Les dysfonctionnements informatiques sont‑ils seulement « irritants » ? Comment des bugs récurrents affectent l’activité et la santé d’agents d’une administration publique

Abstract

This article is based on data from a research-intervention that combines approaches borrowed from work psychology - clinical approach of activity - and ergonomics. It aims to question the innocuity of various computer malfunctions, described as “pain points” (“irritants” in French), a concept used by the actors involved in the research field. The context is a public body in which social dialogue is strained regarding issues pertaining to digital transformation (“transformation numérique” being the term used by the institution) - which has substantially accelerated in recent years. The commissioning parties were looking to examine the relationship between digital transformation, work activity and the occupational health of workers in courts. The potential impact on workers’ health is approached through an analysis of their work activity. The various reactions to socio-technical hurdles are examined in terms of the links between health and work (quality, meaning). We study four situations taking place in the same office of a public body. The purpose of these case studies is to discuss how these socio-technical hurdles affect the subjects, and how they affect and degrade the activity and its conditions of realization, or, on the contrary, how under certain conditions they might favor a development of the activity.From the perspective of the clinical approach of uses, we propose to use these socio-technical hurdles as revealers of activity - its rules and values - and more generally of the organizational conditions that determine it. These socio-technical hurdles will enable us to examine the manner in which professionals experience, construct and regulate their relationships with others (collective component), with the activity (pragmatic component) and with themselves (subjective component) in order to act and develop.

Keywords

• occupational health
• activity theories
• digitalization
• public administration
• computer hassles