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Rethinking management: 3 questions for Pierre Bocquet, associate researcher at the FIT2 Chair and co-author of “Responsibilizing Organization”

Research Science and society Interview
Published on 20 February 2025
Faced with the challenges of recruitment, motivation and adaptation to a complex world, empowering organization (EO) offers an alternative to the traditional hierarchical model. The book Organisation responsabilisante : de l’idée à la réalisation published by Presses des Mines, based on the work of the Futurs de l’industrie et du travail (FIT²) chair at Mines Paris – PSL, explores the levers for empowering employees and supporting managers in this transformation.
Led since 2018 by Thierry Weil, then taken over in 2025 by Sophie Hooge and Cédric Dalmasso of the Centre de Gestion Scientifique (CGS), the FIT² chair analyzes new forms of work organization and their impacts. The authors, François Pellerin, head of the chair’s research project, and Pierre Bocquet, former executive of Michelin’s Operational Excellence Steering Group and associate researcher, share their thoughts on the keys and issues of accountability in business.

How can we define a responsible organization?

A responsible organization is not the same as a liberated company. Responsibility is based on the idea that a large number of actions and decisions reserved for the hierarchy and support functions can be left to the initiative of operational staff. It is a progressive and continuous dynamic of broadening the responsibility of employees, by developing their power to act. For managers, it is no longer a question of organizing or deciding everything, but of helping the team to do as much as possible on its own without endangering the company. For team members, it is a question of integrating the idea that the power to act goes hand in hand with increased skills and the obligation to be accountable.

What are the pitfalls of empowering organization?

Many companies are interested in this organizational model, but they are stumped as to how to go about it. The empowering model aims to change corporate culture and behavior. These are complex areas. If the management is not aligned and determined, if it is not long-term and if it does not propose a clear and systemic framework for the transformation project, then it will be very difficult for the empowering model to take root.

How can we move towards this empowering organization?

To help companies build this new framework, we have created an empowerment compass. It includes 5 structuring dimensions that must progress together: responsibility, subsidiarity, solidarity, collegiality and activity.

In concrete terms, empowerment entails a shift in decision-making towards those who usually execute, this is subsidiarity. Solidarity between members and collegial decision-making mean that team members do not feel isolated in the face of their new responsibilities. Finally, one of the sensitive points is the redefinition of activities, in particular that of managers, who will have to learn to regulate work rather than to manage it.

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