In a complex, changing, uncertain, post-pandemic context, impacted by major ecological, social and political crises in particular, the Public Service on the front line and still influenced by New Public Management (NPM) is always in search of performance. Our research focuses on the difficulties encountered by local managers in managing day-to-day performance. Increasingly complex management situations and unclear performance mechanisms make their day-to-day management work difficult. This generates hidden performance costs in the sense of Savall and Zardet's socio-economic theory (1989, 1995, 2004). Local managers' ability to read and understand contexts and situations requires an awareness that is essential to decision-making. How can we develop situational awareness in Public Service managers, so that they can develop socio-economic performance? To do this, we will mobilize Endsley's (1995) concept of "Situation Awareness" combined with Girin's (2000, 2016) concept of management situation and organizational arrangement to show the importance of awareness in the decision-making process in management situations. Our research design is based on Savall and Zardet's Intervention-Research approach (1989, 1995, 2004). The socio-economic approach will guide our intervention in the field. Our starting hypothesis is that a manager who develops situational awareness will be able to adapt his or her decision-making and actions to the dynamics of complex situations. The thesis will be based on two research sites in the Public Service sector.
