French Organization Research Articles

Evaluating young people's listening practices: a public health issue

Listening to music through headphones or earphones has become commonplace with the development of new technologies. If this listening is prolonged over long periods and at high noise levels, it exposes young people to risks to their hearing systems. The WHO (2021) indicates that one person in four is expected to have hearing problems by 2050, and 1.1 billion young people worldwide could be at risk of hearing loss due to dangerous listening habits. Three French organizations (Le RIF, Bruitparif and CidB) have joined forces, with the support of the regional health agency of Ile de France, to coordinate their hearing risk prevention campaign and carry out a study ahead of the campaign to find out about listening practices using headphones or earphones, concert attendance and the precautions taken by teenagers to protect themselves from hearing risks. The results, based on a sample of 2,685 teenagers (secondary school), will provide a snapshot of practices so that prevention messages can be adapted during awareness campaigns.

The impact of cloud adoption on talent management: an exploratory study from the “learning organization” perspective

Purpose Cloud computing, a dominant technology, significantly impacts organizations, necessitating talent management strategies for sustained growth. This study aims to explore the impact of cloud adoption on large French organizations through a “learning organization” perspective. Design/methodology/approach Interviews were conducted with business and IT stakeholders from 35 multinational organizations in France. Findings Cloud services have a high impact on large organizations, leading to a demand for cloud-related skills, a power shift from IT to business departments and increased shadow IT activities. Effective utilization requires organizational learning and a change management project, transforming organizations into productive and innovative learning organizations. Originality/value This paper contributes to cloud computing, organizational learning and talent management literature, offering managers a novel approach to handling cloud services.

Social and solidarity economy in the cultural field: governance as a transforming lever? A comparison between three French organizations

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the “crafts” of governance within social and solidarity economy (SSE) cultural organizations, considering formal and informal rules, to support their project of democratization of arts and culture and more generally of cultural democracy. The hypothesis is that it is through participatory and democratic governance that SSE can have a transformative role.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds upon a qualitative, multiple case study of three SSE organizations in the performing arts and audiovisual production in France. Although different in age, size and legal form, they all experiment a more participative governance system, not without tensions, to face deep institutional changes in their environment.FindingsThe results show that legal forms from the SSE are necessary safeguards but not sufficient to effectively implement a democratic governance beyond the “one member, one vote” principle. Democratic governance is supported by both formal and informal rules. By experimenting with innovative participative and democratic governance rules, these organizations contribute to the transformation of practices in the cultural field (democratization of art and culture) but also in society at large by fostering cultural democracy.Research limitations/implicationsBuilding upon three case studies, this exploratory work stresses important issues that are worth to explore on a larger scale to understand by which levers SSE can play a transformative role in the cultural field.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on SSE and on governance by enlarging the analysis beyond the board of directors and the statutory rules. Applying the approach of collective action and reasonable values developed by Commons to SSE, it shows that participatory governance cannot be based on an ideal or a choice of preestablished values and principles but must leave room for creativity and representations of stakeholders not only to support transformation of practices within the cultural field but also externally by increasing cultural democracy.

Big Data Adoption in Project Management: Insights From French Organizations

Big data have the potential to revolutionize the project management, but it is not clear how. Despite the growing interest, there is a paucity of exploratory research to assess the practice and the impact of big data tools and technologies on project management approaches and practices. To address this gap, in this article, we initially embrace the technological–organizational–environmental (TOE) framework as the research basis for the adoption process and conducts in-depth interviews with project managers from French organizations in different sectors. The synthesis of interviews reveals that many organizations are still in the early stage of the adoption process, mainly due to a lack of resources, especially expertise. Besides the factors of the three contexts of TOE, the project-level factors are also found to be critical for the adoption of big data in project management. Most of them adopted big data solutions to support them in the conception, definition, and execution phases of project management. Drawing on the findings, this article also provides guidelines to broaden the understanding of big data applications and their role in project management. Based on these results, we present a model with testable propositions and discuss insights that arise for organizations and project managers regarding how to apply big data tools and technologies to create value and overcome the related challenges.

Preventing workers’ need for recovery and turnover intentions: The protective effect of virtuous organizational practices through work ability

In the occupational field, the post-COVID-19 era is characterized by a deterioration of employees’ psychological health, and the “Great Resignation,” or “Big Quit,” leading to labor shortages in some activity sectors. In this context, identifying the factors of workers’ psychological health and staff retention on which organizations can act is therefore a crucial issue. The new integrative construct of virtuous organizational practices offers promising prospects to address this issue. The aims of this study were twofold. The first was to explore the relationships between virtuous organizational practices on the one hand, and employees’ need for recovery and turnover intentions on the other. The second was to test the mediating role of work ability between them. We conducted an empirical study with a sample of 521 individuals working in French organizations. Consistent with our assumptions, structural equation modeling revealed that virtuous organizational practices were negatively associated with employees’ need for recovery and turnover intentions. Resampling analyses showed that virtuous organizational practices could provide a protective effect by promoting work ability, which in turn could decrease the need for recovery and turnover intentions. Theoretical contributions, limitations, and practical implications are discussed.

Innovation Culture in French Organisations

The aim of this study was to measure the relative impact of culture and processes on innovation performance. Contrary to processes, culture represents all implicit factors influencing daily behaviour. Culture gathers the unwritten rules of the social game and serves as social cement for an organisation. Processes correspond to identified and formalised practices and rules, including having a dedicated team or qualified collaborators for running product design and development, for example. Based on the scientific literature, we designed a survey to assess these three sides of innovation (culture, processes and performance). We analysed the answers of 432 French innovation managers in order to identify the predictors of Innovation performance. The whole model appears highly explanatory and shows that innovation culture holds a predictive power nearly four times as high as innovation processes. In particular, eagerness for radical change, which is not so common in French organizations, is the strongest predictor of innovation performance. Collective discovery skills and innovation climate were also good predictors of innovation performance, whereas risk aversion and tradition appear as marginal negative predictors. . These results are original because practitioners and researchers mainly produce guidelines focused on innovation processes, methods and tools as if they were the only drivers of innovation. However, the major challenge for stimulating innovation could be to understand the organization’s culture and design processes that will be both congruent to the existing culture and likely to initiate a first step to cultural change, which remains long and uncertain.

Managing mentoring for the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants

This paper examines the design and operational challenges of managing a mentoring program supporting the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants. Data were collected using extended participant observation of organizational activities and processes, analysis of internal and external-oriented documents and communications, and interviews with a range of program stakeholders in a French organization working with recently arrived humanitarian migrants. Utilizing theoretical insights from value creation approaches, the paper identifies how the organization attempted to construct value propositions, including how these were embedded in the program's design and actors' engagement. Moreover, it examines critically how these were interpreted, enacted and occasionally subverted through the perceptions and actions of the various actors involved in the program delivery. In doing so, the study evaluates how the scope, goals and impacts envisioned by the organization translated into participants' experiences, which potentially shaped program outcomes. The findings stress the implications of program specialization and distributed governance on the effective management of mentoring schemes aimed at facilitating migrants' transition into work.

La coopération entre allergologues et biologistes membres du réseau AllergoBioNet : le succès d’un modèle français

AllergoBioNet is a French association of clinical laboratory specialists of allergic and mast-cell-related diseases and their differential diagnoses. Its 79 members are working in clinical laboratories in 29 Universitary Hospitals and 15 General Hospitals in France and another one in Belgium. Ten of these laboratories have recently been certified as «laboratoires de biologie médicale de référence » (Reference Clinical Laboratories, LBMR) to valorize the expertise in hypersensitivity, mast-cell and complement laboratory investigations. The first mission of these laboratory professionals is to ensure that results are accurate and reliable. Thus, they deal with all the process of continuous quality improvement and are able to minimize errors of the sample's workflow (pre-analytic, analytic and post-analytic phases). Since years, they are certified by the French Organization for Quality (COFRAC). Moreover, they evaluate newer diagnostic tests, ensure continuous medical formation to actualize competences and knowledge, participate in research protocols and publish in national and international specialized reviews. The aims of this article are (1) to encourage all medical laboratory specialists working in the field of allergic diseases (diagnosis, monitoring patients and responses to therapy) to join the AllergoBioNet network; (2) to encourage physicians to collaborate with these laboratory professionals, so that they could answer to practical questions (ie: pre-analytical needs and conservation samples), receive updates for state-of-the-art laboratory methods and devices, refer patients needing highly specialized analyses and ensure interdisciplinary interpretation of clinical and laboratory results. This partnership should improve mutual competences and contribute to patient care.

Monitoring Climate Change and Air Quality Project Initiative: A Case Study of the Collaboration between ECSTAR and TeroSpace in Thailand

In Thailand, the alteration of weather patterns has resulted in an increase in instances of irregular rainfall, contributing to the occurrence of droughts. The decline of water levels in dams, due to the combined effects of climate change and prolonged droughts, has had a significant impact on agricultural productivity. Drought has a profound effect on the terrestrial biosphere and the atmospheric water cycle and can also contribute to air pollution. Researchers have found a strong correlation between air pollution and drought severity. In response to this pressing issue, the Excellence Center of Space Technology and Research (ECSTAR) at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang has joined forces with TeroSpace company to launch an initiative aimed at promoting sustainable growth in Chiang Rai, a province in Thailand known for its rich biodiversity. ECSTAR and TeroSpace’s partnership on the sustainable growth initiative in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province focuses on expanding their collaboration to include international organizations such as the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), which will provide access to satellite imagery and climate and weather information to improve decision-making in various areas of development. CNES is a French organization in charge of space-related activities in France. The collaboration between France and Thailand for this project, in the context of the France-Thailand Year of Innovation 2023, will be crucial for the successful initiation and execution of this research project. The project aims to explore the relationship between air pollution and climate change through the deployment of air quality monitoring devices in designated locations, connected to a global data-sharing network. The results of this research will be valuable to policymakers as they consider the interplay between air pollution and climate change and make efforts to address these challenges.

French non-profit organizations after one year of Covid-19: Insights into organizational resilience

The Covid-19 crisis has placed non-profit organizations in a new operational, human, financial, and economic situation. In France, “associations” (grassroots volunteer organizations, as specific NPOs) have experienced three lockdowns and numerous restrictive measures. The study of their resilience is therefore necessary, and contributes to the knowledge of the concept. A large-scale survey of 10,926 NPO leaders showed that French organizations are still suffering one year after the crisis began. Their recovery is still difficult and their dependence on their resource-providing stakeholders disadvantages them. A cubic analytical framework is also proposed to synthesize the research dedicated to non-profit resilience.

Testimony in Place: Witnessing the Holocaust in Belarus

ABSTRACT Holocaust killing sites in Eastern Europe are of increasing interest to scholars and the public. This article analyzes the production of video testimonies in situ to consider the question of witnessing the Holocaust in Belarus, where mass graves of Jews are at once ubiquitous and invisible. Foregrounding the French organization Yahad–In Unum's efforts to identify and memorialize these killing sites, the article proposes a spatially aware reading of the audio-visual historiography produced in the former Pale of Jewish settlements. Place here functions as both a trigger of memory and a reminder of the nature of the genocide in Belarus as embedded in a larger context of violence and destruction. Confronted with a unique set of spatial parameters, viewers of these video testimonies are exposed to the legacies of the atrocities in the present and encouraged to develop an understanding of the Holocaust that recognizes its social and environmental repercussions.

Cinquante Cinq Millions de Français?: French Propaganda During the Algerian Revolution

In the late 1950’s to early 1960’s, the visual landscape of Algerian communities would have included walls plastered with various posters and pamphlets in both French and Arabic urging them to “talk,” or to enlist in the French Army, or to “say yes to France and Algeria,” or to say “Yes to Peace.” During the Algerian Revolution, a conflict of urban warfare, terrorism, torture, and no detectable enemy for the French to target, both sides recognized that the war would be won through political control of the population. One of the ways they fought for this control was through visual propaganda. In this paper, I analyze and compare pro-French and pro-independence propaganda produced by French organizations. I argue that over 100 years of justification of French colonial rule in Algeria resulted in both pro-French and pro-independence French people appealing to the civilizing mission and colonial ideas about Algerians in order to make their arguments.

Managing religion at work: a necessary distinction between words and deeds. A multiple case study of the postures facing religious expression in French organizations

PurposeReligious expression at work (REW) has a unique place in France. The authors studied the perception of the postures of four organizations in the face of this phenomenon, focusing on the gap between official posture and the posture applied by managers.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative approach, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews (40), observation periods and documentary analysis within four organizations. This multiple embedded case study was undertaken in four different firms in France: an international private firm, a public organization, and two small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with original models of REW management.FindingsA distinction between aligned and non-aligned postures emerged. There was a lack of alignment in only two of the four organizations, and this alignment concerned only two units of analysis: prayer on break and wearing religious symbols. Several extrinsic factors were identified in this lack of alignment between the official posture and the posture actually applied by managers: the form of REW, the religion concerned and whether it had minority status in the country, the degree of clarity of the official posture, the degree of formalization of the official posture, the size and scope of the company, the degree of awareness of managers and their teams, the degree of involvement of leaders in the definition and implementation of the posture, and the purpose of the official posture.Research limitations/implicationsThis research provides a sensitive understanding of religious expression at work and shows that alignment is sought specifically for each form of REW. The distinction between official posture and applied posture is highlighted through the study of perceptions. In addition, this study enables the identification of factors that influence the alignment of official and operational postures.Practical implicationsThese results call for clarity of the official posture and for it to be defended by leaders, provision of meaning to postures by raising awareness among intermediate hierarchical lines, understanding of the applicable legal framework to transpose it to the local level, and analysis of unaligned forms of REW to build a strong, shared posture.Originality/valueThis study, which was carried out within a specific French context, concerns areas that have received little attention or have not been studied at all to date, such as REW in SMEs or in the public sector, and demonstrates for the first time the distinction between official postures and effective postures.

The role of organization intermediaries in science-/techno-push versus user-centric approaches in health care innovation

PurposeHealth care ecosystems instantiate different innovation trajectories, driven either by science-/techno-push or user-centric rationales. This article focuses on organization intermediaries (OIs), respectively, active in health care ecosystems driven by science- and techno-push versus user-centric innovation processes; it aims at characterizing their operation and intervention modes. The analysis elaborates on network and content brokerage. Innovation also needs to consider various challenges associated with physical vicinity. The authors check whether territorial anchoring plays a role in brokerage, depending on the innovation model.Design/methodology/approachThe article offers an investigation of eight French organizations matching the definition of OIs and active in different areas of health care-related innovation. It follows a qualitative and abductive research protocol adhering to the precepts of grounded theory.FindingsFirst, the authors show that content and network brokerage specialize in specific activities in each innovation model. On network brokerage, the authors show that OIs foster the development of communities of practice in the science-/techno-push model, while they nurture communities of innovation in the user-centric model. Services materializing content brokerage are typical consequences of activities performed in each model. The second contribution deals with physical vicinity. In the science-/techno-push model, OIs install a physical space (the “internal” dimension) to support the development of communities of practice, while the “external” dimension copes with agglomeration effects. In the user-centric model, OIs deliver services thanks to the “internal” space; communities of innovation create a leverage effect on the physical space to operate their activities that are supported by “external” network effects.Originality/valueThe originality of the article lies in the description of the alternative roles plaid by organization intermediaries in the science-/techno-push versus user-centric approaches of innovation. In these two approaches, (contents and network) brokerage and physical vicinity play different roles.

International Year of Sound 2020–2021: History and objectives

The International Commission for Acoustics considered that the proclamation of an International Year of Sound (IYS) would create a worldwide awareness of the importance of sound in our world. Sound is an integral part of culture and society from the basic requirements for communication, awareness of our environment, and expression of our culture through to sophisticated scientific and technological research and applications. After a decade of preparation, the ICA decided to organize the International Year of Sound 2020. The moto of the IYS 2020 was “Importance of Sound for Society and the World” and the IYS was associated with the UNESCO Charter of Sound and resolution 39C/59 on the ‘’Importance of sound in today’s world—Promoting best practices.” The French Organization “La Semaine du Son” became partner in this initiative. The ICA planned a number of central activities and the majority of the ICA member organisations embraced the opportunity to organize local and regional events during 2020. Of course the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic curtailed the majority of the planned events but the enthusiasm remained to adapt to virtual activities and develop more resources. In response to the continued enthusiasm the ICA Board agreed the IYS should become a two years celebration. This resulted to the new reference as International Year of Sound 2020–2021 (IYS 2020–21)

Exploring the impact of diversity climate on individual work role performance: A novel approach

AbstractWhile the positive diversity climate‐performance relationship has already been widely studied, still little is known about the mechanisms by which this relationship operates. Additionally, very few studies using the diversity climate concept were conducted in Europe, as most diversity climate measures were designed for the US context. We create a new measurement instrument that is not US‐sensitive, based on a new underlying conceptualization. We use this new measure to understand the influence of diversity climate on work role performance in the European context. We test our conceptual model through a cross‐level analysis in a large French organization (N = 509; Nunit = 34). We find that unit‐level diversity climate is positively related to work role performance, and that job satisfaction and affective commitment mediate the diversity climate/work role performance relationship. This study has strong theoretical and managerial implications as it highlights the role of diversity climate on performance behaviors.

Review: Angkor Wat: A Transcultural History of Heritage

Review: <i>Angkor Wat: A Transcultural History of Heritage</i>

Skin biological responses to urban pollution in an ex vivo model

The skin epidermis is continuously exposed to external aggressions, including environmental pollution. The cosmetic industry must be able to offer dedicated products to fight the effects of pollutants on the skin. We set up an experimental model that exposed skin explants maintained in culture to a pollutant mixture. This mixture P representing urban pollution was designed on the basis of the French organization ‘Air Parif’ database. A chamber, called Pollubox®, was built to allow a controlled nebulization of P on the cultured human skin explants. We investigated ultrastructural morphology by transmission electron microscopy of high pressure frozen skin explants. A global transcriptomic analysis indicated that the pollutant mixture was able to induce relevant xenobiotic and antioxidant responses. Modulated detoxifying genes were further investigated by laser micro-dissection coupled to qPCR, and immunochemistry. Both approaches showed that P exposure correlated with overexpression of detoxifying genes and provoked skin physiological alterations down to the stratum basale. The model developed herein might be an efficient tool to study the effects of pollutants on skin as well as a powerful testing method to evaluate the efficacy of cosmetic products against pollution.

French organization for the pharmacovigilance of COVID-19 vaccines: A major challenge

In this special issue, we present the main highlights of the first weeks of pharmacovigilance monitoring of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in this unprecedented situation in France: the deployment of a vaccination during an epidemic period with the aim of vaccinating the entire population and the intense pharmacovigilance and surveillance of these vaccines still under conditional marketing authorizations. In this unprecedented situation, the cross approach and interaction between the French pharmacovigilance network and French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) has been optimized to provide a real-time safety related to COVID-19 vaccines. Every week, pair of regional pharmacovigilance centers gathered safety data from the French pharmacovigilance network, to acutely expertise all the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported with each COVID-19 vaccine within a direct circuit with ANSM. Results of this expertise are presented and discussed with ANSM in order to raise safety signals and take appropriate measures if necessary. These reports are then published online. At the 25th of March 2021, more than 9 815 000 doses were injected and 20,265 ADRs were reported, mostly non-serious (76%). Several potential or confirmed signals were raised at the european level for those vaccines and others ADRs are under special attentions. This underlines the adaptiveness of the French pharmacovigilance system to both the identification of new patient profiles experiencing ADRs and the evolution of the vaccine strategy. Such an efficiency is necessary to manage a careful and acute surveillance of these new COVID-19 vaccines for and to face the pandemic at the same time.

FROM EMERGENT TO INNOVATIVE RISKS IN FRANCE: SPECIFICATION OR STANDARDIZATION OF THE OCCUPATIONAL RISKS OF NANOMATERIALS?

The process by which occupational risks in industry and manufacturing emerge has been established as a subject of research in sociology. This often-contentious process draws on toxicological findings that may or may not be accepted as established, and on epidemiological observations of pathologies. Logically enough, there has been little interest in the toxicological risks of innovative industrial technologies, due to a lack of specific cases. With the development of new technologies such as nanomaterials, the question of risks has been formally raised but has not been addressed in terms of clear toxicological results or epidemiological observations. My goal in this article is to introduce the notion of “innovative risk” to refer to a process of making risks a subject of research and discussion before evidence of health problems has been established. By examining how French labor administrations and occupational medicine organizations monitor such risks in companies and research laboratories, I will demonstrate a tension between, on the one hand, the acknowledged specificity of these risks, and, on the other hand, the standardization of actual oversight. This tension calls into question the ability of research on industrial occupational risks to approach and analyze innovative risks.