The other two lawyers hold the roles as secondary authoritarians. Eric and I have roles as production workers. This means all work that needs to be done or documents that need to be produced occurs through us. I also have other roles which constitute a role set. In addition to a production work role, I have the role of accountant and file clerk as well.All three attorneys often find themselves in a situation of role strain. Since the practice of choice in this firm is family law, many of the cases involve messy and emotional divorces and adoptions. On one hand, the attorneys are supposed to be caring and help their clients through the case. On the other hand, the attorneys have to be ruthless in the collection of fees for their work. This can entail suing clients who have been extremely delinquent in the payment of their bills. However, more often than not, the attorneys find themselves caught in a humanitarian role and allow the delinquent client to trade a service, such as office cleaning, for the payment of the fees (Zanden).Interactions are another part of the social structure in this workplace. Del keeps his interactions with Eric formal. This is due to the fact that Eric is new to the firm. With time his interactions will become more informal. All other interactions in the office are informal. Often, interactions are done in writing and notes are left on chairs and desks. One of the female attorneys prefers non-confrontational interactions, while the other prefers face-to-face interactions. This way she feels her instructions and requests are fully and completely understood. Eric and I have very informal interactions. All information passed between us is verbal. In fact, our interactions have fallen into a daily pattern that helps to break up the long workday. This is an often found occurrence in work situations when the work performed is tedious and boring (Roy). We begin the day by discussing the list of wor...
