Abstract
This paper looks at the orientations towards work found among computer programmers, a group that has received relatively little attention compared to that shown in clerks and others affected by automation. The range of orientations found among programmers in the study of a computer service bureau is presented, examining the nature and implications of this range, and the way it underlies the descriptive categories used in the bureau. At the same time, the advantages of looking at emergent explanatory dimensions are contrasted with the limitations of applying previously utilized theoretical frameworks in the study of technical specialists working in organizations.
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