Abstract (EN)

The disclosure of information to workers can take several forms (company journal, meeting with shop stewards, etc). This paper is about a form rarely studied: the boss's speech at the work medal ceremony. These medals were created by the ministry of commerce in France in 1886. The success of this institution explains why these ceremonies have became a professional rite. We study the speeches of three French steel companies between 1934 and 1977. A statistical analysis of these speeches shows the presence of words characteristic of a paternalistic management, but it has changed. Indeed, it represented 40% of the speech between 1934 and 1942 but only 19% between 1960 and 1978. Conversely, the number of words about the economic situation of the companies increased. They are nearly absent in the first period but represent 80% of words used between 1960 and 1978.