Produce self-commitment at work. Modalities of organizational work in a growing start-up

While an increasing number of companies are drawing inspiration from the organizational model of start-ups to modernize their managerial practices, little is known about how work is concretely organized within these young innovative companies. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted in start-up in hypergrowth, this article aims to open the black box of these companies observe organizational work and its effects on work and workers. The investigation shows how the emphasis placed on relational proximity, well-being at work, self-management and responsibility of the workers produces forms of commitment to work that are all the more effective because they come from the self-constraint of the workers. This article also highlights the consequences of the financialization of these companies on managerial practices, which become more formal, more hierarchical and more focused on productivity, which tends to worsen working conditions, but also working relationships.