Facing the challenges of work in the future: what can the concept of situation and the theory of inquiry teach us ?[Faire face aux enjeux du travail du futur : les apports de la notion de situation et de la théorie de l’enquête]

Since the beginning of the decade, attention has been focused on the « industry of the future », in particular the "factory of the future". In the framework of a multidisciplinary research project, we are investigating digital transformations and the prospects for the emergence of new models of work. To investigate this phenomenon, we define a singular configuration called "New Situations of Work" and propose a method to apprehend the implications of these digital transformations for actors in the field. Our aim is to return to a notion already worked on in management –the situation– and to articulate it finely with the epistemological framework of the theory of inquiry in order to adopt an integrative reading grid. Indeed, we argue that the re-actualization of these notions would make it possible to account for the work of putting in order the new elements induced by the digital transformations that the actors concerned accomplish in their ordinary practices.