ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to ethnomethodological studies of talk at work that may serve as an aid for readers who wish to carry out their own studies according to this orientation. Ethnomethodological studies of talk-in-interaction, often in organisational settings, have been a mainstay of the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) since Lucy Suchman's seminal book 'Plans and Situated Actions'. The chapter demonstrates how a number of organisational polices and features are enacted within organisation-customer interaction by call operators in conjunction with technology. Both scripting and the computer system are most clearly present in the early part of the above call, and these features speak to various organisational priorities; correct customer care, consistency and efficiency. The orientation of the ServiceCo operators is to get customers to troubleshoot over the phone and to solve the problem at the lowest possible organisational level.
