In our previous newsletter, we discussed the worst-case scenarios for HR managers and work organizations.
Today we propose to look at the reasons for the failure of the majority in solving problems…
1 – Errors in the interpretation of societal and cultural signs
- Misinterpreting (or simply neglecting) weak or strong signals sent by social bodies
- Being closed or dismissive of their expectations
- Believing, for example, that young people or seniors want to do the minimum, that women and minorities demand too many rights… is the culture of least effort or of demanding
And this, at the risk of fracturing social bodies a little more…
Internal and external factors triggering crises are interfering? In the memory of HR managers, this is nothing new. Uncertainties at all levels? HR managers have known this for years. Is there a crisis of work and meaning at work? Managers have always had the responsibility to “give meaning” and develop “commitment”.
So why this feeling of novelty when we have known about these subjects for a long time?
Because the combination of crises has permanently and profoundly changed our relationship to work, particularly in France, champion of productivity and disenchantment, in reaction to the inability of work to satisfy their aspirations for achievement and usefulness (cf. Yves Clot, Le travail à cœur, 2010).
- The health crisis and the emergence of teleworking have changed the place of work in life
- The time allocated to work and the relationship to work are changing
- If the importance of work remains very strong, it becomes an island in the middle of an archipelago and is no longer the polar star of a life
- A majority of employees (France) express a great attachment to their work but…
- …they wonder about the conditions of its execution which can cause suffering
- and the climate emergency comes to crash into everything
2 – Underestimation of new societal concerns
- Fields other than paid work are invested in: social and sporting activities, ecological activities, associations, leisure activities, often voluntary and in the service of the community.
- For example, more than 9 million French people (60% of whom are women) care for a loved one who is losing their independence or has a disability (figure from the Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics Department, 2021)
- Young people are questioning the economic, social, societal and environmental projects of organizations and the preservation of their professional and personal balance.
- Some want flexibility, where their actions have meaning and where work is not an end in itself. They seize in particular the technological opportunities that seem to allow this balance.
3 – A lack of a global and holistic vision of work and work organization
- We are above all in a culture of “doing” and action planning, most often to the detriment of meaning, namely the “what” and the “why”. So what is the vision or ambition of the organization in which we work? What and why do we work? And me, in all that?
- Quality and working conditions become central, as well as the meaning and recognition of work
- QVCT (quality of life and working conditions) is not limited to delivering fruit baskets or installing a table football in a relaxation area, which ultimately avoids looking at the heart of work and its working conditions.
4 – The classic role of the managerial function, little questioned
- The functioning of the human brain is often misunderstood and/or misunderstood in management styles
- Some managerial training remains unsuitable because it most often emphasizes messages of soft benevolence which cause us to lose sight of desire, commitment, framework, rigor, firmness, permission to do and the necessary search for performance.
- Without desire, no commitment, without commitment, no performance and without performance, no life/survival
- Professional progression through the managerial sector underestimates the need for specific process tools for project management.
Given this explosive and confusing situation, what can HR managers do to preserve the social pact of organizations? How can we envisage a desirable and quality collective future? Is a new paradigm possible?
