Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
in scoreboards these costly regulation periods as 'nonproductive periods'.
The psychosocial hazard - that is, the risk of seeing the appearance of a
psychosocial disorder - becomes greater as the worker's mastery of the
situation diminishes. The consequences of this affect both the employ-
ees involved - individually and collectively (in the form of psychosocial
disorders
) - and the results of work.
As when physical, chemical or biological factors are involved, hygien-
ist approaches to work tend to consider that psychosocial hazards are
related to factors that are external to activity itself (i.e. sources of danger
or nuisance), which one should protect workers from by eliminating them
at the source. On the contrary, we consider that hazards are intrinsically
related to activity, and to the inability that it has of developing in some
situations. Development protects workers from hazards. Obstacles to
development generate them.
From there, the goal of prevention is not to protect employees from
the impact of factors that are supposedly external to the activity, or even to
preserve the existence of the psychosocial dimension of work within activ-
ity. It is to contribute to the development of activity in its various dimen-
sions, including the psychosocial dimension, in order to allow employees
to construct their own health. The design of enabling environments
should contribute to this goal (Arnoud and Falzon, this volume; Falzon,
this volume). A classical approach to prevention should be replaced here
by a constructive approach to human activity. The development of this
activity should be viewed as a strategic option in order to reduce hazards
and improve work.
To achieve this, it is clearly necessary to gain in-depth knowledge of
the processes that are at the root of this development of activity, in relation
to the development of the subject, and of the social system.
The process of development at work
The gap between prescribed work and real work:
A space invested by activity
Let us remind the reader of the starting point of our thinking. Work activ-
ity cannot be reduced to the simple execution of a
task
, as prescribed by
the work organization imagined by F. Taylor. To understand what is clas-
sically meant by the 'gap between theoretical (or prescribed) work and
real work', it is important not to attribute it too eagerly to the will of the
worker alone. If an employee does not do exactly what is requested, it is
not primarily because of unwillingness or lack of motivation, for exam-
ple. Indeed, the relationship between a task and the worker charged with
carrying it out should be considered in the context of the concrete and
