The Management Of Strategic Change In Public Organisations In The Light Of The Experience Of Autonomy Of French Universities: An Attempt At Critical Appraisal[Le management du changement stratégique dans les organisations publiques à la lumière de l'expérience d'autonomie des universités françaises: un essai d'appréciation critique]

The literature on strategic change management in organizations generally pays relatively little attention to their legal status. The problem of change most often focuses on psychological, psycho-sociological or sociological characteristics of human behaviour that are assumed to be similar regardless of the nature of the organization (private enterprise or public administration). As a result, the issue of change in public management has not been the subject of research that highlights the particular complexity of public organizations and the greater difficulty for senior managers to implement strategic change policies. The functioning and management of French universities were profoundly transformed in 2009 by the so-called "University Freedoms and Responsibilities Act" (Loi sur la Responsabilité des Universités, also known LRU), which was marked by the transition to "extended responsibilities and competences" (Responsabilités et Compétences Elargies, called "RCE"). In this article, we would like to highlight some of the issues that we felt were crucial in managing the change brought about by the implementation of the Universities' Freedoms and Responsibilities Act (LRU). We will draw on our own experience as President of the "Université Nice-Sophia Antipolis" (UNS) over two terms, the first of which preceded the LRU reform and the second was to implement it.