Critical Issues in Information Systems

1. Critical Issues in Information Systems BUSS 951 Supplement 3 Language in the Workplace

2. 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

3. Work LanguageTheoretical & Methodological Issues

4. 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

5. 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 workplace • eg. how does a spoken textsuch as a service encounter with a customer relate to a written textin the form of a bill! • what language or action glues these together

6. 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

7. Work Languageat the Postal Giro

8. 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)

9. Work Language • for work situations in general, the following properties are important: • the organisational tasks • the means of production: tools, raw materials, • the social relations, • the roles: authority or skill based, • profitability, efficient exploitation of resources

10. 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:

11. Work LanguageClassification • based upon the purpose of communication, related to: • work organization, • task, and social relations • the roles of the speakers • the economic aspects are also important in understanding work communication.

12. Work LanguageOrganization of Work (1) • establishing and maintaining specific types of cooperation. • allocating tasksto the employees • work distributionaims at dividing a task or set of tasks among several persons, • some of the employees are idle • the amount of work is too large to be finished within the deadline • utterances used to organise workers to take over a part of a job for some reason • work coordinationon the same task • changing work priority of tasks

13. Work LanguageOrganization of Work (2) • controllanguage aims at verifying that the task is carried out correctly or in the manner ordered • supervisory languageaims at controlling the manner and speed of the work • reporting language aims at informing the person in charge about the current the work state

14. Work LanguageProblem Solving; Teaching and Instruction • task-problem solvingdenotes utterances that are used to solve an unexpected problem in the workplace • formalized teachingand casual instructionoccurring among employees on the shopfloor • instruction aims at giving an employee knowledge about tasks or work organization

15. Work LanguageTalk-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

16. Work LanguageTalk-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.

17. Work LanguageWork Machinery and Tools; Questions • Requesting toolsserves 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

18. Some theory behind Language in the Workplace

19. 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

20. Register versus Dialect (1) • Register is related to, but distinct from, Dialect • Register is an important aspect of what Systems Analystsdo (although they are completely unaware of it) • Register can be used to formally identify different groups in organisations

21. 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 speakdetermined by who you are geographically and socially Register versus Dialect (2)

22. reflects social order in the sense of social process(types of social activity) registers differaccording to semantics, therefore lexico-grammar (but rarely phonology) reflects social order in the sense of social structure(types of hierarchy) dialects differaccording to phonetics phonology vocabulary (lexis) grammar (slighly) Register versus Dialect (3)

23. Simple Payroll ExampleSource: Walker 1994, 131

24. 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

25. New Award Amend Arbitration Pay New Court Awards Award Pay Awards Pay Award Record Arrange Calculate Bank Times Checked Payroll Withdrawal Times Payment Wages 6 Worked Times Employee Payments Made Payroll Wage Rate, Deductions Group Pay Certificate Employee Health Health Insurance Fund Insurance Payments Wages and Tax Taxes Paid Scales Payroll Tax Scales Produce Pay Taxation Group Taxes Office Tax Changed Certificate Payments Details Changed Details Amend New Tax Amend New Tax Employees Scales Tax Scales Scales Details

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. V New Award I Amend Arbitration Pay New Court Awards Award Pay Awards Pay II Award Record Arrange Calculate Bank Times Checked Payroll Withdrawal Times Payment Wages 6 Worked Times Employee Payments Made Payroll Wage Rate, Deductions Group Pay Certificate Employee Health Health Insurance Fund Insurance Payments III Wages and Tax Taxes Paid Scales Payroll Tax Scales Produce IV Pay Taxation Group Taxes Office Tax Changed Certificate Payments Details Changed Details Amend New Tax VI Amend New Tax V Employees Scales Tax Scales Scales Details

31. 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 Hearing • T: union representatives, managers, industrial relations personnel, lawyers • M: written language • Minutes • F: record of what was discussed in the specified Pay Hearing • T: union representatives, managers, industrial relations personnel, lawyers • M: written language

32. Simple Payroll ExampleI Pay Awards: MS, Texts,F,T,M Arbitration Court (2/5) Pay Hearings • Contracts • Recommendations • Negotiations Judgements