The first organizational analyses were published in the United States during the interwar period, and the works of Elton Mayo assumed particular prominence. Since that time, interest in organizations has been growing steadily in industrial societies in general. Among the english-speaking countries, organizational analysis became a distinct discipline during the early 1960's, especially in its birthplace, the United States. Economic growth, the proliferation of organizations and new organizational developments, and the "rationalization of the world" drove Western researchers towards an attempt to understand the social dynamics of formal organizations. This interest has been reinforced during recent years by the failure of collectivist regimes, an intensifying focus on the dynamics of enterprises and management in Western countries, and, more generally, the importance of viewing the world in organizational terms. With respect to this general tendency, which is evident in all industrial countries, the objective of this article is to demonstrate how organizational analysis has developed in francophone societies and how these orientations differ from those prevalent in english-speaking societies and especially in North America.