Business and Management INK

Coherent, Unified, and Meaningful Discourse

August 21, 2012 982

Organizations both reveal and recreate themselves through the written word. In “Discursive Activity in the Boardroom: The Role of the Minutes in the Construction of Social Realities,” published on June 28, 2012 in Group & Organization Management, Dr. William Fear of Cardiff University describes and critiques the important role of texts in creating “coherent, unified, and meaningful discourse.” Dr. Fear kindly provided the following commentary and background about the study.

What inspired you to be interested in this topic?

The topic was a challenging one as it seemed that a lot was, and is, taken for granted about how boards function and the role of the minutes is dismissed.  For example, when I was doing the research I constantly had other academics saying things like, ‘but the minutes don’t represent what really happens in the board meetings’.  I became more and more intrigued by just how much influence the minutes, and other documents, do actually have in the board meetings and how this influence gets discounted.  That is, we could consider it a ‘hidden cause’.  It is this counter-intuitive outcome, or counter-taken-for-grantedness, that appeals.  Furthermore, the role of Patient Safety and the interventions have not received due critical attention in much of the literature.

Were there findings that were surprising to you?

I was surprised how clearly the processes and the different groups emerged from the minutes.  I was also surprised by how the groups engaged with and used discourse and texts.

How do you see this study influencing future research and/or practice?

I hope more attention will be given to the role of texts when people consider group and organizational management.  The role of the text can be considered using a number of different approaches – for example it can be approached as an artefact, as an object in its own right, and so on – and they provide a rich data source for research.  In terms of practice it is helpful for practitioners, I suggest, to consider the texts they are co-creating and the what the outcome may be as others reinterpret the text.  I think Organizational Discourse Analysis has scope to make a substantial contribution to both research and practice.  Finally, I would like to see more research on those taken-for-granted texts such as memos and minutes of meetings with a view to the impact of these texts on groups and the organization.

What, if anything, would you do differently if you could go back and do this study again?

I am in the process of doubling the size of the study at the moment, although with a different focus.  I think what I have learned is to pick the thing, the object, carefully.  The object could be a type of text – financial reports, for example – or a behavioural pattern – the continued presentation of a topic that has achieved a fixed space on the agenda, for example.  Then follow this object.  So, if I were repeating the study I think I might change the object I followed in some way.  Rather than following 1000 Lives, for example, I might look first for an emerging theme and then go back and follow this from the beginning.  Given the nature of Organizational Discourse Analysis – it is never an easy task – I think I would also prepare myself better for the amount of work it takes to develop the corpus and become familiar with it; this is, after all, advised by the ODA community.  But that having been said I think it is important in this sort of work to allow for the surprises to emerge and too much structure can inhibit this process.

Business and Management INK puts the spotlight on research published in our more than 100 management and business journals. We feature an inside view of the research that’s being published in top-tier SAGE journals by the authors themselves.

View all posts by Business & Management INK

Related Articles

Boards and Internationalization Speed
Business and Management INK
November 18, 2024

Boards and Internationalization Speed

Read Now
How Managers Can Enhance Trust
Business and Management INK
November 11, 2024

How Managers Can Enhance Trust

Read Now
The Role of Place in Sustainability
Business and Management INK
October 28, 2024

The Role of Place in Sustainability

Read Now
Turning to Glitter in Management Studies – Why We Should Take ‘Unserious’ Glitter Serious to Understand New Management Practices
Business and Management INK
October 24, 2024

Turning to Glitter in Management Studies – Why We Should Take ‘Unserious’ Glitter Serious to Understand New Management Practices

Read Now
Utilizing Academic-Practitioner Partnering for Societal Impact

Utilizing Academic-Practitioner Partnering for Societal Impact

In this article, co-authors Natalie Slawinski, Bruna Brito, Jennifer Brenton, and Wendy Smith reflect on the inspiration behind their research article, “Reflections on deep academic–practitioner partnering for generative societal impact,” published in Strategic Organization.

Read Now
Trippin’ Forward: Management Research and the Development of Psychedelics

Trippin’ Forward: Management Research and the Development of Psychedelics

Charlie Smith reflects on his interest in psychedelic research, the topic of his research article, “Psychedelics, Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and Employees’ Wellbeing,” published in Journal of Management Inquiry.

Read Now
Using Ethnography to Explore Entrepreneurial Extracurricular Activities

Using Ethnography to Explore Entrepreneurial Extracurricular Activities

Co-authors Birgitte Wraae and Nicolai Nybye reflect on the inspiration behind their research article, “Learning to Be “Me,” “the Team,” and “the Company” Through Entrepreneurial Extracurricular Activities: An Ethnographic Approach,” published in Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy.

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments