ABSTRACT
The popular success of television programmes set in people’s workplaces (e.g., hospitals, courts, schools, ‘The Offi ce’) attests to their dramatic potential. That they can be dramatic whilst remaining realistic, points to the degree of drama inherent in everyday life. In such volatile and dynamic work environments people spend their lives pursuing ambitions, and in this process collaborating with or confronting others. Such interactions are problematic. Managers of people in organisations inevitably and invariably deal routinely with confl ict; workers spend much of every day reaching accommodations with others with whom they must cooperate in project teams or as internal clients; all the dilemmas highlighted by drama theory are present and both managers and employees spend much of their time dealing with them.
