Work, Meaning, and Identity: A Study of Semi-Clandestine Factory Interactions

Michel Anteby

New York University

Homers: artifacts manufactured in factories, on company time and with company materials or tools, for personal use

Presentation Outline

1. Theory and research questions

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Extending social networks literature

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Meaning: any attribute of the social interaction that participants repeatedly make salient

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Social interactions, ties, and networks 2. Field setting, data, and methods 3. Patterns of meaning 4. Contributions and framing

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S2 S1 W S E B P O

Interactions Around Homers

Supervisor 2 = S2 Supervisor 1 = S1

Workshop 2

S2 S1 E E = Executive Welder = W Saw Operator = S W S B P

Workshop 1

O B = Blacksmith O = Office Worker P = Press Operator

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Interactions, Ties and Networks

Social Network (E.g.: Friendship, Romantic Involvement, Board of Directors) Social Tie 1 [A-B] Social Tie 2 [B-C] Social Tie 3 [C-D]

…

Interaction X A B C Interaction Y A B C Interaction Z A B C

…

t

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Prior Research on Interactions in Networks



Social interactions are the building blocks of organizational life

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Goffman 1967; Salancik and Pfeffer 1978; Brief and Nord 1990



Knowledge of the effects of these interactions has burgeoned in recent years

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Employee hiring, bank lending rates, inner-city development

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But the meaning of these interactions has mostly been assumed homogenous in network research

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Calls to Enrich the Literature

  

Stinchcombe (1990: 381) on inter-corporate ties

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“We need to know what flows across these links, who decides on those flows in the light of what interests.” White (1992: 65-66) in Identity and Control

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“Until now, network constructs have lain undigested, increasingly indispensable for… insight but inert theoretically.” Salancik (1995: 346) on structural holes

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“There is danger in network analysis of not seeing the trees in the forest. Interactions, the building blocks of networks, are too easily taken for granted.”

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Research Questions



How do people make meaning of the social interactions that form network ties?

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When participants are not considered equal

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Specifically in semi-clandestine settings



How can we explain variations in meanings attributed to network ties?

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From participants’ perspective

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Ego-centered view

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Field Setting and Data



In-depth study of an aerospace factory

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Pierreville located near Paris

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4,000 employees

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Main production is airplane engines



Multiple data sources to triangulate

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Interviews (N=70) with retirees

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Observations at the Labor Council (~ 43 days)

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Mail surveys (N=184) on retirement homers Archives on employment, labor relations, unions

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Unit of Analysis and Methods



Narrated dyadic interaction around homer events Interactions 1. Ego-Ego 2. Ego-Alter for Ego 3. Ego-Alter for Alter 4. Ego-Alter for 3 rd Recipient E A R Meanings are derived from the coding of the interviews, the observations and archives

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Receiving Retirement Homers



Associated with

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Employment in the prototype workshop (F = 6.26, d.f. = 171, p < 0.05)

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Technical training of recipient (F = 18.29, d.f. = 170, p < 0.01)



Not significantly associated with

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Hierarchical level (F = 0.02, d.f. = 183, p = 0.89)

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First Research Question



How do people make meaning of the social interactions that form network ties?

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Categories of Tie Meanings Attached to Homer Interactions

• Respect and Recognition • Collegiality • Jobs or Regular Work • Exchanges

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Respect and Recognition



Narratives recognizing a person’s professionalism, skills, or behaviors and imbued with respect

– –

Key words: unique, creative, proud, noble, respect

One of my colleagues was a fitter by trade. This guy used to be able to mill, to shape on a wheel. He knew all the machines. We decided to make him a gift that recognized his skills .

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People knew they could bring me anything [in aluminum]. A piece of an oven or a broken cast stove, I could weld it. Nobody else at Pierreville knew how to repair it.

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Collegiality



Narratives signaling belonging to a community and appreciation but no specific recognition

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Key terms: appreciation, low involvement, non-personal

This one [given to a colleague] takes only 3 or 4 hours to make. They are part of a series I made. You get a batch of scrap blades, a few welding points and the trick is done. These things we did did not turn me on very much .

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We made a small batch of toy replicas of the Concorde [plane] and passed them around to some friends.

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Jobs or Regular Work



Narratives of regular work with the only difference being that the outcome is a homer

– –

Key terms: normal work, orders, number of hours

A few days later the shop manager saw one of them [Concorde] and liked it. He asked for a whole batch; we were reluctant. He finally ordered us to make that batch so he could give them out as gifts. We weren’t happy about this. We made them because we had to .

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It was done like a normal motor piece . They had all the elements to work on them since they used to make prototypes for us.

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Exchanges



Narratives of give and take, selling and buying, usually involving some kind of currencies

– –

Key terms: exchange, reciprocation, cost, buying, selling

Some engage in homer work to make money. I, for instance, bought these lighters. The guy would take real coins and would insert them on these lighters as a decoration. He used to do this and sell them.

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Anyhow, as I told you, each time we would pay him something – under the coat of course, and what we gave him was always less than we would have paid outside.

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Second Research Question



How do people make meaning of the social interactions that form network ties?



How can we explain variations in meanings attributed to network ties?

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Impact of Participants on Patterns of Meanings

Respect and Recognition Collegiality Jobs or Regular Work Exchanges L-C

3%

55%

0%

42% C-C 66%

11% 17% 6%

H-C

16% 16%

64%

4%

Notes. N = 135 dyadic homer events (in the 70 interviews), Chi-square = 93, p < 0.001

L = Lower level employees (unskilled workers and office workers) C = Craftsmen H = Higher level employees (supervisors, engineers, executives)

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Patterns of Meanings

Jobs or Regular Work Respect and Recognition Collegiality or Exchanges H C C C C L H = Higher Level ?

C = Craftsman L = Lower Level

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Impact of Recipients on Patterns of Meanings

C-C Interactions Only Respect and Recognition Collegiality Jobs or Regular Work Exchanges Recipient L Recipient C Recipient H

0%

100%

0% 0%

91%

0% 0% 9% 11% 11%

78%

0%

Notes. N = 81 dyadic peer homer events (70 interviews), Chi-square = 125, p < 0.001

L = Lower level employees (unskilled workers and office workers) C = Craftsmen H = Higher level employees (Supervisors, engineers, executives)

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Patterns of Meanings Attached to Peer Interactions

C

When Recipient is Higher Level

Jobs or Regular Work H C C

When Recipient is Peer Level

Respect and Recognition C C C

When Recipient is Lower Level

Collegiality L

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C

A ONE-LEGGED MAN!

(That’s Today’s Prototype Workshop)

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Material Study Unit

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Regulation Unit

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150 Workers (proposed cut)

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Engine Unit The 3 first specializations have been attached to other units. For AeroDyn’s sake, we sincerely hope the transplants will hold As of April 2 nd 1984, management wants to amputate our last unit HARD TO WALK AFTER THAT!

This is an operation with no return!

Management is offering us an artificial limb: mass assembly work.

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60%

Workforce Distribution at Pierreville from 1977 to 2001

50% 40%

Technicians

30% 20% 10%

Executives/Engineers Workers

0% 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988

Year

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Contributions of this Research



Multiplicities of meanings coexist within a network type

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Adds to the knowledge on meanings of ties



Social categories shape these meanings

– –

Participants’ category dictates meaning Recipients’ category also dictates meaning



Micro theory of network ties

–

Processing of the tie and tie dynamics

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Framing



Study of an dying occupational group in an aeronautics factory and the semi-clandestine interactions group members engage in to maintain their occupational identity



On the onset, homer interactions give rise to artifacts that are manufactured and exchanged but, at the same time, they are venues in which micro tragedies unfold

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