Digital Transformations in the Challenge of Activity and Work

8The Reconfiguration of Managerial Practices through Digital Innovation: The Example of a Work Team in Site Renovation

At the heart of renovation projects and occupational risk prevention activities, this chapter reports on the reconfiguration of managerial practices following the insertion of a business application. After describing what it means to be a renovation manager, we will develop the theoretical axes and the ethnographic approach of the activities which allow us to investigate the object of study. We will show how the business application fits into the activity, the resources it offers, and the constraints it imposes on interactions and managerial relations within a site team.

8.1. Introduction: when digital technology is used on renovation sites

The construction sector is progressively entering into the digital age; the challenge of what is emerging as a cultural revolution, is to make a successful transition from paper to all-digital. The stakes are high, particularly for the management of building sites, since it implies a transformation within a culture that is preferentially based on oral exchanges (often face-to-face) and written media. For the major groups in this sector, successfully making this transition is vital to their long-term survival. It is also strategic for winning new tenders. In addition, meeting the economic imperatives of these new forms of international competition requires a combination of performance, reliability, quality, cost and deadline ...