Quel mode d’existence pour l’organisation  ?

Existant literature on organizational action is hazy with respect to the precise way an organization may act. It tends to vacillate between the affirmation that the organization acts by itself and a reduction of organizational action to that of its members. In both cases, the organization is already presumed. I suggest here a properly communicational perspective, which explains organizational existence and its capacity to act in a single stroke. I do this by observing the situated language practices through which actions are attributed to the organization. This is done by analyzing an excerpt of a meeting of a committee in charge of planning the major reform of a French higher education institution