Résumé en anglais

Are management tools instrumental of socialisation and of behavioural control or can they be vectors of change? Based on four examples of the change process in companies, the author reflects on the nature and the role of management tools, considered as sources, supports or even consequences of change. This leads him to conclude that modern management tools are indeed apt as tools of change: apt to evolve, apt to detect new trends, and apt to assist the management of transformations.