Abstract
The article is an analysis of the social organization of complaint-making and -negotiation in a Work Incentive Program. In it I treat complaint-making and -negotiation as ongoing interactional procedures for defining and managing ambiguous and contradictory organizational purposes and goals to which staff members are held accountable. These procedures involved accusing other staff members of acting in improper ways. Through negotiations about such complaints, staff members produced short-term and practical understandings of relevant organizational purposes and goals as well as of proper work performance. The negotiations focused on two issues: whether the choices and actions in questions were (1) consistent with general organizational purposes, and (2) determined by written rules and procedure beyond persons' control. The article concludes by considering some of the implications of the findings for the analysis of complaint-making and -negotiation in contemporary organizations.
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