The role of text in the processing of people in organizations

The micro processes which comprise the daily operations of formal organizations, particularly those organizations charged with processing people, have been relatively neglected. Although conversational analysts have shown interest in these micro processes, they have tended to neglect the role that bureaucratic texts play in these processes. I treat the background knowledge and information that personnel possess as resources upon which personnel can selectively draw to accomplish their processing of cases. Examining the presentence reports filed by probation officers in a county probation department, I find that the structure and content of these reports are explained by various formal and informal protocols possessed by officers; officers selectively use this knowledge in order to accomplish their work. Also important are the roles that officers play within the justice system and the position they occupy vis‐a‐vis judges. I argue that the analysis presented in this paper can be used to examine bureaucratic texts produced by other personnel in other kinds of people‐processing organizations. Such an analysis allows the researcher to discover important information about the routine social action of personnel as well as the knowledge which makes possible and constrains these actions.