Routinisation and memorisation of tasks inside a workshop: the case of the introduction of ISO norms

Nathalie Lazaric (1) , Blandine Denis (2)

1 GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
2 COSTECH - Connaissance Organisation et Systèmes TECHniques

Changing routines and creating new routinization processes are difficult tasks involving both cognitive and political mechanisms. In this paper we use Defial- a French meet proessing firm- in order to illustrate some of the problems involved in creating a new procedural memory in a workshop and in applying the concept of 'routine'. We discuss some methodological implications resulting from our various observations and the choice we made. In our case study, the complexity arose partly from the many different factors that affect the production process, such as stress and the overload syndrome. We show that time and hierachical pressure cannot alone ensure the success of memorization of a task. The routinization process is only truly sucessful when a new state of condidence towards management has been established, a confidence that helps overcome the socio-emotional issues arising from the changes that are taking place and that paves the way for the acceptance of change in both declarative and procedural memory.

Domaines: Economies et finances

Nathalie Lazaric, Blandine Denis. Routinisation and memorisation of tasks inside a workshop: the case of the introduction of ISO norms. Industrial and Corporate Change, 2005, 14 (5), pp.873-896. ⟨10.1093/icc/dth074⟩. ⟨hal-00457079⟩