Premium
Improvisational choreography in teleservice work*
Author(s) -
Whalen Jack,
Whalen Marilyn,
Henderson Kathryn
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1080/00071310220133322
Subject(s) - improvisation , choreography , craft , variety (cybernetics) , work (physics) , action (physics) , computer science , order (exchange) , business , visual arts , dance , engineering , art , artificial intelligence , mechanical engineering , physics , finance , quantum mechanics
This naturalistic study of the ordinary work practice of sales representatives employed by the call centre of a large office‐equipment company focuses on the actions of those sales reps during their calls with customers. We show how this work performance is organized through an improvisational choreography of action involving not only the turn‐by‐turn interchange with customers on the telephone but also the concurrent utilization of a variety of tools and artefacts. While ‘improvise’ and ‘choreograph’ may appear to be conceptually incongruent, our analysis demonstrates that even though these teleservice workers recurrently fabricate their actions out of materials and means that are conveniently on hand, the convenience is often carefully arranged to afford such extemporaneous composition. Finally, we conclude from this analysis that the traditional topics of ‘work routines’ and ‘routinization’ need to be respecified in order to take into account how any ‘routine’ is a contingently produced result (and in this centre, a craft‐like performance).