For the past 30 years, organizational structures have been evolving and moving towards lean management, so called neo-Taylorism. It appears as a new managerial way in service activities and leads to jobs restructuration through the implementation of ICTs. The impact on the tasks which have to be performed is heavy, both on the employees in charge of the service (staff in contact) and on the intermediate management, in charge of the control. The effects on the mental health of employees in service firms can no longer be ignored. In these activities with innovation potential often underestimated, it is quite interesting to study the gap between prescribed and real work, with the help of social psychology, human resource management or economic history. It could give ideas to reduce the deleterious effects of these organisational innovations on workstations in contact with customers in service companies. The paths explored include the recognition of the person at work and their ability to participate in the definition of prescribed work and the implementation of joint regulation practices. This communication is therefore based on a multidisciplinary state of art, exploits qualitatively analysed fields by researchers and consultants of different specialties and opens up managerial perspectives for information systems managers and human resources management.
Key words : Real work, ordered work, service activities, joined regulation, lean management