TEMPORAL FRAMES - TIME AND TALK IN ORGANIZATIONS

Time is of the essence in modern organizations; yet most of the work o f managers, workers, service providers and a wide range of professiona ls is conducted routinely through the time-intensive activity of every day, informal talk. This article examines the reflexive and recursive relation of time and talk in the constitution of organizations. It sug gests that organizational work is paced and positioned through a varie ty of 'temporal frames'; these, in turn, are achieved in and through t he quick exchanges and extended meetings that make up the business of talk. They provide ways of filtering past practice into present agenda s that are both pragmatic and adaptive. Organizations are made to 'tic k' through talk.