Description

Book Synopsis

This is a story of how work gets done. It is also a study of how field service technicians talk about their work and how that talk is instrumental in their success. In his innovative ethnography, Julian E. Orr studies the people who repair...



Trade Review

How ironic, at an historic moment when technology has assumed a taken-for-granted status in the workplace, that scholarship on organizations, work, and technology has only recently begun to find its feet. With this splendid ethnography of work practices by technicians who service photocopy machines, Julian Orr has made a major incursion into this territory, producing a volume that bridges disciplinary boundaries by joining the literature of organizations, occupations, and work with that of science and technology studies.

-- Diane Vaughn * Administrative Science Quarterly *

This book should be of value to anyone interested in studies of work practice, and to those who study technical work in particular.

-- Bonalyn J. Nelsen * Industrial and Labor Relations Review *

Talking about Machines

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    A Paperback / softback by Julian E. Orr

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      Book details

      Publisher Cornell University Press
      Published 24 October 1996
      ISBN-13 9780801483905
      978-0801483905
      ISBN-10 0801483905
      Also in:
      Business, Finance & Law Manufacturing industries Social and cultural anthropology Not Just Books Stationery

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      This is a story of how work gets done. It is also a study of how field service technicians talk about their work and how that talk is instrumental in their success. In his innovative ethnography, Julian E. Orr studies the people who repair...



      Trade Review

      How ironic, at an historic moment when technology has assumed a taken-for-granted status in the workplace, that scholarship on organizations, work, and technology has only recently begun to find its feet. With this splendid ethnography of work practices by technicians who service photocopy machines, Julian Orr has made a major incursion into this territory, producing a volume that bridges disciplinary boundaries by joining the literature of organizations, occupations, and work with that of science and technology studies.

      -- Diane Vaughn * Administrative Science Quarterly *

      This book should be of value to anyone interested in studies of work practice, and to those who study technical work in particular.

      -- Bonalyn J. Nelsen * Industrial and Labor Relations Review *

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