Along with most of my scientific colleagues, it was a pleasure to work discovering the mysteries of the ocean floor while taking part in missions at sea and
doing research in our laboratories back at IFREMER. The unknown was a challenge and we were ready to make compromises regarding our family life since part
of our research meant being far away from home in order to collect samples and
data, which also satisfied our need for adventure.
My experience with IFREMER started in January 1971. The first Director
(Président Directeur General, PDG, which is equivalent to the term CEO in
English) of CNEXO was Monsieur Yves La Prairie. A former French Navy
officer, La Prairie had fought during World War II in the exiled French Army of
Charles De Gaulle. La Prairie’s family origins were from Brittany and he was
passionate about the ocean and its mystery. This one time Navy Officer was also a
poet, a writer and a philosopher interested in ocean science and eager to facilitate
new discoveries. A trustworthy person with a capacity for listening to others and
for having confidence in the team that he had chosen to build this new institution, I
must say that Yves La Prairie is the only Director of our institute that I had the
pleasure to meet and appreciate before he left us. It was fortunate that he was the
first PDG of CNEXO, since he is certainly responsible for the fact that IFREMER
acquired a good international reputation. I kept in contact with La Prairie even
after he left the center, but all the other PDGs of our institute merely passed
through, after spending an average of 4 years in place. I never even saw most of
them or I only met them during official meetings to hear their speeches when they
first took their positions.
My major concern and criticism with IFREMER was that there was often a
serious lack of communication and personal contact between the various ‘‘chiefs’’
and the lower level employees, like myself, who could be considered as being
mere ‘‘Indians’’. This is the result of the strong vertical hierarchy that exists in
France, and this modus operandi seems to be continuing as an accepted system for
conducting every-day work at the center, even now.
For example, at my level of being a senior scientist, in order to pass a message
to the top echelon I would have had to go through five different ‘‘chiefs’’ or
program directors: the group leader, then the head of the department, then the
director for research (in Brest), then the science director (in Paris) and the general
director of the institute of Brest, who might, if he had time, eventually inform the
PDG in Paris. This was also true for our research projects and proposals that had to
be accepted and approved at several different levels. The projects, or many of their
ideas, were often extremely diluted before any eventual approval, so a person
might easily become discouraged after a few attempts at initiating a scientific
proposal.
However I must say this was not the case for me, because I always stuck to my
primary ideas and made a point of not capitulating. In other words, because I am a
stubborn guy who thinks things through before making a proposal, most of my
suggestions for missions or collaboration were eventually approved in a form I
could accept as well. However, in some cases, I was obliged to work with people
outside my IFREMER home.
12
1 An Overview of Oceanographic Exploration
doing research in our laboratories back at IFREMER. The unknown was a challenge and we were ready to make compromises regarding our family life since part
of our research meant being far away from home in order to collect samples and
data, which also satisfied our need for adventure.
My experience with IFREMER started in January 1971. The first Director
(Président Directeur General, PDG, which is equivalent to the term CEO in
English) of CNEXO was Monsieur Yves La Prairie. A former French Navy
officer, La Prairie had fought during World War II in the exiled French Army of
Charles De Gaulle. La Prairie’s family origins were from Brittany and he was
passionate about the ocean and its mystery. This one time Navy Officer was also a
poet, a writer and a philosopher interested in ocean science and eager to facilitate
new discoveries. A trustworthy person with a capacity for listening to others and
for having confidence in the team that he had chosen to build this new institution, I
must say that Yves La Prairie is the only Director of our institute that I had the
pleasure to meet and appreciate before he left us. It was fortunate that he was the
first PDG of CNEXO, since he is certainly responsible for the fact that IFREMER
acquired a good international reputation. I kept in contact with La Prairie even
after he left the center, but all the other PDGs of our institute merely passed
through, after spending an average of 4 years in place. I never even saw most of
them or I only met them during official meetings to hear their speeches when they
first took their positions.
My major concern and criticism with IFREMER was that there was often a
serious lack of communication and personal contact between the various ‘‘chiefs’’
and the lower level employees, like myself, who could be considered as being
mere ‘‘Indians’’. This is the result of the strong vertical hierarchy that exists in
France, and this modus operandi seems to be continuing as an accepted system for
conducting every-day work at the center, even now.
For example, at my level of being a senior scientist, in order to pass a message
to the top echelon I would have had to go through five different ‘‘chiefs’’ or
program directors: the group leader, then the head of the department, then the
director for research (in Brest), then the science director (in Paris) and the general
director of the institute of Brest, who might, if he had time, eventually inform the
PDG in Paris. This was also true for our research projects and proposals that had to
be accepted and approved at several different levels. The projects, or many of their
ideas, were often extremely diluted before any eventual approval, so a person
might easily become discouraged after a few attempts at initiating a scientific
proposal.
However I must say this was not the case for me, because I always stuck to my
primary ideas and made a point of not capitulating. In other words, because I am a
stubborn guy who thinks things through before making a proposal, most of my
suggestions for missions or collaboration were eventually approved in a form I
could accept as well. However, in some cases, I was obliged to work with people
outside my IFREMER home.
12
1 An Overview of Oceanographic Exploration