Chapter Three

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TECHNICAL WORK IN FOUR FIRMS

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• OVERVIEW OF FOUR FIRMS
• MANAGING TRAFFIC
• CARING FOR PATIENTS AT HOME
• MANUFACTURING ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
• BUILDING A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

OVERVIEW OF FOUR FIRMS

This chapter provides an overview of the firms we studied and descriptions of the work that took place in them by the workers we observed.

As we indicated in the previous chapter, our final study sample included sites in four firms that represent different business areas: a transportation agency (TA), a traffic management agency (TM), a microprocessor manufacturer (MPM), and a health care agency (HA).[12] Table 3.1 summarizes their key characteristics. As the table indicates, the size of the firms, in terms of personnel, range from 26 people to tens of thousands. Two firms, TM and TA, are public agencies, whereas the other two are private sector businesses.

The sites have very different product or customer bases--three have service functions; one (MPM) is a product manufacturer. They serve markets of varying scale, from local (TM), to regional (TA), national (HA), and international (MPM).

A salient issue for firms and for many of the workers we observed was that most of these sites were feeling the pinch of austerity: two sites had recently undergone staffing reductions, and in TM and HA the threat of having services outsourced to contractors was felt strongly

by the frontline workers. Of the four firms, only MPM is not unionized.

Added to these financial pressures were the substantial attempts to improve productivity that all sites were trying to implement. Almost all the workers we observed were facing rapid changes in technology and in the way their work was done. Three firms had begun using new management practices such as total quality management (TQM), continuous quality improvement (CQI), or organizational learning to guide restructuring of many aspects of their operations.

Finally, as the final row of the table indicates, the two smallest firms, TM and MPM, have no formal connections to schools, whereas the two larger firms, TA and HA, have been proactive in establishing these connections, largely through links with local high schools.

In all, we examined seven jobs in detail: traffic signal technicians working in the TM agency; home health aides and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) in the HA; test cell associates and equipment technicians in the MPM firm; and construction inspectors and survey inspectors at the TA. In the remainder of this chapter, we describe the seven jobs that we observed at these four firms. These scenarios are based on data gathered from observations, interviews, and documents collected at the sites. They are intended to convey a picture of the job in the larger contexts of work and organization.

MANAGING TRAFFIC

From all appearances, the maintenance yard of the Department of Public Works seems similar to yards in any other medium-sized city in the United States--men and women in brown and orange uniforms walk among maintenance sheds labeled as sanitation, street maintenance, electrical, and carpentry shops. Sanitation vehicles, a variety of pickup trucks, and a few covered electric carts sit in the lot. A mix of office personnel and line staff stand in the middle of the yard chatting amiably while going through stretching exercises designed to reduce back injuries.

This image changes almost immediately, however, when one enters the offices of the traffic signal maintenance unit. The first room one sees on entering this shed is the "Traffic Control Room." Through the glass panel in the door, one can see the computers, video monitors, and communications equipment that are crowded into the small room--a mix of high technology that seems out of place in this setting. And there is only one reason this traffic signal unit has this technology--Sam Burns, the director of the unit.

Sam, who is in his mid-50s, is dressed in a button-down shirt with a faded tie. Both a beeper and a walkie-talkie are attached to his belt. He is happy to offer interested parties a short tour of the "traffic surveillance" system that enables him to monitor most of the intersections in the downtown area. Two large monitors display video images of traffic movement along the main roadway through town. A computer terminal in another corner shows activity as the signals at an intersection go through their phases, controlling traffic flows and pedestrian crossing patterns in four directions. These signals are sent to the control room from microprocessor-based controllers located at each intersection. These units not only control the timing of the lights at the intersection, but communicate with the central control room via a network of coaxial and fiber-optic cables that connect almost all the intersections in the downtown area of the city.

Rapid changes in information and communications technology have led to a silent revolution under and above the streets, fundamentally changing the demands facing traffic signal technicians in this unit. Sam switches the video display to show another intersection, where magnetic signal "loops" embedded in the roadway have been replaced by programmable video detectors that change signals when vehicles pull up to the intersection. The traffic signal unit is working with manufacturers as a "beta" test site for this new technology, which has been installed at two intersections in the city. Sam proudly explains the even newer technology that the unit has begun using: miniature microwave transmitters to communicate among controllers in the network, cellular communications to download "timing patterns" from the central computer system to controllers in the field, and even radar and sonar devices to monitor the speed and density of traffic flow.

The differences between this technological wonderland and the day-to-day reality of traffic signal maintenance are unveiled almost immediately after one leaves the signal control room and enters the shop. Dusty shelves piled high with spare red, yellow, and green traffic signal gels, pedestrian crossing buttons, wiring harnesses, and other hardware reach to the ceiling. A large four-way "auto head" runs through red, yellow, and green phases from its perch on a mounting pole in the middle of the floor. Two new aluminum cabinets containing all the electronics used at an intersection stand nearby, running through tests that ensure their proper operation before they are placed in the field. Two signal technicians sit at work benches, a variety of electronic units open before them as they work on testing and repairing damaged devices. Units too old or too damaged to be repaired sit on shelves atop these work areas. One of the techs says, "you never know when you might be able to use something" in these units. The dust covering the pile of units indicates that they have not been used in a long time.

Out in the field, Mark, an experienced technician, notes a head that has been knocked out of alignment. He points out that trucks pass through this intersection on their way to the harbor, and it has only eight-foot lanes that are difficult for big trucks to negotiate. As a result, trucks bang into the signals hanging at the corner, forcing him to return to this intersection many times to repair the signal. The problem could be averted by a slightly wider lane, but he feels the engineers are not going to listen to him.

Mark pulls the truck up to the corner under the misaligned light and turns on the yellow warning flashers. He sets out six orange traffic cones behind and next to the truck. He pulls on his chest harness and removes several tools from the tool bin on the right side of the truck--a socket wrench, some light bulbs, and a large, specialized wrench. He places the bulbs and tools in the bottom of a bucket attached to a boom on the back of the truck, and climbs aboard. After attaching a safety line, he moves the boom to a spot adjacent to the signal using the controls located on the end of the boom arm.

Mark first turns the light to its proper orientation. He turns the wing nuts on the edge of the cover, and opens the top and bottom lights. He cleans the lens and reflectors within the light and changes the bulbs. Using his hands, he bends the twisted sheet metal backplate on the signal back into a reasonably straight shape. Finally, using the special wrench he tightens the top and bottom bolts on the light. Mark moves the boom next to the other auto head on the pole and repeats the cleaning and bulb changing procedure he did on the first signal.

This is a very busy intersection, near the entry to the harbor. The two roads have six and five lanes, respectively. Traffic moves by at almost highway speeds, and the majority of vehicles seem to be medium-sized and large trucks. The whoosh of buses, trucks, and honking horns is overwhelming. It is a loud, dusty, and very gritty corner. The smells from the harbor, the oil refinery, and a nearby garbage-burning power plant are strong, and seem remote from the high-tech wizardry we saw back at the shop.

CARING FOR PATIENTS AT HOME

Irene Simmons walks up to the door on the first floor of a small apartment building and rings the bell. After a few moments, a frail voice calls, "Irene, is that you?" and the patient opens the door to let us in. As a LVN who works for a home health care agency in Los Angeles, Irene has visited this patient once or twice a week since his discharge from the hospital two months ago. Even without meeting her, one would immediately know that Irene is a nurse, as much from her terse but nurturing manner as from the white coat, identification badge, and stethoscope she wears. The patient is in his late 60s and has been diagnosed with end-stage AIDS. His home is cluttered, somewhat dark, and stuffy. Near his bed in the living room sit a number of small tables piled high with pill boxes, tissue dispensers, blankets, and medical supplies. A television plays loudly in the corner--the patient makes a point of telling us that he watches the news, never the soaps. While he is quite coherent, he is clearly a fragile, ailing man.

Irene visits this patient to monitor his condition. She begins by asking him a series of questions about his appetite, drinking, bowel movement, urination, and sleeping patterns. She helps him to a scale to measure his weight, supporting him so he will not lose his balance as he steps up onto the machine. She compliments him on having continued to gain weight--his inability to do so is the primary reason the nursing case manager, Kathy Carlson, has had a nurse continue visits on a regular basis. Irene uses a blood pressure cuff to check the patient's blood pressure, makes certain that his pill boxes are filled for each day in the next two weeks, and tells him that she is sorry to see an ashtray filled with cigarette butts in his living room--smoking is very bad for a person in his condition. After washing her hands, Irene thanks the patient and reminds him that she will be returning early next week for another visit.

When we go to her car, Irene says it is usually filled with files and nursing supplies that she needs in the field. She normally spends much of her day alone driving around the city. As she drives to the second of five homes she is scheduled to visit this day, her beeper goes off. While she would like to have a portable phone that would allow her to respond immediately to her supervisor, the home health agency does not provide them and she might not want to carry such a valuable item into some of the neighborhoods she has to visit. Instead, she will use the phone at the next patient's home.

Another staff person from the home health agency has arrived at this home ten minutes earlier. Sue Perkins is a home health aide (HHA) whose main responsibility is bathing patients. The patient is already in her bathrobe and ready for her shower, so Irene tells Sue she will wait until they are done and use the time to call Kathy and get a start on some of her paperwork ("charting"). Irene notes that it is not uncommon for her to run into other members of the treatment team who work with these patients. When a patient is referred to the home care agency, a registered nurse (RN) conducts an assessment visit, identifying needed services for each patient. A single case can have four or more service providers assigned, including RNs, LVNs, HHAs, social workers, and physical, occupational, or speech therapists. If a service is needed and the agency has no staff available to provide the service, the case manager will arrange with the intake unit to have an outside contract agency provide that service.

While Irene makes her calls, Sue has helped the patient into the bathroom. The patient is in her early 70s, has pronounced surgical scars on her chest, and has just had her left leg amputated below the knee. After placing a bath bench in the shower and making certain it is stable, Sue turns the water on and warms the seat. The patient moves next to the bench and, with Sue's assistance, lifts herself out of the chair and onto the bench. Sue notes that while it can be difficult to have to lift and move some patients, this patient has been well trained in moving in and out of her chair by her physical therapist. In addition to bathing the patient, Sue takes the opportunity to lead her through a series of range-of-motion exercises and checks her thoroughly for any marks or redness on the skin. Such marks can be signs of injury or even abuse. Sue will report any new marks to her case supervisor.

After Sue finishes helping the patient dress, she says good-bye and leaves. Irene moves quickly through her checkup of the patient, asking the same series of questions she asked at the first home and checking blood pressure. She also draws a small blood sample, which will be tested by the agency lab to ensure that the patient's medication is appropriate. The sample is placed in a small icebox to keep it cool until it reaches the lab. After checking the patient's pill box, she says good-bye and departs to the third patient's house, which is just a few blocks away.

The home health agency that Irene works for is reorganizing in ways intended to provide quality care at competitive prices. Like other health agencies around the country, it is shortening hospital stays for patients and increasing home health care. This change affects not only the training of home health care workers like Irene and Sue, but the balance and distribution of skills for the patient care team, which includes doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, and other health professionals.

MANUFACTURING ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS

The Microprocessor Manufacturing Corporation (MPM) is a mid-sized, specialized manufacturer of cutting-edge microchips. A family-owned firm that has been involved in the construction of electronic components used in military or space applications since the 1940s, MPM expects global sales to approach $1 billion by the end of this century. To reach this goal, the firm has built factories and distribution centers in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. More recently, it began implementing new approaches to structuring work in some units--approaches that reflect many of the latest management practices reported almost daily in the business press.

One unit that has received a great deal of attention in MPM is the Z1 Test Cell, a quality assurance unit that performs final testing and quality certification on some of the most complex chips MPM produces. The cell's work area is part of a larger work area crowded with test and finishing equipment that serves all cells responsible for final production of the most complex military and space-level microchips. Everyone in this "clean room" wears blue anti-static smocks and hair nets to protect the sensitive chips from static electric charges that could be damaging--failure of one chip could disable a multi-million-dollar satellite or piece of military equipment.

The Z1 cell team consists of four members: two experienced technicians (Ng and Roger) and two relative newcomers to MPM (Tom and Prat). This cell has largely taken the lead in implementing the new management practices that have been put in place in MPM over the last year. Control charts showing statistical process control measures such as cycle time, throughput, work in progress, time in queue, and downtime cover a corkboard. One-third of the space available in this work area is empty, following a recent redesign of the work area layout that identified the additional space as a factor in elevated cycle times. When one asks any member of the team who the team leader is, he responds that decisions are made as a team and that no individual holds sway. However, even a small amount of time spent in the unit reveals that these new practices may not have taken hold quite as deeply as it may seem at first. Team members do not understand all the control charts that are posted. When the supervisor needs something to be done, he approaches Ng with the problem, and relies on Ng to lead the team to a solution to the problem.

On a day-to-day basis, however, this is not a common event: the work is steady and often repetitive. Each member of the cell works independently, running different batches of chips through a sequence of tests specified in a "lot traveler" form. Although the test sequences do vary by type of chip and customer demands set in contracts, they generally follow a similar flow. Once the chips are drawn from the stockroom, they are mounted on aluminum test boards and run through high- and low-temperature cycling tests. All aspects of their operation are then tested on the "DAC," an electronics testing machine that is so complex that it requires its own mini-computer. Chips are then run through tests of the "source" (the output side of the chip) and "gate" (the input side of the chip), to ensure they can handle the voltages they are rated for. Before chips run another cycle through the DAC, some lots (especially those to be used in space satellites) are run through a centrifuge test to see if they can handle physical stresses and an x-ray test to check for minute fractures. Despite these demanding tests, failure rates exceeding 2 percent were rare.

Although the members of the test cell have stronger technical backgrounds than many production workers in the unit, these differences emerge only in subtle situations. For example, one of the newer technicians (Tom) had, the day before, been trained to use a PIND tester, a piece of test equipment that was to be transferred to the new unit the following week. Although Ng had never used the equipment before, he was surprised at how long it was taking Tom to learn the equipment. Tom reported that he had, in fact, learned how to use the equipment in an hour, but that he had been trying to run a batch of chips through the tests and that these tests were long and labor-intensive--each chip had to run through the PIND tester five times, one chip at a time. This did not sound right to Ng, who checked the engineer's manual to see if this was the proper test procedure. It was not: chips had to go through the test only one time, unless the failure rate for a lot exceeded 2 percent. For Ng, solving these problems was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his job.

In another department at MPM, technicians are working on research and development of new chip processing technology. In this area, the men responsible for repair and maintenance of the machines are constantly on call to troubleshoot and repair machines that are down. Downtime can cost the company in terms of lost production, which places pressure on the technicians to perform rapid, yet thorough work. In addition, the chemicals and machinery used in this area can be quite dangerous--techs literally have the lives of other workers in their hands.

The team of technicians consists of six men who work two at a time, 24 hours a day. The senior equipment technician, Bob, has been at MPM for ten years, having come directly from high school. Since coming to MPM, he has completed an A.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Manufacturing Engineering on his own time. He generally works independently, first checking the semiconductor productivity network (SPN) to see which machines are down, and then traveling around the "fab" (the room that houses the manufacturing equipment) working on various pieces of equipment. He is very efficient and deliberate in his actions--it is clear that he knows his machines and feels confident. At the same time, he says he likes his job because there is always something new to learn with the changing technology. The very nature of his job means that he is continually faced with new problems to solve when machines go down.

Bob also likes the diversity of responsibilities involved in the technician job, from performing equipment modifications and upgrades, cleaning and rebuilding parts, to designing out errors from the machines. His job involves developing operating procedures for equipment, completing paperwork, and updating the status of his work on the computer through the SPN. In addition, since Bob has a great deal of experience at MPM, he trains the new technicians. Using a combination of lecturing, coaching, and hands-on demonstrations, he helps bring new and less-expert employees up to speed.

Bob keeps in constant communication with the staff operating the machines. They all make quite an image as they move about the lab completely decked out in blue smocks, hoods, gloves, surgical masks, and boots (which are necessary to keep a completely sterile environment). The operators approach Bob whenever machines are down or they want him to delay work on a machine. In addition, the statistical processing information the operators provide to Bob helps him recognize and diagnose problems with the equipment, and determine repairs. At lunch, Bob joins the operators in the break room. All of the operators are female, while the technicians are male. They spend the lunch hour chatting about various personal and work issues, such as the new work schedule being implemented by management so that the plant can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All but three of the 20 team members have volunteered to change their schedules. They'll continue to get the same pay, but will work only 70 hours every two-week period instead of the traditional 80 hours.

Bob does not seem concerned about the upcoming change in schedule. He takes it in stride, just as he takes the rest of his job. His accommodating attitude helps him not only deal with, but enjoy the demands of his job.

BUILDING A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

There may well be no more visible public project in Los Angeles than one that is going on underground: construction of a new subway system that will, over the next 30 years, cost an estimated $180 billion. With the unsteady southern California economy, this project has received substantial attention not only for its ability to meet the region's transportation needs, but in its role as a potential economic engine. It has also been subject to enormous attention from political actors and the media, who have frequently pointed out cost overruns, design flaws, and questions regarding construction quality.

Any project the size, scope, and complexity of the Los Angeles subway system requires meticulous planning and substantial oversight. Whereas planning is the responsibility of a regional transportation agency (TA), three international construction firms are responsible for actually building the system. Between the TA and the contractors sit the project's contract managers: one engineering firm for each of the lines of the system is responsible for quality assurance by ensuring that the construction firms and thousands of subcontractors building the subway do so in strict accord with contract requirements. In essence, their goal is to "make sure the TA gets exactly what it is paying for." On a day-to-day basis, this work on the subway line falls to construction inspectors, who spend each day on the construction site.

Ten teams of inspectors are assigned to different sites snaking along the TA's Yellow Line construction project. These teams are responsible for making certain that all aspects of the construction process--including excavating tunnels and stations, pouring concrete walls, installing electrical, plumbing, and communications systems, laying track, and restoring streets after construction--are completed properly. The breadth of these tasks requires inspection teams made up of highly experienced staff, each of whom has a different specialization. These areas of expertise are reflected in the makeup of one team, which was based near the station under construction at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue near downtown Los Angeles. The four members of the team have surprisingly similar backgrounds--all have pursued some college education (engineering, architecture, or design), but only one has a degree. All have extensive experience in construction, and most have worked on large projects before--freeway construction, mining projects, or international construction. Each has a unique specialty: Sidney, the lead inspector, has a background in design and as a manager of his family's construction company; Paul is a communications and electrical specialist; Andy's expertise is in metallurgy and excavation; and Rex specializes in mining and mechanical units.

The team's offices are crowded and functional--the four inspectors have their drafting desks right up against one another. Each desk is layered with plans, production schedules, and progress reports. Two large blueprint stands and a tall metal rack (piled with hard hats, flashlights, safety glasses, and several new red safety vests) stand against the walls. No computers are in evidence. Walls are papered with plans of the station under construction nearby, including cross-sectional maps of the station without walls, a map of the tunnel, a construction schedule, and a milestone chart. A small sign over one of the drafting tables says "Arguing with an inspector is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. After a while, you realize the pig enjoys it."

The construction site is located across the street from the team's offices. Surrounded by a chain link fence, the site stretches a full city block and more than four stories underground. Although a compressor and cranes operate at ground level, the site is surprisingly quiet--traffic has been diverted around this block, creating an oasis of calm in the heart of the city. This situation has generated vehement complaints from local merchants, who fear losing their businesses before the construction is completed. Sidney has suggested that the team do as much shopping as possible at these stores, as a small gesture to help the owners. One enters the work area via an ill-shapen wooden ladder that allows you to climb ten feet down onto the roof of the station shell. At this point, there are no internal walls in place, and one can only imagine where the tracks will run and where the elevators, staircases, and token booths will be placed. The most important worksite today is on the third level down in the structure, where crews are working rapidly to build a concrete wall. It is cold, wet, and dusty in the completely enclosed space: the only illumination comes from several lights powered by two small, noisy generators. Approximately 30 men (there are no women working in this area) are working on the wall.

Electrical workers are moving feverishly around the work space: two workers are "tied off" 30 feet above the floor pulling six-inch-thick cables of wires through holes atop the wall, while six other electricians work below them trying to pull the cables through a thick plastic cover. The foreman of the electricians' crew is clearly very nervous. Paul comments that he is an experienced electrician who has only recently been named foreman. His crew has been on the site since 2 a.m., struggling for seven hours now to get this cable installed. A carpentry crew that came to the site at 4 a.m. has been held up by these delays, and is starting to work around the electricians because another crew is scheduled to begin pouring cement for the wall in two hours. The carpentry foreman called to Paul as soon as he saw him, complaining loudly about the delays--delays mean overtime, overtime means higher costs, and higher costs can mean the jobs of the foreman and his crew, even if the delays were unavoidable. Paul tells the foreman that he will explain the delays in his report.

Paul sees the situation unfolding at the wall as potentially problematic, and he wants to avoid any mistakes that might create big expenses later. Paul approaches the nervous electrical foreman and asks him whether he thinks the twisted cable is a problem; the foreman recognizes the problem and fixes it. Later, Paul comments that, while many people have the technical knowledge to do this job, effective inspectors must plan ahead and do their homework to avoid problems and have the ability to maintain professional relationships and effective communications with others on the site.

As he moves out of the station, Paul gives a friendly wave to a crew of plumbers installing a pump in a narrow crawl space above the roof of the station. Once he climbs out of the station, he calls Rex on his walkie-talkie and tells him that the plumbing crew is installing the pump. Rex thanks him and tells him he will be right over to check the installation and to make certain there has been no damage to the rebar in the roof. Paul comments that, while each inspector works independently with different specialties and different assignments on the site, they are a team in the sense that "everyone watches out for each other." As Paul leaves the site, he walks over to a member of the traffic control crew and asks him to replace a stop sign across the street that had been graffitied over--not only is it a potential safety hazard, but it is an eyesore that may lead to complaints from neighborhood merchants.

Across town, another group of inspectors works in a very different setting, using very different techniques. Here, the inspectors are involved in some of the last stages of the construction of the Orange Line, an elevated and surface rail line that will, when it opens in another six months, serve residents of the areas south and east of downtown Los Angeles. The rail line is almost completely finished--tracks have been laid, staircases installed, electrical hookups completed. Other than the three-person survey crew working its way along the length of the track, the only other workers at the site are installing electric fixtures, putting up signs, and finishing the painting of handrails and a few other features. There is an unhurried, quiet feeling to the worksite.

The crew stand around the van, sipping coffee from steel thermos bottles. The van is very much an "office on wheels" for the crew--it has room to seat four, with a small drafting table built from plywood and two-by-fours attached to one wall. A plywood rack provides a place to hold blueprints and maps. The back of the van is piled high with equipment and tool boxes that are needed in any job site. The crew chief sits at the drafting table, reviewing plans for the station and filling in a series of elevation sheets that reveal the position the track is supposed to have according to specifications. To determine these positions, the chief must use his "most important tool": a hand calculator that he has previously input with special programs that allow him to determine the proper placement of the rails to a one-eighth-inch tolerance, even when they have turns and subtle twists. These twists, which the chief calls "spirals," mean the rails actually form a parabola, even though it may not be visible to the naked eye. Without these spirals, the trains would not be able to negotiate turns safely.

The crew's job is to make certain the tracks are in exact placement according to plans. This is the final quality control check and certification that the line was constructed properly. The positions of the track are measured in relation to control points that have previously been set at a number of fixed, unchanging locations. In addition to the spiraling of the rails, this site has an additional complication for the crew: the rails sit on elevated platforms more than 40 feet high, requiring a series of calculations to move from three control points on the ground at the nearest traffic intersection over and up to the rail line. The chief comments that these calculations force surveyors to develop an "algebraic mind" and the ability to place objects from two-dimensional maps and drawings into the three-dimensional world. While the chief works for 45 minutes on the next set of calculations, crew members begin unloading the equipment they will need for today's work.

Three elements make up the set of equipment used by a survey team. The main tool is an electronic distance measurement (EDM) machine, which the crew calls a "gun." Mounted on a tripod, the EDM contains sophisticated electronic systems and a laser, permitting immediate calculation of elevations and distances for objects that are "shot" by the operator. The gun must be placed in a precise location that has been carefully established in relation to the ground control points; measurements are made in relation to a "traverse line"--a straight line established between two control points that are in known locations. The second element in the survey equipment is the "back site"--a reflective prism sitting atop a tripod over the second point on the traverse line that provides the base from which any objects within the 500-foot range of the EDM machine can be precisely measured. Measurements are made using the third element in the survey system--a "linker rod" that is placed on each object that is to be measured and sighted through the EDM's viewfinder. The laser in the EDM bounces off the rod and back to the machine, where the electronic systems in the machine calculate the distance to the object. These measurements are compared against the figures calculated by the chief to determine if the objects (here, the rails) are in proper position. As noted above, a deviation of more than one-eighth inch will be considered outside of specifications and require the contractor to correct the deficiency.

As the crew moves to the elevated train station, each member of the team assumes his position. The chain man uses a plumb bob to set the back site directly above a "PK" nail that has been driven into the concrete rail bed at a carefully determined temporary control point. The instrument man does the same with the EDM machine, but is unable to correct the alignment between the machine and the back site without the help of the chief--he has been working as an instrument man for only three months and has not yet mastered many aspects of the operation of this complex machine. Once the instrument is in place, the chief calls to the chain man over the walkie-talkie, directing him to the first site to be measured. The chain man tries to predict where the chief might next send him, and must take only a few steps to find the proper placement. He places the base of the linker rod on the marked spot, pulls a level from his tool belt, and uses it to ensure that the rod is directly perpendicular to the spot. The chain man comments that many of the tools in his belt are homemade--surveying is such a specialized field that it has become tradition that surveyors will make many tools that are not commercially available, just as they must often study on their own to learn how to operate new equipment or to solve problems they have never faced before. When he calls "mark" over the radio, the instrument man tells the chief what the reading is. The chief enters the reading and any variation from specifications in the elevation sheet. When the chief is satisfied, he orders the chain man to move to the next spot, and the cycle repeats itself until the 500-foot section of track on both rail lines has been checked.

During a break later that afternoon, the chief begins to talk about the "global positioning system" (GPS)--a surveying system that uses a network of space-based satellites to fix on any object on the earth's surface. GPS is not yet accurate enough to perform the kind of precision work the crew is doing on the Orange Line, but the chief believes it will eventually replace much of the technology currently in use in surveying.

In this chapter we have moved from a general characterization of the four firms in our sample to a more detailed description of the seven jobs we observed. Next, in Chapter Four, we raise the power of magnification another notch to present our observations of the generic skills and work-related dispositions used by these workers on the job.

[12]Individual study respondents and participating firms were assured anonymity; all proper names appearing in this report are pseudonyms. We conducted interviews at three traffic management agencies and observed technicians in one of them.