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We examine the case of forestry and show the reality of multigenerational forest management. This activity takes two forms: that of distributed work and that of cooperative longitudinal activity. In the case of distributed work, foresters apply working rules, which may or may not be explicit, collectively developed by and throughout History. In the case of cooperative activity, foresters use their knowledge of how the forest functions to optimize the future working situation and thus facilitate the work of their successors. In this case, cooperative work is based on a pragmatic and shared conception of a trajectory. This conception is developed through a form of controversy shaped by historical documents which have become intermediary objects.

The aim of this article is to use an intervention relating to clinical activity in an automobile logistics company to study the conditions which encourage the development of activity and health at work. The clinical activity intervention framework and its methodology among bumper assembly operators shows how the activity clinician’s action attempts to overcome organizational obstacles and to transform them into new resources for operator work development. We emphasize the necessity for clinical work both with the operators, in the form of occupational co-analysis, and with designers and managers of the firm in the steering committee. It is necessary to maximize opportunities for the development of operator activity and for the transformation of the organizational work, despite the uncertainty of our actions in relation to the complexities of human activity and work organization. On the basis of this analysis, we propose three conditions which seem fundamental to sustaining development activity and to spreading this analysis throughout the organization. These three conditions are: work dialogue authenticity, commitment in controversy, transfers of surprise and affects. This proposal will help fuel the debate on the transformation model relating to a clinical approach to the activity.