Human Resources

The scientific work carried out by the Human Resources research group focuses on the transformations affecting work, employment relationships, and organizations in a variety of spaces and situations. The meaning of work is an emerging and unifying theme that has led to the publication of a first collective work , "Meaning at Work: Management and Social Issues" in 2022. This focus enriches the three main areas of research: 1/ Health at work, 2/ Territories and responsible HRM, 3/ Management and social issues. Management and Social Issues" in 2022. This focus enriches the three main areas of research: 1/ Health at work, 2/ Territories and responsible HRM, 3/ New forms of organizations, employment, and work.

The Human Resources research group has been operating at the Montpellier site for over 20 years and is currently headed by Anne LOUBES and Claude FABRE. Its research aims to make a theoretical contribution to the field of human resources management while responding to managerial and societal demands. Most often, it stems from internal collective frameworks, but also from collaborations with other MRM thematic groups and research laboratories at other universities. It should be noted that a researcher may be involved in several thematic areas and that some research is at the interface of several areas.

The research group's current scientific policy is in line with the two cross-disciplinary research areas of the MRM research laboratory (Health and Management and Responsible Practices) and the scientific orientations of MUSE (Montpellier University of Excellence), Care and Protection.

Through its roots, focus, and concerns, the Human Resources research group aims to produce research that is responsive to the needs of all stakeholders within organizations, particularly HR professionals, QWL-PSR professionals, CSR professionals, executives and managers, employees of all categories, and employee representatives.

With this in mind, constant attention is paid to the social, societal, and territorial dynamics and changes at work within and around organizations. Links with professional networks and civil society actors are also being strengthened.

research topics

Research topic 1: Occupational health

While this first area of research builds on work carried out by the team's researchers in the early 2000s on role conflicts and stress factors at work, the theoretical perspectives and subjects of study have been renewed. Particular attention is paid to the prevention of psychosocial risks, specifically stress at work, and more recently to quality of life and well-being at work.

Faced with deteriorating working conditions, particularly increasing emotional demands, work pace constraints, and declining autonomy at work (see DARES surveys on working conditions and psychosocial risks, 2016) in private and public organizations, researchers working on this topic will continue to conduct research on occupational health over the coming years, focusing on identifying levers for action that lead to well-being at work and quality of life at work, and their effects on work performance and organizational performance, particularly in the public sector and in new forms of work organization.

Research topic 2: Territory and HRM Responsible

The Territories and HRM thematic area brings together researchers who have been interested for around ten years in the emergence of an HRM model extended to the territory and permeated by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This new area of HRM involves revisiting the interpretative frameworks, rationales for action, and traditional governance models specific to HRM.

An emerging field of research for business sciences, researchers working on this topic will continue to gain a better understanding of the logic behind actions between prescribed territory and constructed territory, between public and private logic, integrating new players for responsible, social, and partnership-based innovations.

In this emerging field of research and in this context of emerging management situations, the role of the HR Director is being reconsidered. The territory is becoming a new space for HRM, with new actors forming a collective actor and differentiated governance logics emerging. We wish to contribute to the development of actionable knowledge on these new mechanisms (e.g., GPEC in the territory). We also want to strengthen understanding of the forms of inter-company dialogue within the framework of Territorialized Organization Networks (RTOs) and dedicated governance mechanisms in order to fully understand the resulting effects (CSR, responsible innovation, employment-skills dynamics, etc.). More broadly, in addition to a new positioning of HRM, the prospects for a new form of territorial regulation are being questioned.

Research topic 3: Changes in organizational structures, employment patterns, and working methods

Research in this area focuses on the evolution of organizations and organizational structures, impacted, for example, by the emergence of digital technology. Analysis of these constantly changing organizations is backed by a strong interest among researchers in understanding the forms of employment and how they are evolving. To this end, one of the keys to understanding is the evolution of the skills of the various actors working in public, private, and hybrid organizations. Innovation, creativity, identity, and other themes that attract the attention of researchers participating in this theme play a major role in the development of skills. Consequently, we are also interested in management practices that are adapted to these changing organizations and consistent with emerging forms of employment and working methods, as well as tools developed to encourage involvement and commitment.

Group leaders

Anne LOUBES
Group Director
Contact

Claude FABRE
Deputy Director
Contact

Permanent Members

Associate Members

BELMOEITI Kenza
Isabelle Bories Azeau
BOURDIL-RESCH Maryline
CSANYI-VIRAG Véronique
Laurence Dreyfuss
Dominique Lecerf
NOGUERA Florence
PLANE Jean-Michel
RIVIERE Audrey

Doctoral students

BADIATA Narcisse2018 (thesis supervisors: S. Rascol-Boutard and L. Dreyfuss)
BOUDAOUINE Houyam2022 (thesis supervisors: A. Loubès and F. Loose)
EL YACOUBI Aurélia2022 (thesis supervisor: S. Rascol-Boutard)
HELWANI Annabelle2021 (thesis supervisors: A. Loubès and M. Marais)
KOFFI Flore 2024 (thesis supervisors: N. Commeiras and P. Loup)
LABELLE Ophélie2022 (thesis supervisors: S. Rascol-Boutard and L. Dreyfuss)
THEODORE Charlène2022 (thesis supervisor: N. Commeiras)
VIGUIER Julien 2023 (thesis supervisors: A. Loubès and I. Bories-Azeau)
RAHEM Izem 2025 (thesis supervisor: N. Commeiras)
RIBBES VINCENT 2025 (thesis supervisors: A. Loubès and I. Bories-Azeau)

Published by EMS in 2022: Collective work entitled "Meaning at work: management and societal challenges," coordinated by Nathalie Commeiras, Claude Fabre, Florence Loose, Anne Loubès, and Sylvie Rascol-Boutard.

Highlights

Professor Nathalie Commeiras has been promoted to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government (
).

ADERSE/ORSE Thesis Award 2024: Anne Valérie Crespo (2023), Dialogue on shared responsibility as a lever for managers' CSR commitment: an illustration through inter-company collectives, supervised by Anne Loubès.

AGRH-Didier Retour Thesis Prize 2024: Stéphanie Bouchet (2023), The contribution of coworking spaces to peer learning and well-being at work, a reading through the theory of resource conservation, supervised by Anne Loubès and Nathalie Commeiras.

AGRH "Best Papers" Award 2023, article published in the journal @GRH:Florence Nande, Marie-Laure Weber, Stéphanie Bouchet, Pierre Loup, "The raison d'être of organizations, a lever for meaning at work: proposal for an adapted model of Ikigai."

AGRH "Best Papers" Award 2022, article published in the journal @GRH: Florence Nande, Marie Laure Weber, Stéphanie Bouchet, Pierre Loup, "Learning from the health crisis: are there conditions conducive to the well-being of remote workers?"

AGRH – FNEGE 2021 Thesis Prize + AIRMAP 2021 Thesis Prize: Véronique Achmet, (2020), "Methods of managing nurse absenteeism: between the influence of leader-subordinate relationships, presenteeism, and health consequences. A study in the French public hospital sector," supervised by Nathalie Commeiras.

AGRH-Didier Retour Thesis Prize 2021: Dominique Lecerf, (2020) "Breaking free from a strong group identity to successfully transition to a new career: the case of military personnel retraining," supervised by Anne Loubès.

^2nd SPHINX Thesis^Prize 2019: Florence Nande, "Multiple identities of an employee, well-being at work, and individual performance at work," defended on November 29, 2018, under the supervision of Nathalie Commeiras.

AIM 2019 Best Communication Award: Pierre Loup and Johanna Habib: "When the adoption of an application perceived as innocuous triggers a profound transformation of the healthcare system: the Doctolib case."

Theses defended or in progress

Theses defended (since 2019)

2023:Anne-Valérie Crespo, Dialogue on shared responsibility as a lever for managers' CSR commitment: an illustration through inter-company collectives, defended on November 29, 2023, at the IAE Montpellier under the supervision of Anne Loubès.
2023: Kenza Belmoeiti, "The intergenerational transmission of individual skills: what are the conditions for success? A study in the digital sector in France," defended on March 23, 2023, at 9 a.m. at the IAE in Montpellier, under the supervision of Nathalie Commeiras and Sylvie Rascol-Boutard.
2023: Stéphanie Bouchet, "The contribution of coworking spaces to peer learning and well-being at work, an interpretation based on resource conservation theory," defended on January 4, 2023, under the supervision of Anne Loubès and Nathalie Commeiras.
2022: Véronique Csanyi-Virag, "Entrepreneurship renewed through an inclusive approach in the context of disability," defended on November 26, 2022, at the University of Montpellier, under the supervision of Marion Polge.
2020: Véronique Achmet, "Methods for managing nurse absenteeism: between the influence of leader-subordinate relationships, presenteeism, and health consequences. A study in the French public hospital sector," defended on October 23, 2020, under the supervision of Nathalie Commeiras.
2020: Dominique Lecerf, "Breaking free from a strong group identity to successfully transition into a new career: the case of military personnel retraining," defended on October 30, 2020, under the supervision of Anne Loubès.
2020: Céline Duplàa, "Information and communication skills and technologies in a hypermodern context: the case of local managers in a regional bank," defended on November 3, 2020, under the supervision of Sylvie Rascol-Boutard and Christine Pagnon-Maudet.

Theses in progress

BADIATA Narcisse, "Managing psychosocial risks for well-being at work," supervised by Sylvie Rascol-Boutard and Laurence Dreyfuss, co-supervisor (first thesis registration in 2018)
BOUDAOUINE Houyam, "Constructing meaning at work in 'dirty jobs': The case of waste workers," supervised by Anne Loubès and Florence Loose, co-supervisor (first thesis registration in 2022)
EL YACOUBI Aurélia, "Choosing a career change: The impact of support on individuals seeking a career change," supervised by Sylvie Rascol-Boutard (first thesis registration in 2022)
HELWANI Annabelle, "How to build and operationalize a responsible corporate purpose that creates meaning and shared value for its stakeholders," supervised by Anne Loubès and Magalie Marais (first thesis registration in 2021)
LABELLE Ophélie, "Networks of actors and their contribution to hospital performance," supervised by Sylvie Rascol-Boutard and Laurence Dreyfus (first thesis registration in 2022)
THEODORE Charlène, "QVTC and meaning, consequences on organizational commitment, individual performance, and intention to remain in the company in a neo-Taylorist environment," supervised by Nathalie Commeiras (first thesis registration in 2022)
VIGUIER Julien, "Employer Groups: a Territorial Human Resources Management System for Territorial Social Dialogue?" supervised by Anne Loubès and Isabelle Bories-Azeau (CIFRE thesis scheduled for July 2023)
KOFFI Flore, "The effect of digital transformations in hospitals on the well-being of healthcare workers," supervised by Nathalie Commeiras and Pierre Loup, co-supervisor (first thesis registration in 2024)
RAHEM Izem, "Organizational socialization, work engagement, and occupational health. A population study of apprentices," supervised by Nathalie Commeiras (first thesis registration in 2025)
RIBBES Vincent, "Strategic alignment of HR practices and integration of explicit and implicit CSR for SMEs," supervised by Anne Loubès and Isabelle Borie-Azeau (first thesis registration 2025)