Call for Papers

This sub-theme will invite papers that examine the role of language and discourse in and about organizations. A number of themes have been developed through the study of organizational discourse that require further exploration and advancement. Research on the discursive aspects of legitimation has developed our understanding of how organizations seek to establish, defend or repair their legitimacy (Creed et al., 2002; Phillips et al., 2004; Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005; Vaara & Monin, 2010; Vaara & Tienari, 2008; Whittle et al., 2015). Discursive approaches have also made major strides in advancing theories on the reproduction and repair of trust in organizations and professions and how accountability is performed through discourse when organizations and their leaders are subject to public scrutiny for their organizational actions (Hargie et al., 2010; Tourish & Hargie, 2012; Mueller et al., 2015; Whittle & Mueller, 2015; Whittle et al., 2016).
 
Another significant body of work has revealed the role that language plays in the exercise of power within and between organizations (Vaara et al., 2005; Hardy & Thomas, 2014) and the political dimensions of the relationship between organizations, economies and society (Banerjee, 2003; Hajer, 1995; Vaara, 2014; Kelsey et al., 2016). Discursive approaches have also made major strides in the advancement of understanding of sensemaking within organizations (Brown, 1995, 1998; Currie & Brown, 2003; Rouleau & Balogun, 2011; Tourish & Robson 2006; Kwon et al., 2014) and societal sensemaking following major crises and scandals (Brown, 2005, 2004, 2000; Brown & Jones, 2000; Brown et al., 2012; Gephart, 1993; Hardy & Phillips, 1999; Boudes & Laroche, 2009).
 
A range of theoretical approaches have been developed to address the role of discourse, including post-structuralist approaches (Knights & Willmott, 1989; Knights & Morgan 1991), critical discourse analysis (Balogun et al., 2011), narrative perspectives (Czarniawska, 1997; Gabriel, 2000; Brown et al., 2008), rhetoric (Jarzabkowski & Sillince, 2007), ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (Samra-Fredericks, 2005; Mueller et al., 2013; Whittle et al., 2015; Whittle et al., 2016) and metaphorical language (Cornelissen et al., 2008; Heracleous & Jacobs, 2008).
 
We invite papers on the role of discourse within, and about, organizations that examine the ways in which organizations are responding to the major challenges of our time: globalization, migration, financial crises and scandals, inequality, corruption, environmental crises and organizational disasters. The sub-theme will invite scholars from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives that share an interest in the constitutive and performative aspects of discourse, including critical discourse analysis, narrative analysis, metaphor analysis, discursive psychology, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Of particular interest will be the relationship between organizations and wider society. As such, the analytical focus of papers is expected to be on topics such as power, inequality, ethics, legitimation, trust, responsibility, agency and accountability.
 
 

References

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• Kelsey, D., Mueller, F., Whittle, A., & KhosraviNik, M. (2016): “Financial crisis and austerity: Interdisciplinary concerns in critical discourse studies.” Critical Discourse Studies, 13 (1), 1–19.
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• Mueller, F., Whittle, A., Gilchrist, A., & Lenney, P. (2013): “Politics and strategy practice: An ethnomethodologically-informed discourse analysis perspective.” Business History, 55 (7), 1168–1199.
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• Tourish, D., & Robson, P. (2006): “Sensemaking and the distortion of critical upward communication in organizations.” Journal of Management Studies, 43 (4), 711–730.
• Vaara, E. (2014): “Struggles over legitimacy in the Eurozone crisis: Discursive legitimation strategies and their ideological underpinnings.” Discourse & Society, 25 (4), 500–518.
• Vaara, E., & Monin, P. (2010): “A recursive perspective on discursive legitimation and organizational action in mergers and acquisitions.” Organization Science, 21 (1), 3–22.
• Vaara, E., & Tienari, J. (2008): “A discursive perspective on legitimation strategies in multinational corporations.” Academy of Management Review, 33 (4), 985–993.
• Vaara, E., Tienari, J., Piekkari, R., & Säntti, R. (2005): “Language and the circuits of power in a merging multinational corporation.” Journal of Management Studies, 42 (3), 595–623.
• Whittle, A., & Mueller, F. (2016): “Accounting for the banking crisis: repertoires of agency and structure.” Critical Discourse Studies, 13 (1), 20–40.
• Whittle, A., Carter, C., & Mueller, F. (2014): “‘Above the fray’: Interests, discourse and legitimacy in the audit field.” Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 25 (8), 783–802.
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• Whittle, A., Mueller, F., Gilchrist, A., & Lenney, P. (2016): “Sensemaking, sense-censoring and strategic inaction: The discursive enactment of power and politics in a multinational corporation.” Organization Studies, 37 (9), 1323–1351.

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