Une approche exploratoire de l'influence des valeurs catholiques du dirigeant de PME sur son mode de management : la doctrine sociale de l'église catholique à l'épreuve de l' entreprise

摘要

Whereas sociology and history have long been interested in the study of the influence of religion on economic practices, management science has recently discovered its importance. It is within the aera of business ethics that this issue, since the middle of the 1990s especially in the United States, has given rise to an increasing number of research studies. At the same time, the dominant methodologies of the discipline, of a quantitative nature, have been questioned. In this perspective, the examination of the influence of Catholic values on the management style of the small and medium-sized company manager constitutes a double objective of exploring, on one hand, a new theme in French management science and business ethics, and, on the other hand, using new methodological tools to do so. The strategy of qualitative research adopted here, which draws its inspiration notably from the approach of Glaser, Strauss and Corbin, makes it possible to obtain three types of results: the construction of an ideal model of management according to the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, the elaboration of a model, still in an exploratory phase, analysing the influence of Catholic values of the SME manager when they are in confrontation with the demands and constraints underlying the management of people in a firm, and, at last, an exhibition of the Catholic SME manager's "ideal-type". The pluri-disciplinary and bicultural nature of the work done here (French and English language research) brings forth, in conclusion, epistemological questions on the most appropriate paradign needed to cover both the multiple and synthetic aspects of the proposed model.