Routinization and memorization of tasks in a workshop: the case of the introduction of ISO norms

Changing routines and creating new routinization processes are difficult tasks involving both cognitive and political mechanisms. In this paper we use Defial—a French meat-processing firm—in order to illustrate some of the problems involved in creating a new procedural memory in a workshop and in applying the concept of a ‘routine’. We discuss some methodological implications resulting from our various observations and the choices we made. In our case study, the complexity arose partly from the many different factors that affect the production process, such as stress and the overload syndrome. We show that time and hierarchical pressures cannot alone ensure the success of the memorization of a task. The routinization process is only truly successful when a new state of confidence towards management has been established, a confidence that helps overcome the socioemotional issues arising from the changes that are taking place and that paves the way for the acceptance of change in both declarative and procedural memory.