Status Degradation and Organizational Succession: An Ethnomethodological Approach

This paper was written with the support of doctoral fellowships awarded by Xerox of Canada, Ltd. and the University of British Columbia. The author wishes to thank Thad Barnowe, Peter Frost, Bill Johnston, Vance Mitchell, Bill Reeves, Ron Taylor, Bev Zubot, Bill Zwermann, and anonymous ASQ reviewers for helpful comments at various stages of this project. Conversations with Roy Turner were basic to the author's grasp of ethnomethodology; the present paper is a partial response to a question originally posed by Professor Turner during the author's Ph.D. preliminary examination. However, none of the above organizations or persons should be held responsible for the points of view ultimately taken in this paper.