The research problem discussed in the thesis is generally concerned with the investigation of a group of men who work as furniture movers. The problem is focused on the dynamic interplay of status equality and status differentiation as contradictions that render harmony and dissension as common group denominators. Three questions were asked. First, are there consistent ways of behaving while working as a furniture mover? Second, if consistent ways of behavior do exist, how are they related to the notions of status equality and status differentiation? Third, if this latter relationship should exist, can harmony and dissent be conceptualized as common occurrences? Four categories of behavior were found to be quite consistent from job to job. They can be described as 'acts.' The acts that were found are coordination, seriousness, humor and advice. With skill or technique of furniture moving being underlying and related criteria for professionalism, the acts are considered by the movers as being appropriate professional behavior while on a moving job. These acts have both a rigid and a flexible quality. At first glance this statement sounds contradictory; however, it was found that the rigidity of acts arises out of the expectations the movers have while working on a given job, while the flexibility of acts is a result of variations between jobs. These qualities have two important consequences: First, the workers perceive these acts as important in raising their occupational status with customers. In turn, by working together in establishing these acts (some of which have originated with management and others which have originated from the work group itself), they are defining boundaries for all of them to act within. By acting toward these acts, the workers are compromising formal distinctions which management has imposed, and consequently are nearing status equality. Second, due to variations in structural characteristics of different types of moving jobs,individual moods, team moods, and customers, the job or situation in which the job is taking place changes. The acts still remain, but the kinds of things that a mover may do with an act changes. This maneuverability with an act offers the worker a chance to do something different from job to job, or at moments, during a job. In other words, he may be able to experience status differentiation. The contradictions of status equality and status differentiation presented in this thesis are discussed in terms of observed alternative lines of action that a mover may choose' to initiate. Harmony appears if the worker chooses to stay with the professional acts while working, and, in turn, attempts to realize both status equality and status differentiation through the acts and succeeds. The acts themselves strain toward status equality and away from status differentiation. Unless a mover was exceptionally brilliant during a job (with both skill and acts), he had a more difficult time experiencing status differentiation than status equality. Hence, a mover dissenting from the professional acts was not an uncommon sight. The worker may feel confined and stifled by not being himself and therefore act too idiosyncratically in relation to what other workers consider to be professional behavior. Another mode of dissent was observed that arose from the neglect of acts. When this neglect or blockage of the act was apparent, the dissent involved a larger number of movers. The movers would dissent from the acts but for purposes of establishing or re-establishing them. The movers do not; view dissent as being right or wrong, good or bad. Instead, the workers view dissent as both good and bad, right and wrong; it depends upon the context in which the dissent is occurring. At moments, dissent may appear quite natural; at other times, dissent may give rise to fighting, antagonism and sanctioning. Whatever the type of dissent, it is a part of a composite picture of men working together at being furniture movers. Dissent itself is not considered deviant.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / "A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy"--t.p. "March 2003" Bibliography: p. 347 - 381.

Orientador: Mauro Augusto Demarzo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T05:05:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paixao_AntonioMedeirosda_M.pdf: 9672207 bytes, checksum: e011879d8aa4447d3e547b2abf30df2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo o de mostrar experimentalmente a influência que os paletes de madeira podem exercer no comportamento das estruturas de armazenagem do tipo drive in com um nível de carregamento. Considerar o palete com apoios móveis em ambos os braços da estrutura, ou por outro lado, desconsiderá-lo totalmente na análise estrutural, pode resultar em análises irreais, pois o atrito entre o palete e os trilhos pode influenciar no comportamento deste tipo de estrutura. A fim de se verificar a existência desta influência em condições próximas à realidade, dois pórticos com características semelhantes às dos fornecidos pelas empresas fabricantes foram testados com a utilização de três tipos de paletes com características semelhantes às dos paletes encontrados no mercado, com inércias variadas, apoiados sobre trilhos pintados. Estes paletes foram testados sobre trilhos com mesas abrasivas a fim de se verificarem possíveis diferenças nos deslocamentos entre as estruturas carregadas com paletes sobre trilhos pintados e entre as estruturas carregadas com paletes sobre trilhos com mesas abrasivas. Além disso, os pórticos foram testados com um palete suspenso com o objetivo de simular o modelo teórico elaborado pelo Slope-deflection. Cada pórtico foi testado com as forças verticais de 245N, 490N, 735N e 980N aplicadas nos braços e com a força horizontal de 1,5% correspondente ao valor da força vertical aplicada neste pórtico para simular possíveis forças horizontais aplicadas pelas empilhadeiras na movimentação dos materiais. Dois relógios comparadores com sensibilidade de 1/1000mm e um com sensibilidade de um 1/100mm, todos com curso de 10mm, foram colocados, respectivamente, no topo e na base de cada uma das colunas de cada pórtico com o objetivo de se medirem os deslocamentos lineares e angulares destes pórticos. Os deslocamentos medidos nas extremidades de cada coluna foram úteis para se determinar os momentos fletores e as reações nas extremidades destas colunas. A influência dos paletes de madeira no comportamento das estruturas do tipo drivein foi verificada com nível de 5% de significância através da análise da variância / Abstract: This dissertation¿s intent is to investigate experimentally the influence the wood pallets exert on the behavior of the drive in storage racks with one level of loading. To consider the pallets as roller supported on both rails of the structure implies in not to consider the influence of the friction between the pallets and the rails in the behavior of the structure, and thus the results obtained by the theoretical model of analysis may lead to results that may differ from the observed in the real structure. With the aim of investigating this influence in conditions as close as possible to the reality, two frames resembling those supplied by manufacturers were tested with three sort of pallets, each one with characteristics and dimensions resembling the pallets utilized by users, but with different resistance and inertia in comparison with each other. The same pallets were tested in the same frames, but this time on rails with an abrasive surface to verify the possible differences in displacements between the structures loaded with pallets on smooth surfaces rails and between structures loaded with pallets on abrasive surfaces rails. Furthermore, the frames were subjected to a suspense load with the aim of simulating the theoretical model of analysis. Each arm were tested with vertical forces of 245N, 490N, 735N and 980N. It was considered also the horizontal force of 1,5% of the vertical force acting on the frame to take into consideration the lift truck operation. With the aim of measuring the linear and angular displacements of these frames, two dial gages were positioned at the top and one was positioned at the bottom of each column. The readings of all linear and angular displacements at the end of the columns were useful for evaluating the bending moments, the horizontal and vertical reactions acting in each one of the end of the columns of these frames. The 8 elements considered (3 pallets on smooth surface rails, 3 pallets on abrasive surface rails, 1 suspense load and 1 for the Slope-Deflection Method) were combined in groups of 3, so that the influence of the wood pallets in the behavior of drive in racks can be investigated through the variance analysis with 5% in the level of significance / Mestrado / Estruturas / Mestre em Engenharia Civil