Understanding the development of organizations at the crossroads of the course of action and the instrumental approach: the transitional perspective

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to address the question of possible conceptual ways of thinking about organizations in the making. We begin by introducing the concept of borders, which seems heuristic to us, to define development as crossing borders. We then propose to consider the crossing boundary from an intrinsic point of view by adopting a transitional prism. To adress these transitional phenomena, we articulate two conceptual frameworks of ergonomics: the course of action and the instrumental approach. Through two contrasting researches from the point of view of the fields of activity (narrations of travel and a process of treatment of the customer demand in the field of energy), we confront the ways to hybridize these two theoretical frameworks conceptually, methodologically and empirically. We highlight what results from this hybridization: some transitional instruments that carry continuity on different scales. Finally, we discuss the perspectives opened by a transitional approach to thinking about organizational genesis.