Clarke, R. J (2001) S951-03: 1
Critical Issues in Information Systems
BUSS 951
Supplement 3Language in the Workplace
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Agenda
this supplement examines a major case study establishing the importance of communication in the workplace
use the results of a study conducted into a motor repair in Denmark and the Postal Giro in Sweden
we will then look at a Simple Payroll system and try to look deduce what texts might be occurring from a SFL perspective
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Work LanguageTheoretical & Methodological Issues
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Work LanguageClassification: Speech vs Writing
we know that language patterns are different if we are using written or spoken texts!
written and spoken texts use different linguistic resources and encode different types of meanings (that is why we have writing as well as speech in most cultures)
spoken texts are especially bound to the situation in which they are found- the material setting or physical space in which a text occurs is very important for speech
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Work LanguageHow are texts related to each other (1)
in order to make sense of the language activity we also need to know how texts relate to each other or are associated to each other in the workplaceeg. how does a spoken text such as a
service encounter with a customer relate to a written text in the form of a bill!
what language or action glues these together
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Work LanguageHow are texts related to each other (2)
their might be direct references to texts- intertextuality links between different texts in workplaces
or texts might be directly implicated with each other by the actions that people perform in workplaces
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Work Languageat the Postal Giro
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Work Language
the following classification of work language is based on a work langauge study of the Postal Giro in Sweden by colleagues (Berit Holmqvist and Peter Andersen)
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Work Language
for work situations in general, the following properties are important:the organisational tasksthe means of production: tools, raw
materials,the social relations,the roles: authority or skill based,profitability, efficient exploitation of
resources
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Work LanguageClassification
we can classify the kinds of language that we see in the workplace based on purpose
this would be not much different to what an analyst might do
when doing this kind of analysis in workplaces we need to know:
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Work LanguageClassification
based upon the purpose of communication, related to:work organization, task, and social relationsthe roles of the speakersthe economic aspects are also
important in understanding work communication.
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Work LanguageOrganization of Work (1)
establishing and maintaining specific types of cooperation. allocating tasks to the employeeswork distribution aims at dividing a task or set of tasks
among several persons, some of the employees are idlethe amount of work is too large to be finished within
the deadlineutterances used to organise workers to take over a
part of a job for some reasonwork coordination on the same taskchanging work priority of tasks
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Work LanguageOrganization of Work (2)
control language aims at verifying that the task is carried out correctly or in the manner ordered
supervisory language aims at controlling the manner and speed of the work
reporting language aims at informing the person in charge about the current the work state
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Work LanguageProblem Solving; Teaching and
Instructiontask-problem solving denotes
utterances that are used to solve an unexpected problem in the workplace
formalized teaching and casual instruction occurring among employees on the shopfloorinstruction aims at giving an employee
knowledge about tasks or work organization
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Work Language Talk-in-the-work (1)
reproduction of Social Relations, Common Knowledge, and Solidarity
does not refer to the actual work in which it is embedded, but its topic is still events in the place of work
serves to reproduce common knowledge and social relations
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Work Language Talk-in-the-work (2)
Examples include:Greetings aim at reproducing social
relationships and keeping the channels of communication open
Comments on a specific problem serve to establish a common understanding of what is the problem or its solution
Exclamations are used as outlets for emotions and at the same time as signals to co-workers about work progress.
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Work LanguageWork Machinery and Tools; Questions
Requesting tools serves to give information about the availability and location of tools.
Warnings serve to protect tools, raw materials, or humans from damage or accidents.
how to account for these various modes of language use?
we need to account for these many different forms of language activity we need to understand that language changes situationally and culturally
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Some theory behind Language in the Workplace
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Context of Situation
we understand that field, tenor and mode are related to the immediate situation- the so called Context of Situation
linguists refer to the kind of language patterns associated with Context of Situation as Register
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Register versus Dialect (1)
Register is related to, but distinct from, Dialect
Register is an important aspect of what Systems Analysts do (although they are completely unaware of it)
Register can be used to formally identify different groups in organisations
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Register versus Dialect (2)
language variety according to use
what you are doing, the nature of activity in which language is functioning
language variety according to user
what you habitually speak determined by who you are geographically and socially
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Register versus Dialect (3)
reflects social order in the sense of social process (types of social activity)
registers differ according tosemantics, thereforelexico-grammar (but
rarely phonology)
reflects social order in the sense of social structure (types of hierarchy)
dialects differ according tophoneticsphonologyvocabulary (lexis)grammar (slighly)
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Simple Payroll ExampleSource: Walker 1994, 131
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Simple Payroll Example
to give us an idea of how detailed an work language analysis might be we can attempt to deduce the kinds of texts which might be collected associated with a simple system
strictly speaking this is an invalid way of conducting an analysis
because we should be actually collecting texts and analysing them!
but we can use our knowledge of what these systems are like in order to come to some conclusions
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Amend Pay
Awards
Amend Employees
Details
Produce Group
Certificate
Calculate Wages
Pay Taxes
Pay Health
Insurance
Arrange Payment
Record Times
Arbitration Court
Bank
Health Fund
Taxation Office
6
Employee
Pay Awards
Amend Tax Scales
Tax Scales
New Tax Scales
New Tax Scales
Tax Payments
Insurance Payments
Withdrawal
New Award
New Award
AwardPay
Payments Made
Changed Details
Changed Details
Group Certificate
Tax Scales
Wage Rate, Deductions
Employee
Times Worked
Checked Times
Payroll
Wages and Taxes Paid
Payroll
Payroll
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Simple Payroll ExampleLocate Texts, Identify Field, Tenor & Mode
our aim is to infer or deduce the kinds of texts that are involved in each part of the DFD
we will apply the definition of a text, and field, tenor and mode introduced in the tutorials
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Simple Payroll Examplealso identify Material Setting for each Text
to these terms we add another- each text occurs in a material setting
this can be defined as the place where a text is either produced and/or consumed
a simple example of a material setting for a tax payment enquiry (spoken language text) is the tax office
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Simple Payroll ExampleFunctional Segmentation of DFD
in order to be able to discuss the texts associated with the Payroll DFD we need to break into smaller units- a procedure called functional segmentation
each segment is numbered using Roman Numerals I-VI and colour code the DFD accordingly
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Simple Payroll ExampleFunctional Segmentation of DFD
I Pay Awards
II Employee Wage Payments
III Pay Government Charges
IV Group Certificates
V Employee Amendment
VI Tax Scales
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VV
II
IIII
IIIIII
IVIV
Amend Pay
Awards
Amend Employees
Details
Produce Group
Certificate
Calculate Wages
Pay Taxes
Pay Health
Insurance
Arrange Payment
Record Times
Arbitration Court
Bank
Health Fund
Taxation Office
6
Employee
Pay Awards
Amend Tax Scales
Tax Scales
New Tax Scales
New Tax Scales
Tax Payments
Insurance Payments
Withdrawal
New Award
New Award
AwardPay
Payments Made
Changed Details
Changed Details
Group Certificate
Tax Scales
Wage Rate, Deductions
Employee
Times Worked
Checked Times
Payroll
Wages and Taxes Paid
Payroll
Payroll
VV VIVI
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Simple Payroll ExampleI Pay Awards: MS, Texts,F,T,M
Arbitration Court (1/5)Pay Hearings Agenda:
F: what is to be discussed in forthcoming Pay HearingT: union representatives, managers, industrial relations
personnel, lawyersM: written language
MinutesF: record of what was discussed in the specified Pay
HearingT: union representatives, managers, industrial relations
personnel, lawyersM: written language
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Simple Payroll ExampleI Pay Awards: MS, Texts,F,T,M
Arbitration Court (2/5)
Pay Hearings Contracts Recommendations Negotiations
Judgements