Contenu du sommaire : Varia

Organizational socialization: between tactics and practices
Research on how organizations socialize individuals largely relies on the work of Van Maanen and Schein (1979), who define six major organizational socialization (OS) tactics. The literature suggests that these tactics are key organizational variables in the sense that they encompass all the important actions that organizations can implement to socialize newcomers. Furthermore, the consequences of OS tactics have been studied in a variety of work settings, and consistent empirical results suggest that such tactics have a strong and systematic impact on several socialization outcomes. This article suggests that OS tactics and practices are conceptually different, although they have been empirically confounded. The results sustain that socialization practices have a direct and significant impact on socialization outcomes. Also, we found that socialization tactics are related to socialization outcomes only when appropriate practices are implemented. In other words, we develop a contingency approach of the effects of OS tactics, which challenges and complements the traditional view of OS tactics.

Boundaryless careers
According to research on Boundaryless careers (i.e. careers characterised by inter-firm mobility and/or professional changes), mobile professionals should develop specific career planning competencies, especially networking (Knowing-Who) and Self-knowledge skills (Knowing-Why). This hypothesis was tested in a survey answered by 177 adults enrolled in continuing education programs. The quantitative analysis of results of the survey highlights the existence of relationships between Boundaryless career orientations, Career planning competencies (Knowing) and Emotional skills, the latter including networking and selfknowledge skills. As anticipated, results reveal relationships between “Reconversion” career orientations (people who are eager to change professions), Knowing-Who skills and a Dimension of Schutte's EI scale regarding the “Emotional Regulation of Others”. This career orientation is also significantly more feminine than the others. In addition, the less mobile career orientation group (named “Specialists”) is characterised by significantly lower scores on the EI dimension “Utilization of Emotions in Problem Solving”. However, some other Boundaryless career orientations (“Intra-firm mobile” and “Self-Employment”) also record low scores on certain EI dimensions. These results thus point that the fact relationships between Boundaryless Careers, Knowing and Emotional Intelligence need further exploration.

The impact of compensation on the three organizationnal commitment for Knowledge workers
The advent of the knowledge society has fostered a new category of workers with high intellectual capital, commonly known as Knowledge workers. These atypical, volatile workers, perfectly aware of their market value, adopt a strategy of “Marketisation”, thereby limiting their organizational commitment. Do the impact of compensation constitute a determinant of knowledge workers' organizational commitment? The contribution of this article is to clarify the possible remuneration strategies. An exploratory survey conducted with 160 computer programmers in the Tunisian banking sector reveals the importance of different merit rewards modes and the impact of career prospects and incentive practices. Theses three variables forge and positively influence the three-dimensional (emotional, normative and calculated) commitment of knowledge workers to an employer.

Temporary work : an enabler for boundaryless careers ?
The aim of the present paper is to examinate the notion of career applied to the temporary help service (THS) workers. During the recent period, leader firms in the temporary help service industry in France are trying to build real “careers” for their temporary employees, by using various methods, such as enabling long term employment relationships, or making efforts to extend some benefits of the “permanents” employees to the temporary workers (mutual funds, occupational training...).Our ambition is to study the impacts of these evolutions on the temporary employees, by using the framework of the boundaryless careers [ex: Arthur and Rousseau – on 1996; Cadin and al – on 2003]. We formulate the hypothesis that the professional course of some specific temporary workers (mobile and qualified) can now be viewed as a real careers, regarding the framework proposed by the boundaryless careers theorists. To validate this hypothesis, we led a qualitative empirical study (31 interviews conducted with temporary work agency managers), completed by a questionnaire administered to a sample of 208 temporary employees. We then built a typology drawing from the results, based on two criteria (employability and preference for temporary work), which allowed us to isolate a class of “boundaryless temporary workers”. These employees demonstrate four important characteristics:– High level of preference for temporary work;– Strong perceived employability; – Limited perceived job insecurity; – Positive opinion towards the notion of “temporary career”. These results must be considered with caution, because they raised complex institutional and psychological issues concerning the notion of “temporary career”.Institutionally, we can demonstrate that the temporary work legal frame in France is not adapted for workers willing to pursuit a longterm career under temporary status. Under a psychological point of view, we notice that the social image of the temporary work remains strongly associated with uncertainty and job insecurity. This social image generates a stigmatization for the long-term temporary workers in their everyday life (ex : discriminations). All these obstacles contribute to explain that the percentage of “boundaryless temporary employees” on our sample is low (15% of the respondents).