Picard

Under the supervision of Françoise Dany and Ignasi MartiEMLYON Business SchoolUniversité Paris-Dauphine

Presentation at the Doctoral Workshop on Critical Management Studies, Montpellier, 1-2 avril 2014




Motivations: from the literature to the research question

The puzzle of autonomy-at-work in an emancipated organization: questioning the individual and collective conditions of “vivre ensemble”

Autonomy as a principle of

organization ?• Autonomous

teams, Post-fordist litt.

• Empowerment as hegemony

FieldworkLooking for alternatives...

[but] Ambiguous, difficult

experiences

C.M.S: against managerialism + Alternative organizing /

Utopianism(s)




Introducing the case

COOKIZ750 employees; 6 locations in France; leader in the French biscuits manufacturing industry. First « changes » implemented at the HQ + Southtown factory in 2007.Data collection on 3 plants + HQ. Sampling criteria: history in the group / size / stage in the « change process » / local « issues » (after a 1st round of interviews in July).In this paper: focus on the HQ (« vision ») and the Southtown plant (historical plant, the biggest = 400 ppl; « flagship » for the new managerial model)

Data collection:70 in depth interviews (July 2013 to March 2014) on the four settings+ Observations (np), documents, newspapers, internal presentations ...




First findings... In progress!

Managerial imaginary:

utopian visions in contexts

Spaces of creation: deliberation

and enactment

Sources of suffering: language,

subjectivities

Manager-less?

Bringing management

back in

Autonomy




Managerial imaginary

“Things have to change, but really! When I look at the phenomenal waste of intelligence, of energies, when I see how people are demotivated, uninvolved… all of it must change! So my bet is that it is indeed possible to do things differently, to really put men at the heart of our system while responding to the rules and constraints of markets, being competitive. […] Our vision, our mission, our “guiding star” must be shared: we will do things differently and together!”

[Tony, CEO, March 2014].

A utopian discourse that sustains and supports the change: « radical », « political » project

In a specific social / historical context

Theorized, publicized: outside and beyond the organization

« Authoring »




Autonomy as a creative project

Autonomy as a creative project • VS. direct and centralized management supervision• Autonomy as « self-sufficing work conducted without the interference of

another. » (Sennett, 2008)

Creating / opening spaces for collective creation and deliberation

« Institutionalizing spaces »

«Technical spaces » « Governing spaces »




Autonomous selves: speech and the matter of togetherness

« Emancipation » as a source of affective suffering: the violence exercised through language

Entrepreneurial workers: instrumentalizing the subjectivities

Consequences on the « vivre ensemble »: working together, living together

““I think it is a great utopia, originally. ... The only problem is, I think, with people management… and no framework at all… See, I am fortunate enough to have a fixed contract, I am here to work, everyday I tell myself ‘you’re here to work’, to produce biscuits that match industrial standards. I am here to do my best, only my best. But I think, in this way of working we have now, in this total autonomy, there are people that forget it. This, this bothers me a lot… We have changed perspective, no one is accountable for anything. […] Some, they just won’t come over if there is a problem on another machine. … People for whom autonomy means ‘I do what I want’. ”[Scott, Line worker, Southtown plant. December 2013]




« Manager-less » management...?

Guilt and isolation

The role of managerial / authority figures

Bringing management back in

“We were told that we could get our autonomy at work, take some responsibilities. Then, the competences were split. But this was a jump in the unknown and we were a bit lost. Me, I had agreed to take the quality competence but that meant I was going to ‘take away’ the work of somebody I saw everyday…”

[Monica, Line worker, Southtown plant. December 2013]




Thank you!

… and of course, questions are welcomed!

Presentations & Public Speaking

Autonomy, from imaginary to practice. The case of the emancipated factory at Cookiz