Normative nature of workplace activity and knowledge

International Journal of Educational Research 37 (2002) 85–106

Chapter 6

Normative nature of workplace activity and knowledge John Stevenson Centre for Learning and Work Research, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, 4111, Australia

Abstract In this chapter, activity in the front offices of selected motels is examined for its normative content. The data were collected by videotaping actual activities in a range of motels, differing in terms of location, size and organizational structure, as well as in the characteristics of clientele that would be likely to stay there. Transactions between staff, between staff and customers, and between staff and the researchers were transcribed and analyzed in terms of the object and normative actions of the activity systems. Normative content was an important aspect of activity in these work settings, but was highly situated and related to concrete action directed at the object of the system. It is argued that, because the normative nature of practical knowledge relates directly to the object of concrete practice in work settings, the teaching of generic knowledge is problematic. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Any activity in which one engages is normative, because activity is directed at ends, and ends are either preferred or not preferred. However, the norms inherent in activity may not be beliefs held by individuals; rather, they may be collectively derived from the culture of the setting in which the activity takes place. Nevertheless, since activity is aimed at ends, it is normative. Rokeach (1976) argued that values are beliefs that ‘‘guide actions and judgments across specific objects and situations, and beyond immediate goals to more ultimate end-states of existence’’ (pp. 159–160), while attitudes are beliefs that certain things are desirable and preferable, predisposing one to action. According to Gaus (1990), however, values are difficult to separate from attitudes. In this chapter, the research question is concerned with the normative nature of activity. Here, norms are taken to be like values in that they appear to guide activity. However, they are not necessarily individual beliefs, nor are they pitched at a particular level of generality. In this

E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Stevenson). 0883-0355/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 8 8 3 - 0 3 5 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 3 - X

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chapter, norms that appear to guide activity in workplace settings in motels are examined.

1. Activity theory . Work can be considered as activity. According to activity theory (Engestrom, 1987, 1993, 1999; Leont’ev, 1981), subjects (people) engage in activity, mediated by instruments in the activity system. This activity is oriented to an object (motive) and produces an outcome. The community, which shares the same general object, the division of labor, and the explicit and implicit cultural rules in the setting also mediate . (1999), drawing on Leont’ev (1981), these the activity. According to Engestrom elements are all inter-related. Consider a subject (e.g., a waiter in a restaurant) pursuing a collective object (e.g., customer satisfaction) through the mediation of instruments (e.g. tables, seating, food, technologies, ambience), community (e.g., people who share the ethos of the hospitality industry), the ways in which individuals are organized (e.g., cashier, waiter) and the implicit and explicit norms (e.g., attend immediately to arriving customers). In activity theory, activity needs to be differentiated from actions and operations. Activity is collective, with a shared object. Even a person apparently working alone mediates activity with socially produced artifacts, including language and physical artifacts. According to Leont’ev (1981), processes where the object and motive do not coincide are actions. Actions have goals that may be a partial accomplishment of a collective motive. For example, a person with a goal (such as obtaining funds by ensuring all possible charges are realized) contributes to the collective motive of successful business. However, other personal goals may be in tension with the collective motive. An example would be charging for a room booking even if the guest does not arrive which may reduce customer satisfaction, return trade, and, ultimately, business success. Finally, an operation is a process that meets the conditions of an action (e.g., asking each guest if he or she had breakfast that morning, recording this information in the computer system, and adding the charge to their bill). Operations are usually accomplished using tools to meet the conditions of an action (e.g., entering data into the computer). Each of the elements of an activity system has normative content. Different subjects (that is, people) working in a workplace have varying normative beliefs (that is, values and attitudes), which they bring from their previous experiences and from other activities in which they engage. For instance, some may place a high value on getting tasks completed quickly, while others may prefer to ensure enjoyable processes while tackling work. When different people with a shared object (motive) work together, this also is value-laden. If the object were not desired, there would be no reason to engage in the collective activity. For instance, a work group may be united in its joint provision of a service and may value both the nature of the target service and its contribution to the success of the business. This collective motive, however, may be at variance with personal beliefs.

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The various people working together may also be part of a wider workplace community, with its own culture, arising from its history, its mission, its place in the marketplace, the various managerial policies and practices that have been adopted, and so on. This culture will carry its own norms, sometimes captured in mission statements or in individual performance criteria matched with the organization’s strategic plan. The workplace typically is organized in such a way that there is a division of labor and the way in which labor is divided will reflect the culture of practice, managerial attitudes, and the value afforded the different kinds of capacities that individuals possess. For instance there may be a flat management structure, there may be an emphasis on teamwork, or there may be strict line management in place. Moreover, there may be different relationships among ownership, labor and material rewards. A differentiating feature of activity theory is that activity and the systems within which activity is undertaken are seen as historical. That is, the various elements have historical content and the object is also transformed over time. The historical content may be embodied in the artifacts (e.g., human technologies may be embodied in computing equipment). The division of labor may have arisen from historical changes aimed at increasing efficiency, or teamwork, or autonomy. The nature and relative emphases on informal and formal rules may also have evolved in response to changes in the object and experience with different protocols. The individuals themselves bring their own historically derived senses of meaning from various experiences. Finally, an activity system is defined by its object. Those working towards the same object are regarded as working in the same activity system. An activity system is constantly in a state of tension as well as in a process of transformation in order to address various tensions. These tensions arise within elements (primary contradictions), among elements (secondary contradictions), and between activity systems . (tertiary contradictions) (see, for example, Engestrom, 1993). Individual goals and the collective motive may be in tension. For example, an individual may be suppressing valued personal goals (e.g., varied work) in pursuit of the collective outcome. The system may change over time in response to this tension, but will inevitably create new tensions. The object, itself, may have inherent contradictions (e.g., the dual quest for customer satisfaction and profit). There may be tensions between rules and the object, (e.g., ‘‘move customers through quickly’’ versus the quest for high quality service). Similarly tensions may arise between individual workers and the instruments that are available for use—the instruments may involve technologies that do not accord with an individual’s preferred way of working.

2. Prior research on workplace attitudes Stasz (1997) clustered the work-related attitudes found in seven jobs in the United States into three overlapping themes: Task/Organization (formal job characteristics), Practice, and Quality Standards. By Task/Organization, Stasz means formal job characteristics (that is, demands coming from the intrinsic nature of the work). In

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terms of activity theory, these would be seen to arise historically from multiple experiences with this kind of work and the continual resolution of the various tensions and contradictions in the work. By Practice, Stasz means the norms of behavior for a work group (much like the characteristics of an activity system including instruments and rules, and the ways in which they are used to pursue collective objects). By Quality Standards, Stasz means the influence of historically derived standards of performance that go with that kind of professional activity (that is, work of that kind in different settings). Such standards may be subscribed to across different groups, but may be instantiated differently within different groups. In activity theory the ‘‘community’’ may hold these overall ideas of standards. Thus, while this separation of norms was not undertaken in terms of activity theory, it can nevertheless be interpreted to support several viewpoints. First, norms operate in workplace practice. Second, these norms come from various sources. Third, these sources can be considered in terms of theories of settings, such as activity theory. That is, current research suggests that the sources of norms might be considered in terms of three basic elements: (1) rules as reflected in norms in that area of practice (Practice), (2) normative aspects of occupations as they have historically developed and as they are understood in the nature of the work itself (Task/ Organization), and (3) normative aspects of the community which shares the same general object, such as the profession and its standards (Quality Standards). Activity theory is used here as a powerful basis for examining activity and its normative nature. In the study reported in this chapter, normative activity in the front office reception areas of motels was examined. In addition, norms were examined in terms of the normative actions that were undertaken and the object to which they were directed.

3. Method Activities in the front office reception areas of four different motels were examined during a single day. The motels were located in a suburb of a large capital city (Site A); a large beach resort with a high international tourist industry (Site B); the capital city of a small state (Site C); and a remote wilderness area (Site D). The motels were selected with a view to their being different from each other. That is, although the work was taken to be conceptually similar—front office reception—the settings were expected to be different in terms of their activity systems. These differences in the activity systems were caused by differences in features such as the size of the business, its location, its clients, the management practices, available technologies and other artifacts, and the people working in it. 3.1. Procedure The activities were videotaped and transcribed. The transcripts were then analyzed in terms of the norms that appeared to be involved in the activity represented. Each transcript was read to identify any stated norms (e.g., ‘‘be polite and friendly to

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guests’’) or any norms that could be inferred from the activity itself (e.g., ‘‘Have a nice day, Sir’’). The list of norms became larger as the researcher moved through the transcripts, adding norms as they were identified. The transcripts were then read a second time against the entire list of norms to ensure completeness. Utterances were coded as instances of various norms. The identified norms were examined for relationships among them, in order to speculate on the collective motive of the activity systems and the particular normative actions directed at this object. The coded utterances were separated into those that appeared to be actions and those that appeared to represent the object or facets of the object (which may or may not have already become separated from the object as distinct goals for action). Actions were then clustered according to the various facets of the object. 3.2. Limitations The study claims to be merely a description and interpretation of norms that appeared to guide activity in those settings at that time. There is no wish to generalize these finding to other settings, just to understand the kinds of norms that could be found in activity in these particular workplaces. The question addressed by the research is the nature of normative actions in these settings and their relationships with the object. Moreover, the norms identified can only be taken as norms that were identified during that day in that setting—situations calling on other norms may not have arisen in that period of time.

4. Results: object of the activity system One might expect the object of the activity system to be related to such motives as that of a successful business. However, such an object was never explicit. Rather ‘business success’ seemed to have been substituted by three apparent facets of it: profit, return trade, and accountability (and more specific aspects of these). Moreover, these three main facets of the object also seemed to be in tension, as we shall see later. 4.1. Profit Profit appeared to a central, though seldom stated facet of the object of each activity system. The only other that it has varied in, it’s a far more profitable property than any of the others that I’ve been in as well. (Site A) At the same time, pursuit of profit appeared to have been substituted by pursuit of funds, either acquiring funds or saving expenditure.

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We’ve got the Visitor’s Bureau down there, two places at the bus stop that we call every day to let them know where we stand—we let them know if we’ve got any rooms available. (Site B) So we transfer the phones through to an answering service when we close, and put a note on the desk that says ‘for reception assistance dial 9’ pick up the house phone—just say do you have any rooms available they say ‘hold the line please we’ll put you through to the manager’, and the I negotiate from there and I come down and show them roomsy but it saves a lot of money. (Site B) Profit also appeared to have been substituted for by working efficiently. I write everybody’s names on this so that if a phone call comes through and they want to speak toy see who’s in the house here now. It makes it easier to find the person on that sheet than it does to find them on this sheet. (Site B) 4.2. Return trade A second way in which business success seemed to have been substituted was as return trade (the first excerpt below), either as seeking professional appearances (the second excerpt below) or as seeking customer satisfaction (the third excerpt). Very much so. I mean they’re all very important but they’re all secondary to the guest. If you don’t have guest and you don’t give them good support and good service, then they’re not going to come back, so you don’t have this work to do anyy I mean you don’t have a job ‘cause they‘d go out of businessy but, yeah— whoever it is that walks in the door is number 1. (Site A) But the main purpose to that coming through to us is so we have got clean rooms when we have got people checking in. We are in to lunch at the moment—it would be difficult for her from her lunch break and run over and check if that room is ready. So we have got rooms in the system. And it just makes us look a little bit more professional when somebody comes in. (Site D) Mainly the guestybecause they’re paying us. So I always try to make everyone’s stay the most pleasant. If they have a problem, I always apologize for whatever the problem was, and I try and make it better. I either shout ‘em a drink at the bar or something—giving them a ten percent discount or something—making them a Best Western member, ory (Site D) 4.3. Accountability A third way in which business success appeared to have been substituted was as accountability. Staff sought accountability in making correct entries for charges. Accountability for time was also mentioned, with the person feeling bored when not working productively.

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Anything to do with revenue comes second as far as posting breakfasts, making sure that you’ve got those charges on there. Ensuring that the accounts are charged to the right place, ensuring that the right person is paying for the right thing. (Site A) 4.4. Profit (funds) vs. return trade (professional appearances) Return trade was sought through professional appearances, but this could involve reduced profit. Rudeness to the point where he actually slid the iron across the top of the desk when he came in. ‘Would you iron your husband’s shirts with that,’ and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’ve got an ironing lady. But I just said ‘What can we do to fix the problem?’ Eventually I said that to him—‘What-can-we-do-to-fix-theproblem?’ That sort of stumped him, because I wasn’t giving him any problem. I was saying tell me what you want and you will have it. Like I said earlier this morning, if you’re nice to people, they find it harder to be awful back. So I thought there’s no way he’s going to upset me. I’m not going to let you upset me. And I just kept being nice to him. (Site A) This tension was also evident in making assertions and making rules explicit, while, at the same time, trying to keep the customer happy and satisfied, presumably so that they would be return trade. But, I tend to tell them that we have a few problems that they would understand that it’s a bit of a being in the location it’s a but tempting to call your friends and tell them to come and stay and if two people have booked then two people only can stay in a room. We tell them if they go into an apartment if they would like two visitors to stay with them we don’t object to that but it’s going to cost them to stay but we won’t have any more than four in a room. And we tell them that we don’t allow parties. We also tell them how to go about getting into their rooms at night time rather than going up and bashing on the door and waking the whole floor up, to use the phone here to phone up and get their friends to come and get them or let them in the door or whatever else. We give them alternatives and just tell them we hope they use them. (Site B) I’ll just go through this—it’s a little bit lengthy I apologize for ity because you’re in an apartment, you don’t get clean towels—because you’re not in an apartment we’ll give you a clean towel every day, OK? How’s that? We will check your supplies—once again—apartments are different because with the apartments we start you off with your tea and your coffee and everything else, but we leave you to your own devices after that to look after yourself. (Site B) 4.5. Profit (funds) vs. return trade (satisfied customers) Profit could also be reduced by return trade (satisfied customers).

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Sometimes I think you have to weigh up whether to charge people for non-arrivals or not. That was a little girl over in Perth and she was in a very big panic because she sent us a booking and she didn’t cancel it. And the people didn’t show up. But—I mean they do, they tend to give you a bit of a sob story too you know ‘gee you know, if you charge me I’m going to have to pay for that out of my own pocket’. But if they don’t cancel three days prior to arrival we have a right to charge them—it’s a guarantee that they have. But I just said to her I’ll look into it and I’ll let you know, but hopefully we’ll get some more bookings from her because we haven’t charged her—that’s basically what it’s about—it’s Queensland Government Travel office in Perth. .... So we decided well we won’t charge that one, we’ll let them get away with that, but they can’t do it again. (Site B) 4.6. Profit (efficiency) vs. return trade (customer satisfaction) Profit as efficiency could be reduced by putting effort into helping customers so that they would be satisfied. They’re pretty well close together and then it’s not much of a walk. (Gets map). No y Look, that’s Bundall Rd there. You’re here, right? The taxi’ll take you up over Chevron Island—that’s Chevron Island—left onto Bundall Rd and it’s down a bit further and you’re getting towards Ashmore Rd. So what you can do if you don’t mind walking is tell them to let you off down near Ashmore RD, right? Near the corner of Bundall and Ashmore—walk back a little bit and on the other side you’ll find a couple of them. Then go up Ashmore Rd and take a right into y (Site B) 4.7. Profit (efficiency) vs. return trade (professional appearance) In the following transcript the staff actually run between the two facets of the object: professional appearances by leaving the front office staffed, and profit through efficiency. The staff appeared to break the ‘‘rule’’ in pursuit of ‘‘higher’’ aspects of the object. Annabella will probably want to do it because she’s upstairs. Because we’re not supposed to leave reception. But if there’s no one here, and a house guest needs something we have to do it and I normally run—because its so big out there, and it can take you 10 minutes to go up to the end and pick up something and then run back or drop something off. (Site C) Consider also the loss of efficiency in saving face. The only thing they say is don’t let the guest know that he hasn’t got a booking, because then he starts wondering ‘what’s going on—why haven’t you done your job right?’ puts them on edge. They start looking for faults. So we’ve devised just through necessity the ability to say ‘Yes certainly sir, and how long are you staying with us again tonight.’ and he’ll say ‘oh six days’ and you say ‘oh that’s right, yep here it is—silly me didn’t see it. And what was the correct spelling of

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that surname again?’ And you know you’re doing those things as you’re going through and you’re able to walk him in. But he can’t tell what you’re doing. So as far as he’s concerned, you know that’s what he’s doing. You get him to fill out the registration card himself. (Site A) 4.8. Profit (efficiency) vs. accountability Profit could be reduced by accountability, because of reduced efficiency. This is another one of those unnecessary things that I think I have to do—that was introduced by the auditors—so that every folio is in numerical order it has to be written up exactly what happens with each of them—whether its charged— we’ve got two charge columns each charge—who to, how its paid, master card visa, cash cheques things like that. (Site B) 4.9. Profit (funds) vs. accountability Achieving accountability could take priority over revenue. (See earlier transcript extract under Accountability.) 4.10. Return trade (customer satisfaction) vs. return trade (professional appearances) The normative action ‘‘being friendly’’ appears to be directed at customer satisfaction, but may conflict with professional courtesies (professional appearances). Compare the following transcripts. Transcript 1 RS: Good morning. G: How are you going? RS: Not too bad—how are you? Did you have a good weekend? G: Yeah—it was excellent. RS: Are we suffering this morning by any chance? G: No—not too bad this morning—I was pretty hung over a few of the nights there. R: A few of the nights—most of the nights. G: Yeah—is there any chance of us leaving our bags here? RS: Surey you’re not capable of driving heh? (Site B) Transcript 2 RS: Great. Thank you. Have a nice day, sir (Site A)

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4.11. Tensions with personal goals Consider also the following transcript (‘‘resolve complaints’’) indicating tensions in return trade, together with a tension with personal goals. But then you get people like another gentlemen that we had in here who complained about the phone being too far away from the bed; we didn’t provide a bathrobe; the chair was too uncomfortable; the bed was lumpy; oh, there wasn’t an iron in his room—we didn’t have irons in every room then, we do now, but we didn’t then—and we organised and got him an iron, but the iron wasn’t clean enough and then the ironing board cover was dirty and he didn’t want that. So we ended up getting Marcus’s iron, when he used to live in here, or his ironing board—I can’t remember, but anyway—so he got all that. He ended up getting our chair here from reception, and he still wasn’t happy. And then the next day he complained to functions as well that the video didn’t work or something and people like that are never going to be happy. Their just never going to be happy, no matter what you do, no matter how much you bend over it’s never going to be right. And those people are the ones that you just deal with as politely as you can and then they walk out the door and hopefully they never come back so you never have to worry about it. (Site A) Accountability was also in conflict with the personal goal of keeping one’s job But the chap that was managing it, it was one of the worst times in my whole life because—I found that he was ripping the place off. And the dilemma for a couple of weeks was—I don’t know if his boss is involved; do I say anything and lose my job; do I shut my mouth?—I probably called every friend I had, and got their opinion. I felt that I really should say something, because the owners are so far away and they really trust this guy to do the right thing and he was ripping them off like you wouldn’t believe. (Site B) 4.12. Relations of the object Thus, from the utterances, the object appeared to have a number of facets. Profit seemed to be a seldom stated, but dominant, facet of the object, with funds and efficiency appearing to be vicarious aspects of profit. That is, staff aimed to ensure that funds were maximized and that work was efficient so that profit was made and the business was successful. Return trade was another discernible facet of the object, with customer satisfaction and professional appearances appearing to be vicarious aspects of it. That is, staff aimed for professional appearances, so that there would be return trade and the business would be successful. They also aimed at customer satisfaction, also presumably for return trade. A third facet of the object was accountability. These facets illustrate primary contradictions in the object. For example, being accountable could interfere with efficiency and therefore the profit facet of a successful business. Meeting customer needs (satisfaction) was sometimes in tension

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with efficiency. Seeking to ensure that customers were satisfied and would become return trade was also sometimes in conflict with obtaining funds. Thus, this snapshot of the activity systems reveals primary contradictions in the object of successful business. Profit, return trade, and accountability have become reified, to some extent, as have funds and efficiency as aspects of profit, and customer satisfaction and professional appearances, as aspects of return trade. Perhaps, this reification of facets of the object provides a snapshot of the trajectory of the object, where the primary contradictions in the object appear to have led to the creation of separate facets and aspects, which may, over time become separate, but inherently contradictory goals. That is, it is suggested that, over time, in the development of the activity systems, these facets and their aspects may have been immersed in the object of ‘‘successful business’’, but that over time, were in the process of being transformed into goals for achieving a successful business. (Staff actions appeared to be aiming directly at these goals.) The tensions between such goals and the object would then give rise to secondary contradictions.

5. Results: normative actions Various normative actions directed at the object and its various facets outlined above were identified. In Fig. 1, normative actions directed at the various facets of the object are grouped in terms of these facets, even though most are directed at more than one facet. A further set of personal goals is shown in an octagon at the base of the figure. These seem to be personal normative goals not derived from the activity system—they may well contribute to the objects, but are essentially individuals’ preferences. Actions are outlined and illustrated in the following paragraphs. Characteristics of various normative actions are illustrated in Tables 1–4, clustered according to various facets of the object. Since most actions were directed at more than one facet or aspect, this clustering is mainly for convenience. Examples of actions directed at funds (Table 1) included realizing all charges, ensuring the account was paid, keeping others honest, asserting but appeasing, laying down the rules, using own judgement, informing guests, being persistent, and directing responsibility to guests or others. Examples of working efficiently (Table 2) included keeping others informed, keeping back up procedures, assigning responsibility, being accurate, ensuring to do everything, finding out and clarifying, and keeping back-up records. Examples of actions directed at professional appearances and customers satisfaction (Table 3), presumably in order to ensure return trade, included being friendly, doing more than one thing at a time, being courteous, being helpful, resolving complaints, keeping the front office staffed, and referring matters to the boss. Finally, examples of actions directed at accountability (Table 4) included intervention, checking up on others, meeting accounting requirements of auditors, reconciling anomalies, and keeping cash and charges right.

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Actions

OBJECT

Actions

Successful Business Keep others informed

Keep back-up Procedures Assign responsibility

Realize all charges Ensure account paid Keep others honest (Efficiency)

PROFIT Be accurate

Assert but appease Lay down rules Use own judgement Inform guests

(Funds) Ensure do everything Find out and clarify Be persistent Direct responsibility to guest or others Keep back-up records

(Customer satisfaction) Be friendly Do more than one thing at time

Intervene

Checkup on others Meet audit Requirements

Reconcile Anomalies Keep cash / charges right

Personal Job-Related Goals

RETURN TRADE

(Professional Appearances)

Be courteous Be helpful Resolve complaints Keep front office staffed Refer matters to the boss

ACCOUNTABILITY

JOB SATISFACTION Love job Like people Contact Like variety Keep job

Fig. 1. Normative motives and actions in Motel Front Office Activity Systems.

In combination, these tables exemplify: * * * *

the the the the

normative nature of activity and cognitions in each of the settings; variety of normative actions; plural facets of the object/goals at which actions were directed; possible tensions among these;

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Table 1 Normative actions directed at funds Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

Realize all charges Ensure account is paid Keep others honest

Recording all breakfast, mini-bar and telephone charges Get up-front cash or credit card imprint

Funds

Questioning as a tool Credit card tool

Assert but appease

Lay down the rules

Use own judgment

Direct responsibility to guest or others

Inform guests

Be persistent

Funds

Locking phones in units; ensuring that guests did not receive more than their entitlements with special deals; ensuring guests could not access special ‘‘goodies’’ Dealing with ‘‘Schoolies’’; asserting right to payment for no-show bookings, but not insisting on payment

Funds

Division of labor facilitates; technology as a tool

Funds; customer satisfaction

Use of language (tool) acceptable to the group; posing alternatives. Tensions in object

Making rules explicit rules for such groups as ‘‘Schoolies’’ (see above); making clear services guests in particular kinds of accommodation were entitled to; re-affirming check-out times; making sure enquirers understood the limits of available services Foregoing payment for non-arrival in the hope that trade would not be adversely affected; appraising likelihood that guests would pay; providing goods and services to keep customers happy; recouping unpaid charges. Overcoming problems with a credit card (see also Inform guests); referring guest to another authority; referring a cleaning problem to the person responsible; referring a payment problem to a company; admonishing another party about their staff’s cleaning; moving an enquiry to the appropriate source of the required information Keeping guest informed about progress in getting credit card extended; ensuring guests knew what facilities were available, how to operate various devices, what services to expect and how to go about acquiring a vacancy if one arose. Ensuring bill would be paid (funds), requiring continual interaction with a

Funds; customer satisfaction

Profit; funds; return trade; customer satisfaction

Funds; professional appearances

Division of labor facilitates; potential conflict with alternative possible judgments Mediated by division of labor

Funds; customer satisfaction

Use of information sheets

Funds; profit; professional

Material tools: balance of

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98 Table 1 (continued) Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

guest with a credit card problem (See also Inform guests); long series of phone calls to try to trace a guest who had left without paying; persistent series of inquiries directed at determining whether a guest had left without checking out or paying; ensuring contract cleaning was well done

appearances

account, room, luggage, and registration card

Table 2 Normative actions directed at efficiency Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

Keep others informed

Keeping reception and housekeeping up-to-date on room cleaning; leaving messages, in writing and electronically, about various tasks needing attention Recording who had breakfast, supplemented by asking guests directly during checkout; billing guests later on credit cards if charges overlooked; having other staff available to back up; allowing cleaning staff to work out for themselves how to organize their hours; use recording procedures which allow indefinite periods of stay; under booking because of possible errors in the system Assigning responsibility for lack of stock; errors in records; overbooking; errors in credit card procedure; errors in accounting; ‘bible’ tool also at fault

Efficiency

Tool (diary) used for informing actions

Efficiency; funds

Some procedures routinized as tools

Efficiency; funds

Be accurate

Keeping a ‘‘bible’’, accurate at all times about the status of various rooms

Ensure to do everything

Working out what was urgent and had to be done; deferring things that could wait; referring to checklists so that things would not be forgotten; helping each other out Questions; series of questions each directed at acquiring the necessary information to clarify another person’s concerns, requirements or obligations:

Efficiency; customer satisfaction Efficiency; professional appearances

Drive for profit so strong that respondent accepted blame for lack of alertness to opportunity Mediated by administrative tool

Keep back-up procedures

Assign responsibility

Find out and clarify

Efficiency; professional appearances

Checkout as a tool

Routine questions as tools

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Table 2 (continued) Action

Examples

Keep back-up records

clarifying nature of a credit card; reasons why a cheque had not been presented; the nature of a problem; guest entitlements and requirements Keeping manual and electronic records: relating to checkouts, expenses incurred, guest details, telephone and room details, credit card and signature details and accounting details of payments received

Aspects of the object

Comment

Efficiency; accountability; professional appearances

Related to physical aspects of setting and technologies in use

Table 3 Normative actions directed at return trade Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

Be friendly

Initiating and responding to inquiries

Satisfied customers

Do more than one thing at a time

Managing checkouts, phones, the radio, and equipment; prioritizing, where possible Conversing with guests, both face-toface and on telephone; training policy for explicit attention to being polite and friendly, seen as ‘‘people skills’’

Customer satisfaction

Managerial (division of labor) preference expressed; possible conflict with professional appearances Role of physical artefacts

Be helpful

Giving directions; providing ancillary services; re-directing inquiries

Customer satisfaction

Resolve complaints

Keeping cool and placating irate and unpleasant guests

Professional appearances; customer satisfaction

Ensure front office is left staffed

Running and leaving office unattended for only brief moments; replacing staff in front office with answering machine; an explicit concern

Funds; customer satisfaction

Be courteous

Professional appearances; customer satisfaction

Expectation of owners (division of labor) and hospitality industry (community) Mediated by maps; possible conflict with efficiency for profit Possible conflict with funds; possible conflict with personal goals (‘‘hopefully they will never come back’’) Potential conflict among professional appearances, efficiency and profit, as staff broke the ‘‘rule’’ in

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100 Table 3 (continued) Action

Examples

Refer matters to the boss

Referring the nature of complaints and approach taken to resolve them; recommending purchases to owners; referring availability of staff to work certain hours

Aspects of the object

Professional appearances; customer satisfaction

Comment pursuit of ‘‘higher’’ aspects of the object; replacement with a tool Division of labor effects

Table 4 Normative actions directed at accountability Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

Intervene

Asking for identification; resolving transportation misinterpretation on behalf of guests; taking on local Council over expected noise and disruption; hurrying up tardy guests who had not checked out; processing a charge against a credit card when the guest was thought to have left without checking out Checking progress of room cleaning; Checking departures entered by the night auditor; retaining information in case of a query

Accountability; funds; customer satisfaction

Assertion as a tool; cf. assert but appease (See Table 1) directed at funds

Accountability; professional appearances

Meet audit requirements

Explicit reference was made to meeting audit requirements

Accountability

Reconcile anomalies

Reconciling erroneous computer entries relating to charges; fixing up paperwork; lengthy investigation to reconcile various related accommodation bookings, enquiries and guests’ charges; reconciling information sources

Accountability; funds

Material tools included telephones to check up on cleaners and computer to check entries Intersection between activity system of auditor (and the object of that activity) and that of the front office. Tension in auditing requirements seen to be unnecessary, possibly reducing efficiency Tools (e.g. technological, dockets, vouchers); as well as individual operations of asking guests and others

Check up on others

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Table 4 (continued) Action

Examples

Aspects of the object

Comment

Keep cash and charges right

Doing regular balances; keeping level of cash low; ensuring security of cash; getting legal advice on one’s position when suspicious of another’s integrity

Accountability

Balance used as a tool; tension with personal concerns (integrity with respect to owner’s rights vs. possible loss of one’s job)

*

*

the roles of various other elements in the activity (i.e., instruments, division of labor, and the community); and the intersection with the activity system of the auditor.

Thus, normative action was not the direct application of abstracted values, held as stable cognitive representations. Rather, it developed from and related in complex ways to the elements of the activity system 5.1. Job-related personal goals In addition to these aspects of the collective object, some actions appeared to be directed at job-related personal goals, including job satisfaction, contact with people, variety, having a sense of humor, and keeping one’s job. 5.1.1. Job satisfaction Loving one’s job was stated explicitly, or statements were made about strategies to overcome boredom. This appeared to be related to sense of vocation, and seeking the object of the work to be meaningful in a way that related to this personal sense. 5.1.2. Contact with people This goal was explicitly stated and obvious from the joy implicit in statements about interacting with people. The people (as objects—happy customers) nevertheless provided personal satisfaction in the work, presumably because of the coincidence of personal vocation and the object of the work activity. 5.1.3. Variety This goal was related to (and illustrates further) the people contact and loving one’s job normative beliefs and preferences. Again it suggests a relationship between personally significant sense and vocation, and the objects of the workplace, sometimes achieved through the customers and sometimes by building variety into one’s work

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5.1.4. Humor This goal was exemplified in ways in which some had decided that they would approach and interact with guests, some as meeting a perceived expectation that guests would prefer such an approach (see ‘‘be friendly’’), some as a way of helping guests. 5.1.5. Keep your job This goal came into focus particularly when considering the effects of customer satisfaction and when faced with the possible implications of reporting unethical practice. Presumably, this small number of job-related personal desires was a sub-set of individual personal values and attitudes. Moreover, wider societal values (e.g. justice, societal relationships and environmental concerns) were not apparent at all.

6. Conclusions and implications This study has illustrated the normative nature of workplace activity in the front offices of motels (Fig. 1). In Fig. 1, a large number of normative actions are identified, directed at a number of different kinds of ends (termed facets of the object). Nevertheless, it needs to be recognized that Fig. 1 is merely an artifact itself, constructed in order to try to understand activity in the various front offices. The labels are arbitrary and the product of the intersection of the author’s activity system and the activity systems of the front offices. Other writers may devise other labels. Many physical artifacts, including the various items of equipment (e.g., telephone, radio, computer, answering machine, the characteristics of the motel itself, and informational material), local artifacts (e.g., ‘bible’, diary), paper (e.g., dockets, receipts, vouchers), and technology were found to mediate workplace activity. It was also mediated by non-physical artifacts (e.g., questioning, explaining, processes, routines), guests, rules (e.g., leave the front office staffed), the division of labor (e.g., ownership, refer to boss, action to cut wages) and the expectations of the community (e.g., the service ethos). The activity and facets of its object were influenced by the intersection of another activity system, that of the auditor. Activity was normative, but did not appear to consist in the direct application of cognitions about values. That is, the norms were not abstract ideas, or even stated as such, but immanent in the activity itself. Cognitions, presumably, were about how to contribute to the collective activity (that is, about the nature of the object and how to work within the setting towards the object). The activity system itself was a primary source of individual normative action and collective normative activity. The normative ends and the workplace activity directed at those ends did not appear to be related directly to wider normative challenges for society as a whole (e.g., the desirable nature of societal relationships or of the environment). Furthermore, they appeared to be related only occasionally to personal values (e.g., integrity concerns were apparent) and then mainly to job-related personal goals

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e.g. job variety and people contact in work. This isolation of workplace norms from personal and societal concerns works against continuities across an individual’s various work and non-work vocations. 6.1. The object, action, and tensions Activity was normative because it was directed at a normative object. The object was imputed to be a motive like successful business. Various facets of the object were identified—profit (funds and efficiency), return trade (customer satisfaction and professional appearances) and accountability (Fig. 1). These facets appeared to have almost become ends in themselves, i.e. taking on the characteristics of goals at which actions were directed. That is, the object appeared to have become differentiated into facets, which gave orientation and direction much like goals. The goals appeared to have arisen from the inherently contradictory nature of the various facets of the object. Thus, the norms guiding actions in the workplace appeared to have originated largely in the object and its various facets. They took their form from the setting; that is, they were not abstracted ideas imposed on the setting. Normative actions were directed at obtaining and saving funds and efficiency, for profit; satisfying customers and maintaining professional appearances, for return trade; and accountability. However, actions directed at the various facets/goals, while sometimes directed at more than one facet/goal, could also work against the accomplishment of others. Some actions had become so routinized that they took the form of tools (e.g., the form of questioning or explaining) or even rules (e.g., leave the front office staffed). Sometimes normative workplace actions were not consonant with personal goals. Some of these tensions and how they were being resolved were evident in the workplaces examined in this study. These tensions in the object, together with its evolution in response to these tensions (e.g., in the production of goals), as well as tensions between actions, speak against developing a universal, generalized set of workplace values. Rather, workplace normative activity needs to be understood in terms of the objects of work, their history, the settings in which work is undertaken and the history of activity directed at those objects. Moreover, these objects and normative activity directed at them need to be seen, not as fixed, but as evolutionary. What is valued in work in a particular setting, today, may not be valued tomorrow, as the object changes in response to internal tensions, tensions with other elements of the system and tensions with other systems e.g. auditing, taxation and company law. In constantly changing societal and economic conditions, the historical situatedness of workplace norms is particularly salient. 6.2. Implications for vocational education Normative aspects of working are not usually the subject of direct examination of work or of the instruction that should be provided in vocational education preparing people for work. Industrial standards on which vocational curricula are often built

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seldom make values explicit. It is usually assumed that such questions are secondary in comparison with questions of the knowledge and skill that are involved and the cognitive processes that enable their effective utilization in the workplace. Such assumptions are inappropriate for, as this study confirms, work consists in normative activity. Capacities for work are not value-neutral cognitive structures. Rather, to be effective, one needs a facility with the plural normative aspects of workplaces. There are many possible implications for vocational education. It is inadequate for vocational education to ignore the normative nature of workplace activity. However, it is inappropriate to devise a generic set of workplace values as the subject of vocational education. Sets such as those developed by Frankena (1963) or Rokeach (1976), abstracted from concrete practice, would have little meaning in particular workplaces. Rather, the meanings come from workplace objects, they are instantiated in actions aimed at the object or various goals, and they are mediated by artifacts and other elements of activity systems. For instance, being courteous would take a different form in different regional areas; being friendly may have a different weight in different locations compared with being courteous and working efficiently; assertion may be conflict with friendliness; and accountability and accuracy may be in conflict with efficiency. In addition the norms of workplace activity may in conflict with personal goals and the values inherent in them. Thus, inculcation of a set of personal values is an inappropriate response to the problem of developing a facility with workplace norms. As Reed (1996) has argued: Self development is a complex process or appropriation and transformation of some of the values in one’s milieu, often under conditions of conflict, either of expediences (‘‘needs’’) or proprieties (‘‘choices’’) or both. Under such conditions, individuals do not develop coherent systems of values, but clusters of valuations, some of which may undermine others. Indeed, as I have argued, many individuals will feel considerable ambivalence, even concerning their own core values. Throughout the course of development, these conflicts and ambivalences fuel developmental change (p. 13). Moreover, the forms of normative actions and the tensions within and between elements of the activity system varied across settings. For these reasons, to know concepts such as the workplace ideas of customer satisfaction, professional appearance, profit, funds, efficiency, and accountability would be inadequate for effective action in a particular setting. Further, procedural knowledge such as knowing how to be persistent, resolve complaints, or how to assert but appease, in a particular situation would not equip one for all cases where persistence, complaint resolution, or assertion is required in motel front offices. Having a commitment to certain values is also inadequate preparation for normative workplace activity— indeed, personal normative goals may be at odds with those found in workplace settings. Society and its values undergo change over time. For instance, in a nine nation Delphi study of the complex global crises that humans will face over the next 25

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years, Parker, Ninomiya and Cogan (1999) report the value-laden characteristics that individuals will need to handle these crises. They include the: * *

* * * *

*

ability to look at and approach problems as a member of a global society; ability to work with others in a cooperative way and to take responsibility for one’s roles/duties within society; ability to understand, accept, appreciate, and tolerate cultural differences; capacity to think in a critical and systemic way; willingness to resolve conflict in a nonviolent way; willingness to change one’s lifestyle and consumption habits to protect the environment; ability to be sensitive toward and to defend human rights (e.g. rights of women, ethnic minorities) (p. 125).

The contrast between this set of value-laden characteristics and workplace norms underscores the need for vocational education to build relationships across workplace, personal and societal values. The continuing changes that take place in the norms of workplace activity need to be understood not only in terms of the activity itself, but also in relation to other values (e.g., personal and societal values). One way forward is for vocational education to address the questions of values in terms of activity theory, so learners understand the possible sources of workplace norms. They also should understand the ways in which these norms are instantiated in normative actions as well as the relationships among objects and normative actions of workplace activity systems, their own personal values and goals, and the collective objects of society itself. Exploration of the intersections of activity systems may heighten understanding of the various normative tensions that occur within and between activity systems. It is also suggested that individuals be provided with opportunities to experience the press of activity systems towards various kinds of normative actions, and to reflect on the objects of those actions and their origins. For these advances to occur, formal recognition is needed of the normative nature of workplace activity; and curriculum development for vocational education needs to formally embrace the inclusion of developing an understanding and facility with workplace norms.

References Engestr.om, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy. Engestr.om, Y. (1993). Developmental studies of work as a testbench of activity: The case of primary care medical practice. In Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context (pp. 64–103). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Engestr.om, Y. (1999). Expansive visibilization at work: An activity-theoretical perspective. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 8, 63–93. Frankena, W. K. (1963). Ethics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall [Foundations of Philosophy series, Series editors, E. & M. Beardsley].

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Gaus, G. F. (1990). Value and justification: The foundations of liberal theory. Cambridge: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy. Leont’ev, A. N. (1981). Problems of the development of the mind. Moscow: Progress Publishers (originally written in 1959). Parker, W. C., Nonomiya, A., & Cogan, J. (1999). Educating world citizens: Toward multinational curriculum development. American Educational Research Journal, 36, 117–146. Reed, E. S. (1996). Selves, values, cultures. In E. S. Reed, E. Turiel, & &T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge (pp. 1–15). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Rokeach, M. (1976). Beliefs, attitudes and values; a theory of organization and change. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Stasz, C. (1997). Do employers need the skills they want? Evidence from technical work. Journal of Education and Work, 10, 205–223.

John Stevenson is Professor of Post-Compulsory Education and Training in the School of Vocational Technology and Arts Education, at Griffith University, of which he was the foundation Head. His research interests are vocational knowledge, its nature and acquisition. He was foundation Director of the Centre for Learning and Work Research and foundation Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Vocational Education Research.