Defining the work situation in organization theory: bringing Goffman back in. Issue 6 (2nd November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Klemsdal, Lars; Clegg, Stewart
• Is Part Of: Culture and organization. Volume 28:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 471
• Page End: 484
• Publication Date: 2022-11-02
• Subjects: Frame analysis -- Goffman -- organization theory -- social situation -- situated organization; Culture -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; 302.305
• DOI: 10.1080/14759551.2022.2090563
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-9551

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The organization is traditionally assumed as the principal context of work. This assumption no longer holds in post-industrial and post-bureaucratic settings. Conducting meetings from home while juggling household responsibilities can be characterized as a form of organizing, but such contexts is not well accommodated by organizational perspectives. In such contexts, the organization plays a varying and often limited role. To accommodate this decomposition and re-composition of how work is organized, the present study develops a conceptual framework centered on the work situation . Building on Goffman's account of social situations (1966, 1974), the analysis draws an explicit distinction between the context of work as a series of potential frames and the work situation as an enacted framework for gestalting the specific work at hand. On this view, the organization as a formal setting or social assembly is just one of many frames that influence what actors do at work.