AllegroTrans Dec 30, 2021:

Daryo Tony's example of one department passing you off to another and then that department saying "it's not us" surely is the general drift here. I really don't think any further context will help.

Hugues Roumier (asker) Dec 30, 2021:

@Daryo C'est un cours en ligne sur la Gestion de projet. Ce chapitre traite spécialement des différentes structures organisationnelles, et décrit les différents avantages et inconvénients de chacune d'entre elles.

Daryo Dec 30, 2021:

So far ... this question look like asking what's happening outside someone who can only look trough steamed windows.

What kind of "clients" is this ST about?

What kind of "services" are expected, and what kind of entity (the one divided in "functional departments") is supposed to be providing them?

"PROJECT MANAGEMENT" means what exactly? Some internal project? A project managed for a client? None of the above?

The "obvious" interpretation: no "department" will talk to the client is hardly plausible in real life when there is a project to manage.

OTOH, wouldn't "two or more departments will be involved" be expressed as ***overlapping*** competences???

Germaine Dec 29, 2021:

Pour ma part, j'ai du mal à comprendre comment "functional department" peut n'avoir que la traduction "domaine..." dans un texte qui parle des avantages et inconvénients d'une structure fonctionnelle, mais bon... Me semble aussi qu'on est devant la métaphore: "Tout d'abord, le client [est moins susceptible d'être] [risque de ne pas être] le premier centre d'intérêt d'un [service] [domaine] fonctionnel. Dès lors, il pourrait [se retrouver] [tomber] [s'asseoir] entre deux chaises. (= se trouver dans l'incertitude; être oublié)

ancaZ Dec 29, 2021:

Not being addressed at all, as Tony said, because they are not "on the list" so to speak, they aren't in any category that's addressed, or are in more than one.


"... Many of the participants felt as if they were falling between departments, not knowing which department was
responsible for different aspects of... "

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Primary-interview-questi...

"Falling between departments. Seeking information elsewhere. "
A relative of "falling through the cracks"
donc
"passer entre les mailles "?

david henrion Dec 29, 2021:

@Tony ok, j'ai évidement pensé à l'expression "fall between two stools" mais mon interprétation était fausse. Merci ... et bonne année !

Tony M Dec 29, 2021:

@ Asker It comes from the EN expression "to fall between two stools" — you are not sure which one to sit on, so you end up falling down between them!
So here, it could mean that if a customer doesn't fit exactly with one department or the other, they may get overlooked/ignored etc. — no-one believes they are responsible for them. The departments may end up 'se passer la balle'.
We've all experienced this, where you phone up a company, and they say, "Oh no, we don't deal with that, I'll have to transfer you to X department" and then when they answer, they'll say "Oh no, that the responsibility of Y department".