Talking about Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job (Collection on Technology and Work) [Paperback]

Julian E. Orr (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801483905
• ISBN-13: 978-0801483905
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A look at work reminiscent of Terkel's "Working", May 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Talking about Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job (Collection on Technology and Work) (Paperback)

Too often in organization literature, work is treated as the relationship between management and workers, rather than the activities that result in a product or service. Managing the relationship is not the same as managing the work, a point demonstrated by Orr's technicians. The small subculture of service workers described by this ethnography rigorously maintain their distance, both physically and philosophically, from the larger organization structure. By enhancing their status as heroes among their fellow technicians, they fulfill needs not addressed by the corporation. They create identity and meaning through their "war stories" about working on the machines entrusted to their care. Orr's background as a technician gives him the credentials to be accepted by the members of this study.

Two reservations: (a) Orr's style does not let us hear the voices of the technicians directly; he narrates for them more than presenting dialog; we miss the sense of personalities. (b)Orr reflects that his acquainance with the work and the technology may cloud his vision of the familiar, causing him to overlook salient points which have become commonplace.

Not discussed, but worth exploring: Although gender roles are not discussed in this study, a dialog between a male technical specialist and a female technician demonstrates a conventional male/female communication disconnect. How does this affect identity creation in female technicians? I recommend this brief ethnography to anyone interested in seeing organization behavior from an anthropological perspective.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing How versus Knowing That, June 17, 2005

By 

I. Waisberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking about Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job (Collection on Technology and Work) (Paperback)

Julian Orr's book portraits the way technicians at Xerox acquire the skills needed in order to maintain and repair machines. Having worked in a similar environment I found Orr's insights profound and true. Orr is influenced by the work of ethnomethodologist Harold Garfinkel and anthropologist Lucy Suchman. Instead of focusing on sterile abstractions of work, Orr provides a thick description of practice. Anyone interested in learning how people work and learn is well advised to read this book closely.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Review of Julian Orr's "Talking about Machines", December 8, 1999

By 

Mina Ohuchi (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talking about Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job (Collection on Technology and Work) (Paperback)

Heralded as a book which demonstrates "an uncompromising ethnographic eye on work practices (1996:xiv)", Talking about Machines by Julian Orr does not live up to its advertising. While being thorough (overly so) in his explanations of the "interactions" of technicians who travel to clients throughout Silicon Valley, he is sadly lacking in providing the ehtnography he claims to be striving towards. The pedantic, tedious, and painful blow-by-blow description of every conversation within the group he follows as an "anthropologist" is overdone, and the "vignettes" which follow are lacking in ethnographical explanation and style. While Julian Orr's initial intentions and the foreword was written in an intrigueing manner, he did not live up to it in the rest of the book. In the beginning, he spoke of looking closely at the interactions of the group of people who go around as mobile technicians to problem solve machines at companies in Silicon Valley. He wrote that he was interested in looking at the interactions of the technicians in relation to the high tech environment, and that he would focus on the "triangle" of the technician, the customer, and machines. He did indeed go very much into detail of the technician's interactions, but too much so without enough perspective or insight. I do not feel as though I gained a better understanding of their work environment, the machines, or their relationship. In fact, most of the time the conversations he relayed in the book almost action by action seemed to be a long litany of complaints the technicians had. For a reader interested in the very detailed (and not particularly ethnographic) commentary on technicians, this book might be of interest. For someone expecting something with a bit more soul, go elsewhere. While I believe the book had great potential in using the case studies and vignettes to illustrate interrelationships and relationships, it unfortunately did not live up to my expectations in that area.