What recognition practices in the hands of managers? Understanding the expectations and variables affecting employees’ perceptions

Abstract

Recognition is a transdisciplinary macro-concept with complex semantics that deserves to be clarified. In the context of work, there is a visible and growing recognition demand and the crises we are experiencing reinforce this need. The subject is important as it is linked to major contemporary social and economic issues: CSR, burnout, bore-out, stress, work suffering, diversity, quality of life at work, psycho-social risks, work meaning, staff turnover, absenteeism, work-related accidents and many items of motivation. Faced with these issues and the multiplicity of recognition representations, managers find themselves lost and poorly trained in recognition practices. This article focuses on the recognition practices that managers can use. The results are based on two cases of organizations (industry and service) in which an intervention-research was conducted. The article provides a theoretical synthesis on the subject of recognition and presents examples outcomes to move from theory to practice. It thus allows researchers and practitioners to better understand the concept of recognition, its multiple representations, and the practices that can be mobilized in organizations. It also sheds light on the impact of the context in which practices are carried out on recognition, contempt and denial perceptions. The continuation of the research on other organizations and a deepening of the variables impacting the perceptions has to be elaborated through the concept of Humanistic management.