Freedom-Form Companies as an Enabling Environment: A Way to Human Sustainability?

Our communication aims to show that freedom-form companies [7] have some characteristics specific to the enabling environment [6] and to examine whether they are potentially human sustainable work organizations. We will show this on the basis of the first stage of a study in a freedom-form company. In conclusion, we discuss the universal, preventive and developmental dimension of the freedom-form companies. We will show that the developmental character broadly supports the other two perspectives of the enabling environment in the studied company. The freedom-form company, by strongly strengthening autonomy and thus the ability of each individual to design his or her own working environment, allows employees to adapt it and thus strengthen its preventive and universal dimension. We will also discuss the current limitations and difficulties of this organizational model in the studied company. Indeed, the need to acquire skills to discuss the work is emerging today. Decision-making and the distribution of roles in particular would merit more regular but also better instrumented exchanges in the light of this initial analysis. Finally, we will discuss the human sustainability of this freedom-form company.