Pouvoir statutaire, pouvoir relationnel. Une analyse organisationnelle des architectes en situation de travail

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of the vulnerability of professionals. It questions the ability of professionals to defend their expertise in organisations characterised by extensive formal controls and a far-reaching division of labour. Based on ethnographic fieldwork on the preparation of an architectural project in Paris and drawing on an organisation theory perspective, the article reconsiders the sources of professionals’ power. It argues that this power has two distinct sources: the status that professionals draw from control over their jurisdiction (status-based power), and a capacity for negotiated action among interdependent actors (relation-based power). The article shows that, even in highly restrictive environments, architects may develop new forms of resistance and find alternative areas of control. They do so by relying on the robustness of their professional status and by using the social relations that shape their working environment.