Histoire d'une représentation restrictive. Portrait du cadre en professionnel contrarié

The author objectives is to understand why, despite the enthusiasm shown by Henri Fayol at the beginning of the 20th century; the spread of the administrative function in the enterprise has come up against the image of a profession that is superfluous. He proposes to analysis what precisely this image was. This essay comes out of ongoing research on management as seen in French features films from 1895 to 2005. The years between 1914 and 1947 witnessed a significant transformation in this representation: the work place became more complex, filled with newcomers such as accountants, clerks and executives, even shareholders. The image of the executives was still indistinct: on screen they are recognizable but they don?t act. Their reluctance to engage in any managerial situation is due to their fear of making a mistake, or worse, their fear of failure. He wants to use the cinematographic material to better understand why the fear of failure wasn?t recognized as failure itself and how it has transformed into a state of complete ossification of the profession.