The article is about impact of public management on administrative work. The author explores the way a principle of proximity inspires a closer relation between bureaucrates and their public. Through law and labor organization, a new public action is designed, based on individualization of administrative treatments et a better regulation. A better understanding of such transformations requires, according to the author, an exploration of the administrative work, with its specific problems and the way civil servants are dealing with them. This article underlines the crucial juridical dimension of this administrative work, generally considered as nothing but minor.