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RÉSUMÉ L’objectif de cette étude était d’analyser la nature des changements concrets rencontrés par des travailleurs dans un contexte de changement organisationnel. La méthodologie utilisée combine des données qualitatives et quantitatives. Cinquante-sept travailleurs ont été interviewés et le matériel récolté a été analysé dans une perspective transactionnelle soulignant l’importance des perceptions individuelles. Les résultats mettent en évidence les changements les plus souvent rencontrés et soulignent la diversité des perceptions quant à ces changements. L’insatisfaction des travailleurs par rapport à la façon dont les changements ont été gérés par l’entreprise ressort également des résultats. Enfin, les données confirment combien ces changements peuvent contribuer à la dégradation du bien-être tant au travail que dans la vie privée.

ANALYSIS OF THE DISCOURSE OF WORKERS CONFRONTED WITH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES : A TRANSACTIONAL PERSPECTIVE Downsizing, restructuring and lay-offs have become recurrent practices among companies today. Whilst the consequences of such major changes on individual well-being are well documented, little is known about the nature of work environment changes confronting workers and how they appraise these events. The objective of the present study was to combine quantitative and qualitative data in order to get a better understanding of organizational changes from a transactional perspective. Fifty-seven workers from seven companies were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed along three axes : (a) What were the changes confronting workers ? (b) How did they react to these changes ? (c) How did they perceive the way their company dealt with these changes ? Results indicate that workers were mainly confronted with changes among colleagues and supervisors, changes in terms of workload as well as task content. Moreover, it appears that not all changes were appraised negatively. With regard to the consequences reported by workers, the findings reported in existing literature were generally supported by the current data. Workers reported a general deterioration of their quality of life, a degradation of working climate and an increase in job insecurity as a result of organizational changes. Finally, workers indicated that the way companies managed changes was not really efficient. Workers complained mainly about information. They reported that they were either poorly informed or not informed at all about future changes. In conclusion, this study stresses the need for a qualitative analysis of the experience of workers confronted with organisational changes.