Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A look at work reminiscent of Terkel's "Working", 28 May 1998
By A Customer
Too often in organization literature, work is treated as the relationship between management and workers, rather than the activities that result in a product or service. Managing the relationship is not the same as managing the work, a point demonstrated by Orr's technicians. The small subculture of service workers described by this ethnography rigorously maintain their distance, both physically and philosophically, from the larger organization structure. By enhancing their status as heroes among their fellow technicians, they fulfill needs not addressed by the corporation. They create identity and meaning through their "war stories" about working on the machines entrusted to their care. Orr's background as a technician gives him the credentials to be accepted by the members of this study. Two reservations: (a) Orr's style does not let us hear the voices of the technicians directly; he narrates for them more than presenting dialog; we miss the sense of personalities. (b)Orr reflects that his acquainance with the work and the technology may cloud his vision of the familiar, causing him to overlook salient points which have become commonplace. Not discussed, but worth exploring: Although gender roles are not discussed in this study, a dialog between a male technical specialist and a female technician demonstrates a conventional male/female communication disconnect. How does this affect identity creation in female technicians? I recommend this brief ethnography to anyone interested in seeing organization behavior from an anthropological perspective.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine description of the work life of tech repairpersons, 24 Aug 1997
By A Customer
This book is a keenly observed description of the
work life of copier machine repair persons --
some of the unsung heros of the technological
world we live in. The book focuses on the
social interaction of these persons' work life,
and how they interact with the machines they
maintain, the customers who depend on the machines,
and with each other in their rather closed
world. It is a "small" world, which the book
describes with respect and attention to
detail. It is a world which is
important to all of us who depend on
machines (because we need the machines to work),
and it is important to the repair persons,
because it occupies the best hours of the best
days of their lives. I heartily recommend
this book to give outsiders insight into
what technical work is really like, and, for
the technicians themselves, they may find some
satisfaction in reading an insightful account of
what they do.
My only reservation is that the author's
conclusion that the conversational world
the technicians build up and nurture in
their work is, while important, ultimately
only a means to the end of fixing the machines
is unfairly "instrumental". Fixing the
machines is assuredly one of the goals of
this discourse: it is the goal which
matters to the customers and the manufacturer.
But the conversation itself is also *an*
important goal for the repair persons in
helping give meaning to their lives. Every person
has a basic human need for meaning, and this
book shows how these persons make meaning
in their work as well as producing the
instrumental product. IMO every job must
be judged not just in terms of what it
does for the employer and for the customer, but also in terms of what it does
(or does not do), besides paying
money, for the worker.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for all service managers and service providers., 21 Mar 1999
By A Customer
The book was recommended to me. I work for the company that the book deals with, in fact, I am a Technical Representative. That is the title of the job when I was hired 20 years ago. We now are called Customer Service Engineers, I still say Tech. Rep. I read the book and gave it to my manager to read, she hasn't returned it yet. The book makes some interesting points and observations about the Tech. Reps. world. How we interact with other Tech. Reps and our bosses and how we "get along" with our machines. It explained who we are and what we do, or try to do. Should be on any service managers reading list. I won't comment on the academic areas of the book, above my area of knowledge. It opened my eyes, and made me look as customers, service and copiers/printers/equipment as I had not done so in the past.
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