Au-delà de la qualité, démarches de qualité, conditions de travail, politiques du bonheur (book)

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Au-delà de la qualité, démarches de qualité, conditions de travail, politiques du bonheur / Beyond quality, quality approaches, working conditions, happiness policies (book) by Frederik Mispelblom Beyer. Preface by Pierre Tripier. Alternatives économiques collection. Publisher Syros. 1999. Like new. 306 pages. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Paperback. French language.

Quality is a constant reference in our daily life. Whether as a producer (in the company) or as a consumer (at home). Not a moment does the famous quality-price ratio go unmentioned. But is quality just that? Quality, answers the author, lecturer in Évry, is a guarantee of consumer confidence, it is the improvement of the working conditions of employees. Quality implies a highly developed standardization of production and management techniques; quality requires that salary conformity be overcome. It almost imposes a new morality at work.

For Frederik Mispelblom Beyer, it is a way to better unite management and staff towards an objective sought by all: the success of the company. We talk a lot about quality, we rarely define it. Indeed, what is more positive, what is more desirable than quality products? Moreover, “quality approaches”, in companies, are adorned with all the virtues: guarantees of confidence for consumers, improvement of the working conditions of employees, well-being for all. As if social antagonisms faded away in the face of the ideal of quality. This idyllic vision, however, does not stand up to scrutiny. The author examines here the real impact of quality approaches in companies and administrations: beyond the formal, technical, economic modifications, beyond the positive effects that it is important to point out, Frederik Mispelblom Beyer invites us to see how much the standardization developed by these management techniques imposes a new morality aimed at the transparency of concrete work and the conformity of employees to better ensure control. The development of quality approaches thus revives the old question of renewing or overcoming Taylorism: aiming to actively mobilize employees on the company’s objectives in order to increase productivity, Taylorian logic is often reinforced.

But there is no inevitability here: alternative strategies exist, the perspectives of which the author outlines here. This book uncovers the obvious and puts them through the scanner of an analysis that avoids jargon. Enough to put into perspective the flow of practical works devoted to the subject. “Le Monde” The author was able to highlight the flaws and ulterior motives of the system and could well reinforce the highlighting of the contradictions of these new entrepreneurial strategies. “Revue française de sociologie” A new type of issue for which trade union organizations are hardly prepared. “Options-CGT” is, basically, in “quality approaches”, the destiny of the same population, as employees, consumers and unemployed in the multiple faces of the same wage relationship.