Article: The introduction of new technologies and organizational changes at the French Ministry of Finance: The example of mechanical data processing (1930-1970)

Aouatef CHERIF

Archiviste-paléographe, docteure en histoire
Hydro-Québec (Canada)

Abstract

Based on archives of the French Ministry of Finance, and of the French Parliament, this article studies the difficult adoption of, and the subsequent adaptation to data processing by part of the French civil service. The fundamental question concerns the social impact of new technologies. Mechanical data processing offers a more sophisticated means of analyzing information and these new technologies can thus have a broader impact on the modernization of administration. There was, in fact, a strong link between mechanization and the organization of the administration, in particular due to the rationalization process and the success of Taylorism.
The process of introducing mechanical data processing was begun at the Ministry during the 1930s and concluded during the 1970s, with the broad penetration of computers in the workplace. The study has three main conclusions: 1/ human resources proved to be a decisive factor; 2/ mechanization was an essential instrument of modernization and, more generally, of the reform of the French state; 3/ there was an evolution from mechanization to information processing. Finally, the paper addresses an important aspect of the Americanization of management of French administration, with the influence of the rationalization movement, and subsequently, after World War II, the search for productivity gains.