Timesheets are management tools whose effects are both ambivalent and often underestimated. Drawing on a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a doctoral research project, this paper shows how such instruments contribute to the reification of managerial work. Mobilizing Lukacs' concept of reification, we provide a detailed analysis of the transformations that timesheets induce in the professional practices of employees working in neo-professional service firms.
In a context of developing intermediate hierarchies in the civil service, we are studying the school management production in the French National Education System, based on an analysis of the training of new entrants in vocational schools. Their "intermediate" hierarchical position gives them a pivotal role, presented as a delicate one, in the functioning of educational establishments. The training consists mainly of developing a hybrid approach: on the one hand, a bureaucratic tradition of respect for hierarchy, law and procedures; on the other hand, a managerial model of autonomy, "leadership" and adaptability, designed to make schools more efficient in achieving the objectives defined by education policies.
This article examines the reconfiguration of managerial work within the French public employment service through the rapprochement between France Travail and Cap emploi. Based on ethnographic research and interviews, it shows how middle managers translate New Public Management injunctions, coordinate hybrid teams and negotiate between distinct professional cultures. Caught between performance pressures, imposed monitoring tools and distance management, managers develop practical adjustments and organizational bricolage to "hold things together." The study highlights institutional power asymmetries and the effects of a quasi-merger on autonomy and professional practices.
