Culture, Discourse, And The Workplace

Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace brings new theoretical and methodological insights to the complex relationship between language, culture, and identity in professional settings. Examining the politics of language use at work via a critical sociolinguistic approach, this book: Utilises three case studies from institutional and business contexts to provide a unique illustration of participants' roles and ways of negotiating membership within the business meeting; Questions essentialist meanings of culture and the ways in which they constitute a powerful resource for employees to perpetuate or challenge the status quo in their professional setting; Includes a core section on methodology for the workplace discourse researcher as well as a section dedicated to FAQs and a worked example on data analysis; Provides future directions for workplace sociolinguistics as a field and makes a case for holistic research and multidisciplinary enquiry. Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace constitutes a key resource for students and teachers of intercultural communication and ESP and will also be of significant interest to researchers in the fields of workplace studies and business interaction. Review: "This innovative and important work provides a rich resource for studying the complex, dynamic and political interface of culture, discourse and the workplace. It will inspire scholars interested in this interface by providing theoretical and methodological discussions and guidelines, as well as illuminating case studies." Miriam A. Locher, University of Basel, Switzerland "Angouri's synthesis, theorizing and analysis of international workplace discourse will appeal to both students and seasoned researchers alike. This useful book combines the best of a critique and a vade mecum of key analytic concepts." Adam Jaworski, University of Hong Kong "Culture, Discourse and the Workplace offers an insightful analysis of how culture is made sense of in organizations. The discursive approach taken extends our understanding of the relationship of culture and discourse by elucidating how culture is talked into being - and its implications. The book does a great job in helping us to better understand culture talk from banal nationalism to mundane workplace conversations. A must read for discourse scholars and organization researchers alike." Eero Vaara, Aalto University School of Business, Finland Contents: LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: TALKING `CULTURE' AT WORK PART I: A PRISMATIC VIEW OF CULTURE CHAPTER 2: CULTURE, POWERFUL METAPHORS, AND COTERMINOUS NOTIONS CHAPTER 3: ASPECTS OF THE MODERN WORKPLACE PART II: DOING RESEARCH IN INTERCULTURAL PROFESSIONAL SETTINGS CHAPTER 4: WORKPLACE DISCOURSE: ISSUES OF THEORY AND METHOD CHAPTER 5: TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Q&As ON DOING RESEARCH IN THE WORKPLACE PART III: DOING CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN WORKPLACE INTERACTION CHAPTER 6: CULTURAL IDENTITY AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE REVISITED CHAPTER 7: GROUP IDENTITY, TEAMWORK AND MEETING TALK CHAPTER 8: CASE STUDIES CHAPTER 9. CONCLUDING REMARKS REFERENCES INDEX Author Biography: Jo Angouri is a Professor at the University of Warwick, UK and Visiting Distinguished Professor at Aalto University, School of Business, Helsinki, Finland.