Sociologies (Feb 2020)
Les méthodes agiles et leurs contradictions
Abstract
Many currents of thought are put forward as partial alternatives to the traditional industrial company. Some of them, partially codified, give birth to methods, introduced and experimented in some large companies, for “fluidizing” their functioning. As these methods all require a radical change in the professional culture, in particular concerning the auto-organization of the producers and the end of the hierarchies, one may wonder why a part of the leader staffs and executives are so enthusiastic with respect to the introduction of these “organizational innovations”. And which are the social-professional consequences of their implementation? In order to answer these questions, we examine the first phases of the implementation of “agile methods” in the IT division of a multinational company. First of all, we underline the common features between the principles of the “open source”, of the freedom-form company and of the agile methods. These proximities constitute the background of shared representations and aspirations which will facilitate, not only the introduction of agile methods by promoters (leaders), but also explain, at least partially, the involvement of some ICT professionals (pioneers) as well as their efforts to overcome, thanks to their initiatives, the (organizational and technological) tensions inherent to this “agility”. Such a personal investment is only possible, considering the structural constraints faced, because the pioneers are convinced of the interest of their mission (convert their peers to the new method) and because the encouragements received from their managers, authorizing them to cobble together ad hoc solutions, guarantee them simultaneously autonomy – limited indeed, but real - and recognition of their peers.
