Organization in Actual Episodes of Work: Harvey Sacks and Organization Studies

Abstract

This paper explores the relevance of Harvey Sacks' work for contemporary organization studies. Sacks encourages analysts to tether their studies to real-time workplace activities; ordinary scenes of work are recorded, slowed down and made the central object of study. Something of Sacks' analytic mentality and style are illustrated through the analysis of two data extracts: an emergency 999 call and a face-to-face sales encounter. A distinctive way of doing organizational analysis is discussed that foregrounds knowledgeability and agency via the examination of sequence and method. Sacks raises the possibility that organization might be recoverable from the fine-grained detail of actual episodes. The idea that order, intelligibility and the constitution of social scenes might have a basis aside from the more general notion of discourse is discussed.

Zooming In and Out: Studying Practices by Switching Theoretical Lenses and Trailing Connections

“…She sets the scene for the next turn, and orients the conversation towards the specific (institutional) topics and features while excluding other possibilities such as small talk ("we are not here to chat", is what I often heard nurses say). When elaborated yet further 7 , such a type of analysis could help shed light on a variety of organisational effects, from institutionality to identity-making (Llewellyn, 2008).…”

Using history in the creation of organizational identity

“…We make promises to one another, we commit, seeding expectations that become habits: punctuality, courtesy, economic contracting, scientific methods, judicial procedures, technical instruction, executive agreements, and so on. Indeed the structures and efforts that mark out what organization is, has been, and might become are created through these forms of performative utterance judged within wider conventional structures (Cooren 2004;Llewellyn 2008;Thomas, Sargent, and Hardy 2014). Here an utterance (talk, instruction, document, or symbol) 'acts' not on its own, but creates commitments amid different actors in various relationships and situations (Cooren 2004, 382), that through time coalesce as organization.…”

Methodological Reflections on Practice-Based Research in Organization Studies

“…According to Llewellyn (2008), practices have to be understood and studied from an analytical point of view rather than only in a descriptive form.…”