Grammatical Model of Organizational Routines in a Technical Service Organization

Brian T. Pentland

Working Paper Series from MIT Center for Coordination Science

Abstract: This paper explores the sequential structure of work processes in a task unit whose work involves high numbers of exceptions, low analyzability of search, frequent interruptions and extensive deliberation, and cannot be characterized as routine under any traditional definition. Yet a detailed analysis of the sequential pattern of action in a sample of 168 service interactions reveals that most calls follow a repetitive, functionally similar pattern. This apparent contradiction presents a challenge to our theoretical understanding of routines: how can apparently non-routine work display such a high degree of regularity? To answer this questions, we propose a new definition of organizational routines as a set of functionally similar patterns and illustrate a new methodology for studying the sequential structure of work processes using rule-based grammatical models. This approach to organizational routines juxtaposes the structural features of the organization against the reflective agency of organizational members. Members enact specific performances form among a constrained (but potentially large) set of possibilities that can be described by a grammar, giving rise to the regular patterns of action we label routines.

Date: 1994-08
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP177.html (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:mitccs:177

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Paper Series from MIT Center for Coordination Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Krichel ().