Organizational communication and agency at distance : the case of a franchised Highway Gas Service’s station ; Communication organisante et agentivité à distance : le cas d'une station service en franchise

Inscribed in Information and Communication Sciences and in particular in the field of the organizational communication, this research questions the practice of management at distance in contemporary organizations (franchise, subcontracting, joint-venture, etc.). From a field study realized in a Highway Gas Service’s station, it tries to answer three research questions: (1) To what extent can we say that the franchise is a form of management at distance and what are its characteristics? (2) What are the natures of the capacities of action – or textual agencies – that organize working routines in the studied gas station? (3) How do these capacities of action intervene during the conversational routines and what modes of organizational existence do they establish? This thesis sheds light on the strength of the action – or agency – at a distance exerted by management upon what say and do the members of an organization, through a conceptualization of distance and routines based on a the conversational and textual dynamic that organize those capacities of action. This thesis also renews our conception of the mode of existence of the firm and opens the debate on the forms of authority that contributes to widespread the franchise as a model of management at distance. ; Cette thèse questionne les pratiques du management à distance dans les organisations contemporaines (franchise, sous-traitance, joint-venture, etc.). Elle s’inscrit dans les Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication et en particulier dans le champ de la communication organisationnelle. A partir d’une étude de terrain réalisée dans une station-service en franchise, elle s’attache à répondre à trois questions principales : (1) En quoi peut-on dire que la franchise est une forme de management à distance et quelles en sont les caractéristiques ? (2) De quelle nature sont les capacités d’action – ou agentivités textuelles - qui organisent les routines de travail dans la station service étudiée ? (3) Comment ces capacités d’action se manifestent-elles ...