Managing civil servants

• Yves CONTASSOT
  Assistant to the Mayor of Paris, in charge of the environment, cleanliness, open spaces and waste processing
  

Summary

In 2001, following recent elections, a new team of town councillors arrived in the Paris town hall. Yves Contassot, a Green Party representative, became an assistant to the mayor and was in charge of the environment, cleanliness, open spaces and waste processing. Thereby, he took over a small army of eleven thousand civil servants, despite the fact that the Green Party is not known for having a great deal of management experience … Nevertheless, Yves Contassot drew on two separate experiences which would prove crucial for his new job. Firstly, he had worked for the Banque de France since he was nineteen, and where he was rapidly promoted to executive status managing a number of IT, financial and marketing projects. Secondly, from 1978 to 1982 he was a permanent member of the CFDT, a French trade union, and as a result, he knew how to anticipate and solve social conflicts. Gradually, he put in place efficient management techniques to optimise public administration, an aim that he considers fundamental for a Green Party representative.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Élisabeth BOURGUINAT.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference VC240305).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 56.