THE SOCIAL DRAMA OF WORK

Abstract

This article focuses on the social drama of work. Recently, there has been a great deal of technical study of work. Current era is a period of technological change which affects the nature of work. There have been many technological changes, and people have become very adept at describing the technological aspects of work. They have perhaps been less skillful in their descriptions of situations which arise around work and how these situations of work are affected by changes in technology, by changes in larger organizations, and by changes in the economy of work. Work is done in a social setting. And the people in this social setting are not merely performing technological tasks, but they are interacting with one another. They are obeying rules. In order to understand the work, one must understand the social roles of the various people involved in it. In many kinds of work, one person may perform some operation routinely, repeatedly. This operation-in the general sense of operation-can resolve a crisis or emergency for another person. There is some basic difference in the situation of the people receiving the service and the situation of the person giving it. That is an essential part of what is meant by the work drama or social drama of work. This makes for a potential conflict or misunderstanding. In the social drama of work, the urgency is greater on one side of the counter than on the other. It is the adjustment of these relative degrees of urgency that makes up a considerable part of this social drama of work.