Organizational Discourse: Domains, Debates, and Directions

Interest in the analysis of organizational discourse has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. In this article, we reflect critically on organizational discourse analysis as an approach to the study of organizations and management, highlighting both its strengths and areas of challenge. We begin with an explanation of the nature of organizational discourse analysis and outline some of the more significant contributions made to date. We then discuss existing classifications of approaches to the study of organizational discourse and suggest that they fall into two main categories: classifications by level of analysis and classifications by type of method. We argue that both of these approaches are inherently problematic and present an alternative way to understand the varieties of approaches to the analysis of organizational discourse based on within domain and across domain characterizations. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges that remain in the development of organizational discourse as an area of study and point to some of the opportunities for important and unique contributions to our understanding of organizations and management that this family of methods brings. © 2012 Copyright Academy of Management

When Good Turns to Bad: An Examination of Governance Failure in a Not-for-Profit Enterprise

This paper examines the assumption that is present in society (if not in law) that not-for-profit enterprises are unlikely to exhibit unethical behaviour in their governance function. It explores this issue by examining a recent case of governance failure within a not-for-profit social enterprise that had unethical behaviour at its root. This failure ultimately led to the organisation becoming bankrupt. A parallel is drawn with governance failures within the private sector which also resulted in bankruptcy. The paper draws on theories of governance and stakeholder management in order to reflect on whether unethical governance behaviour is a continuing threat to all sectors. In doing so, it concludes that there is merit in challenging the assumption that values-based organisations are immune to such a threat to their organisational existence