1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Pragmatics
  4. Volume 25, Issue 3
  5. Article
Volume 25, Issue 3
  • ISSN 1018-2101
  • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
PDF

Abstract

This article investigates the way an institutional task of a meeting is oriented to by different meeting participants and developed in and through local interaction. Our data come from a city organization, where a large organizational change is planned and prepared through a series of face-to-face encounters and accompanying written texts. Using the notion of recontextualization and by connecting it to the conversation analytical method and to the notion of intersubjectivity, the study examines how the institutional task that is verbalized in written form prior to the meeting is conceptualized by meeting participants in their turns of talk. By doing so, the study will particularly shed light on the question of how different recontextualizations are motivated by their sequential position in interaction. Based on this, it also investigates how the meeting participants construct their professional identities through the conceptualizations made. In a wider sense, the article shows how spoken interaction and written texts interweave and form a reciprocal relationship in organizational life. Thus, it contributes to a deeper understanding about the multifaceted connections between the interactional management of meetings and wider organizational practices and processes that these encounters have been set up to advance.

© 2015 International Pragmatics Association
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.3.04nis
2015-09-01
2024-09-09

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.3.04nis
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aggerholm, Helle Kryger , Birte Asmuß , and Christa Thomsen
    (2012) The role of recontextualization in the multivocal, ambiguous process of strategizing. Journal of Management Inquiry21.4: 413–428. doi: 10.1177/1056492611430852
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492611430852 [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson, Donald, L
    (2005) “What you’ll say is…”: Represented voice in organizational change discourse. Journal of Organizational Change Management18.1: 63–77. doi: 10.1108/09534810510579850
     https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810510579850 [Google Scholar]
  3. Andruss, Jennifer
    (2011) Beyond texts in context: Recontextualization and the co-production of texts and contexts in the legal discourse, excited utterance exception to hearsay. Discourse & Society22.2: 115–136. doi: 10.1177/0957926510392119
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926510392119 [Google Scholar]
  4. Angouri, Jo , and Meredith Marra
    (2010) Corporate meetings as genre: A study of the role of the chair in corporate meeting talk. Text & Talk30.6: 615–636. doi: 10.1515/text.2010.030
     https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2010.030 [Google Scholar]
  5. (2011) ‘OK on last thing for today then’: Constructing identities in corporate meeting talk. In J. Angouri , and M. Marra (eds), Constructing identities at work. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 85–100. doi: 10.1057/9780230360051
     https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230360051 [Google Scholar]
  6. Asimakou, Theodora , and Cliff Oswick
    (2010) The recontextualization of commercialization: The shifting discourse of an R&D unit. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy30.5/6: 280–291. doi: 10.1108/01443331011054244
     https://doi.org/10.1108/01443331011054244 [Google Scholar]
  7. Asmuß, Birte , and Jan Svennevig
    (2009) Meeting talk: An introduction. Journal of Business Communication46.1: 3–22. doi: 10.1177/0021943608326761
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943608326761 [Google Scholar]
  8. Bargiela-Chiappini, Francesca , and Sandra J. Harris
    (1997) Managing language: The discourse of corporate meetings. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/pbns.44
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.44 [Google Scholar]
  9. Boden, Deirdre
    (1994) The Business of Talk: Organizations in Action. Cambridge: Polity Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Campbell, Sarah , and Celia Roberts
    (2007) Migration, ethnicity and competing discourses in the job interview: Synthesizing the institutional and personal. Discourse & Society18.3: 243–271. doi: 10.1177/0957926507075474
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507075474 [Google Scholar]
  11. Depperman, Arnulf , Reinhold Schmitt , and Lorenza Mondada
    (2010) Agenda and emergence: Contingent and planned activities in a meeting. Journal of Pragmatics42.6: 1700–1718. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.10.006
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.10.006 [Google Scholar]
  12. Djordjilovic, Olga
    (2012) Displaying and developing team identity in workplace meetings – a multimodal perspective. Discourse Studies14.1: 111–127. doi: 10.1177/1461445611427205
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427205 [Google Scholar]
  13. Drew, Paul
    (1992) Contested evidence in courtroom cross-examination: The case of a trial for rape. In P. Drew , and J. Heritage (eds.), Talk at work: Interaction in institutional settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 470–520.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Goodwin, Charles
    (1987) Forgetfulness as an interactive resource. Social Psychology Quarterly50.2: 115–130. doi: 10.2307/2786746
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2786746 [Google Scholar]
  15. Goodwin, Charles , and Marjorie Harness Goodwin
    (1987) Concurrent operations on talk: Notes on the interactive organization of assessments. IPRA Papers in Pragmatics1.1: 1–54. doi: 10.1075/iprapip.1.1.01goo
     https://doi.org/10.1075/iprapip.1.1.01goo [Google Scholar]
  16. Haakana, Markku , and Marja-Leena Sorjonen
    (2011) Invoking another context: Playfulness in buying lottery tickets at convenience stores. Journal of Pragmatics43.5: 1288–1302. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.029
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.029 [Google Scholar]
  17. Hepburn, Alexa , and Galina B. Bolden
    (2012) The conversation analytic approach to transcription. In J. Sidnell , and T. Stivers (eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 57–76. doi: 10.1002/9781118325001.ch4
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325001.ch4 [Google Scholar]
  18. Heritage, John
    (1984) Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Heritage, John , and Sue Sefi
    (1992) Dilemmas of advice: Aspects of the delivery and reception of advice in interactions between health visitors and first time mothers. In P. Drew , and J. Heritage (eds.), Talk at Work. Interaction in institutional settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 359–419.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Honkanen, Suvi , and Riikka Nissi
    (2014) Managing organizational change. An intertextual chain and practices of recontextualization. In A.-M. Karlsson , and H. Makkonen-Craig (eds.), Analysing text and talk. FUMS rapport. Arbetsrapporter om modern svenska 233. Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala universitet, pp. 28–43.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Kangasharju, Helena
    (1996) Aligning as a team in multiparty conversation. Journal of Pragmatics26.3: 291–319. doi: 10.1016/0378‑2166(95)00051‑8
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(95)00051-8 [Google Scholar]
  22. (2002) Alignment in disagreement: Forming oppositional alliances in committee meetings. Journal of Pragmatics34.10/11: 1447–1471. doi: 10.1016/S0378‑2166(02)00073‑5
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00073-5 [Google Scholar]
  23. Kangasharju, Helena , and Tuija Nikko
    (2009) Emotions in organizations: Joint laughter in workplace meetings. Journal of Business Communication46.1: 100–119. doi: 10.1177/0021943608325750
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943608325750 [Google Scholar]
  24. Lehtinen, Esa
    (2009) Conversation analysis and religion: Practices of talking about Bible texts is Seventh-day Adventist Bible study. Religion39.3: 233–247. doi: 10.1016/j.religion.2009.02.006
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2009.02.006 [Google Scholar]
  25. Lehtinen, Esa , and Pekka Pälli
    (2011) Conversational use of genres in managerial meetings. Scandinavian Journal of Management27.3: 287–296. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2011.06.003
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2011.06.003 [Google Scholar]
  26. Linde, Charlotte
    (1991) What’s next? The social and technological management of meetings. Pragmatics1.3: 297–313. doi: 10.1075/prag.1.3.01lin
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.1.3.01lin [Google Scholar]
  27. Linell, Per
    (1998a) Approaching dialogue: Talk, interaction and contexts in dialogical perspectives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/impact.3
     https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.3 [Google Scholar]
  28. (1998b) Discourse across boundaries: On recontextualizations and the blending of voices in professional discourse. Text18.2: 143–157.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Mikkola, Piia
    (2014) Arvioivasta lomaketekstistä hienovaraisiin sananvalintoihin. Vuoron muotoilu ja rekontekstualisaatio kehityskeskustelun topikaalisissa siirtymissä [Recontextualisation and turn design in topical shifts within performance appraisal interviews]. Virittäjä118.4: 525–554.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Mondada, Lorenza
    (2012) The dynamics of embodied participation and language choice in multilingual meetings. Language in Society41.2: 213–235. doi: 10.1017/S004740451200005X
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740451200005X [Google Scholar]
  31. Nielsen, Mie Femø
    (2009) Interpretative management in business meetings: Understanding manager’s interactional strategies through conversation analysis. Journal of Business Communication46.1: 23–56. doi: 10.1177/0021943608325752
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943608325752 [Google Scholar]
  32. (2012) Using artifacts in brainstorming sessions to secure participation and decouple sequentiality. Discourse Studies14.1: 87–109. doi: 10.1177/1461445611427211
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427211 [Google Scholar]
  33. Nissi, Riikka
    (2013) Decrypting the text: The construction and function of disagreement in Bible study sessions. Text & Talk33.6: 771–791. doi: 10.1515/text‑2013‑0033
     https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2013-0033 [Google Scholar]
  34. Oswick, Cliff , and Maxine Robertson
    (2009) Boundary objects reconsidered: From bridges and anchors to barricades and mazes. Journal of Change Management9.2: 179–193. doi: 10.1080/14697010902879137
     https://doi.org/10.1080/14697010902879137 [Google Scholar]
  35. Pomerantz, Anita , and Paul Denvir
    (2007) Enacting the institutional role of chairperson in upper management meetings: The interactional realization of provisional authority. In F. Cooren (ed.), Interacting and organizing: Analyses of a management meeting. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 31–51.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Potter, Jonathan , and Alexa Hepburn
    (2010) A kind of governance: Rules, time and psychology in organisations. In N. Llewellyn , and J. Hindmarsch (eds.), Organisation, Interaction and Practice: Studies in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 49–73. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511676512.004
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511676512.004 [Google Scholar]
  37. Pälli, Pekka , Eero Vaara , and Virpi Sorsa
    (2009) Strategy as text and discursive practice: A genre-based approach to strategizing in city administration. Discourse & Communication3.3: 303–318. doi: 10.1177/1750481309337206
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481309337206 [Google Scholar]
  38. Sarangi, Srikant
    (1998) Rethinking recontextualization of professional discourse studies: An epilogue. Text18.2: 301–318.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Sarangi, Srikant , and Lucy Brookes-Howell
    (2006) Recontextualising the familial lifeworld in genetic counselling case notes. In M. Gotti , and F. Salagar-Meyer (eds), Advances in Medical Discourse Analysis: Oral and Written Contexts. Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 197–225.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Schegloff, Emanuel A
    (1987) Analyzing single episodes on interaction: An exercise in conversation analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly50.2: 101–114. doi: 10.2307/2786745
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2786745 [Google Scholar]
  41. (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction, Vol 1: A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511791208
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791208 [Google Scholar]
  42. Scheuer, Jann
    (2001) Recontextualization and communicative styles in job interviews. Discourse Studies3.2: 223–248. doi: 10.1177/1461445601003002004
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445601003002004 [Google Scholar]
  43. Schwartzman, H.B
    (1989) The meeting: Gatherings in organizations and communities. New York: Plenum. doi: 10.1007/978‑1‑4899‑0885‑8
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0885-8 [Google Scholar]
  44. Sidnell, Jack
    (2010) Conversation analysis: An introduction. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Sorjonen, Marja-Leena
    (1989) Vuoronalkuiset konnektorit: mutta [Turn-initial connectives: but]. In A. Hakulinen (ed.), Suomalaisen keskustelun keinoja I. Kieli 4 [Conversational practices in Finnish I. Language 4]. Helsinki: The Department of Finnish Language, University of Helsinki, pp.162–176.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Stivers, Tanya
    (2008) Stance, alignment and affiliation during storytelling: When nodding is a token of affiliation. Research on Language and Social Interaction41.1: 31–57. doi: 10.1080/08351810701691123
     https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810701691123 [Google Scholar]
  47. Svennevig, Jan
    (2012a) Interaction in workplace meetings. Discourse Studies14.1: 3–10. doi: 10.1177/1461445611427203
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427203 [Google Scholar]
  48. (2012b) The agenda as a resource for topic introduction in workplace meetings. Discourse Studies14.1: 53–66. doi: 10.1177/1461445611427204
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427204 [Google Scholar]
  49. Svinhufvud, Kimmo
    (2011) Varovasti edeten ja taas perääntyen: Opponentin palautevuoron rakentuminen [Gently forward, then back again: Constructing opponent feedback]. Virittäjä115: 156–192.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Thomas, Pete
    (2003) The recontextualization of management: A discourse-based aproach to analysing the development of management thinking. Journal of Management Studies40.4: 775–801. doi: 10.1111/1467‑6486.00360
     https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00360 [Google Scholar]
  51. Van Charldorp, Tessa C
    (2011) From Police Interrogation to Police Record. Oisterwijk: Uitgeverij BOXPress.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. VISK = Hakulinen, Auli , Vilkuna, Maria , Korhonen, Riitta , Koivisto, Vesa , Heinonen, Tarja Riitta , Alho, Irja (2004) Iso suomen kielioppi [A Comprehensive Finnish Grammar]. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society. Electronic version: scripta.kotus.fi/visk URN:ISBN:978-952-5446-35-7.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Wolfram Cox, Julie , and John Hassard
    (2010) Discursive recontextualization in a public health setting. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science46.1: 119–145. doi: 10.1177/0021886309357443
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886309357443 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.3.04nis
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Agenda; Conversation analysis; Institutional task; Intersubjectivity; Meeting interaction; Professional identity; Recontextualization

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error