Att be om hjälp utan att fråga
ArbetsvetenskapHuman work science - generalDatavetenskapComputer science - generalAwarenessCscwEtnometodologiSamarbeteSituated action
This report is our Master thesis. Our work has taken place at a one-stop-shop
in Sölvesborg during the spring of 2002. We have conducted ethnographical
studies concerning the one-stop-shops frontdesk and telephone exchange. During
these studies we became aware of some differences under which the daily work
was to be carried out. When operating the switchboard the staff usually work
alone and perform the tasks individually. At the frontdesk there's usually two
or more people from the workforce. They carry out their work in the form of a
network, where the colleagues support each other in what seemed to be seamless
cooperative work. We closely studied the work being carried out by the staff at
the frontdesk in order to gain a deeper understanding for their handling of
cases in their daily work. How do the staff achieve this seamless cooperative
work, and how are the cues that trigger the cooperative work being relayed?
In this report we describe aspects of cooperative work and different mechanisms
that affects cooperation. With the aid of concrete examples, we highlight how
the staff in this environment, design their language and their actions. We
argue that cooperative work is formed and coordinated with the aid of various
artefacts. In the concrete worksituation there are cues being communicated that
plays an important role in the success of the work being carried out. These
cues often carry an invitation to cooperative work as we mean that they
function as a way to ask the colleagues for assistance in the handling of a
case, or reversed, function as to show that one is available and can assist the
colleague.
To understand these mechanisms of cooperative work, some general and others
more specific to the workplace we have studied, is of great importance to the
understanding of how cooperation is established. We highlight aspects of
cooperation that are important and must be considered when designing new
technology intended to support cooperative work.
All names on individuals have been changed, to protect their true identity.