'Getting people on board': Discursive leadership for consensus building in team meetings

Meetings are increasingly seen as sites where organizing and strategic change take place, but the role of specific discursive strategies and related linguistic-pragmatic and argumentative devices, employed by meeting chairs, is little understood. The purpose of this article is to address the range of behaviours of chairs in business organizations by comparing strategies employed by the same chief executive officer (CEO) in two key meeting genres: regular management team meetings and ‘away-days’. While drawing on research from organization studies on the role of leadership in meetings and studies of language in the workplace from (socio)linguistics and discourse studies, we abductively identified five salient discursive strategies which meeting chairs employ in driving decision making: (1) Bonding; (2) Encouraging; (3) Directing; (4) Modulating; and (5) Re/Committing. We investigate the leadership styles of the CEO in both meeting genres via a multi-level approach using empirical data drawn from meetings of a single management team in a multinational defence corporation. Our key findings are, first, that the chair of the meetings (and leading manager) influences the outcome of the meetings in both negative and positive ways, through the choice of discursive strategies. Second, it becomes apparent that the specific context and related meeting genre mediate participation and the ability of the chair to control interactions within the team. Third, a more hierarchical authoritarian or a more interpersonal egalitarian leadership style can be identified via specific combinations of these five discursive strategies. The article concludes that the egalitarian leadership style increases the likelihood of achieving a durable consensus. Several related avenues for research are outlined

The role of the associate dean in UK universities: distributed leadership in action?

This paper reports on findings from a Leadership Foundation for Higher Education funded project exploring the role of associate deans in UK universities. While the number of associate deans leading cross-curricular and inter-disciplinary initiatives appears to be on the increase, there has been very little research focusing on the exact nature of the role and its importance, or otherwise, in the leadership and management of universities. Drawing on mixed-methods data from 15 semi-structured interviews and a follow-up online survey (n = 172), this paper reports on how the role is defined and positioned in relation to university organisational structures and identifies what the similarities and differences are between associate deans working at traditional and modern universities. As the first national survey of the role, it is argued that this paper makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge. By drawing on the concept of distributed leadership, the paper also offers new theoretical insights into how different types of universities in the UK are responding to external pressures as a consequence of the fast-changing and increasingly complex sector environment

Discourses of leadership changeorchanges of leadership discourse?

 The present study focuses on the discursively performed leadership during periods of transition and change in the context of competition-driven organizations. It explores discourses of leadership in a diachronic perspective, scrutinising the ways in which they construct and re-construct corporate and culture-related identities. Drawing on interviews and press conferences with several CEOs of two multinational companies, Nokia (Finland) and Ericsson (Sweden), an investigation of the challenges of leadership branding was carried out in a discourse-analytical and pragma-rhetorical perspective. Particular emphasis has been placed on systematically comparing the presentations in letters to employees by the CEOs of Nokia and Ericsson. This comparative study provides evidence for the internal and external challenges underlying leadership discursive construction and re-construction aimed at ensuring a consistent interconnectedness between a company’s values and its competitive qualities. 

Discourses of leadership changeorchanges of leadership discourse?

 The present study focuses on the discursively performed leadership during periods of transition and change in the context of competition-driven organizations. It explores discourses of leadership in a diachronic perspective, scrutinising the ways in which they construct and re-construct corporate and culture-related identities. Drawing on interviews and press conferences with several CEOs of two multinational companies, Nokia (Finland) and Ericsson (Sweden), an investigation of the challenges of leadership branding was carried out in a discourse-analytical and pragma-rhetorical perspective. Particular emphasis has been placed on systematically comparing the presentations in letters to employees by the CEOs of Nokia and Ericsson. This comparative study provides evidence for the internal and external challenges underlying leadership discursive construction and re-construction aimed at ensuring a consistent interconnectedness between a company’s values and its competitive qualities. 

-Discourses of leadership change or changes of leadership discourse?

The present study focuses on the discursively performed leadership during periods of transition and change in the context of competition-driven organizations. It explores discourses of leadership in a diachronic perspective, scrutinising the ways in which they construct and re-construct corporate and culture-related identities. Drawing on interviews and press conferences with several CEOs of two multinational companies, Nokia (Finland) and Ericsson (Sweden), an investigation of the challenges of leadership branding was carried out in a discourse-analytical and pragma-rhetorical perspective. Particular emphasis has been placed on systematically comparing the presentations in letters to employees by the CEOs of Nokia and Ericsson. This comparative study provides evidence for the internal and external challenges underlying leadership discursive construction and re-construction aimed at ensuring a consistent interconnectedness between a company’s values and its competitive qualities

What is Discourse Analysis?

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. What is Discourse Analysis? is an accessible introduction to an empirical research approach which is widely used in the social sciences and related disciplines. This book explores the idea of how meaning is socially constructed and how 'talk' and text can be interpreted. The challenges of discourse analysis are outlined as well as helpful ways to approach them - from finding the right starting point, processing and interpreting data through to building an argument. Discourse analysts work with language data, including talk, documents and broadcast material. Researchers in different traditions study interactions and social practices, meaning-making and larger meaning systems, and contests and conflicts around collective identities, social norms and subjectification. What is Discourse Analysis? addresses new researchers and other academics interested in language and its associated practices. The book outlines the history of discourse analysis, its key concepts and theorists and its uses and challenges. Discussions of published studies illustrate the use of the approach to investigate a range of research topics, such as gender, health and national identities. The book also addresses the practical aspects of discourse analysis, providing clear guidance on data collection and data processing, including transcription and selection. Covering important topics,What is Discourse Analysis? draws from recent articles to show how discourse analysis works in action. Common questions about discourse analysis are presented in a lively and accessible Q&A format. This book will be an essential resource for all researchers working with discourse analysis

Organisational and strategic communication research: European perspectives II

(Excerto) This e-book presents a selection of the research papers presented at the 5th European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Conference in Lisbon, November, 2015. The book reflects the work of researchers within the Organisational and Strategic Communication (OSC) Section of ECREA from different backgrounds and higher education institutions in Europe and highlights the diverse professional and scientific interests of the Section. At the 5th ECREA Conference, the OSC Section selected almost 50 papers from the 90 submitted abstracts, which were organized into two specialist panels (“Government Public Relations in Europe: Critical Perspectives” and “Inconsistences Organizational Communication”), eight parallel sessions and one poster session. Those papers selected for Lisbon 2015 made a valuable contribution to key contemporary communications debates and issues. The peer reviewed papers presented in this volume share findings and “state of the art” critical reflections, which address the core objective of the Organisational and Strategic Communication Section of ECREA. They also continue the tradition of the promoting scientific knowledge in our broad and diverse field of research, which has been central to Section’s raison d’être since its creation in 2006

Organisational and Strategic Communication Research: European Perspectives II

This e-book presents a selection of the research papers presented at the 5th European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Conference in Lisbon, November, 2015. The book reflects the work of researchers within the Organisational and Strategic Communication (OSC) Section of ECREA from different backgrounds and higher education institutions in Europe and highlights the diverse professional and scientific interests of the Section