Mutations in the Function of Team Management, Knowledge and Conflict Management

During the 1990s, the management structure of French firms evolved considerably, giving a high priority to the functions of knowledge management and to the relationship with the environment. Thus the hierarchic conception of management where the manager is seen as a "method engineer" no longer fits in with the current image of the manager. Because their function is more and more knowledge intensive, managers have been endowed with a new professional image as "knowledge engineers" whose mission is to organize, manage and develop the processes of individual and collective knowledge specific to each firm. In this article, we intend to put forth arguments in support of this hypothesis.