Chapter 28. Construction of Caring Identities in the New Work Order

Nikolaidou, Zoe; Karlsson, Anna-Malin

doi:10.37514/per-b.2012.0452.2.28

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The difficulties in determining what was an appropriate behavior in my efforts to come close to the care workers' personalities in settings like the one described above might be because some of the care workers' professional skills were based on individual experience. This obscured differences between the individual aspect and the professional aspect of work-identity (Nikolaidou & Karlsson, 2012; Törnquist, 2004). One question that could be raised is whether I offered too much in this setting—to the detriment of the research.…”

Section: Negotiating Field Identitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous publications, Nikolaidou and Karlsson (2012) have discussed the complex nature of care workers' knowledge and competence as the result of three different aspects of work-identities. Based on Roberts and Sarangi's (1999, 2003) analysis on discourses in medical care, we have argued that care workers' decisions and actions at work depend on three different expressions of selfhood: (a) the institutional work-identity, assigned through a hierarchical position in an institution; (b) the professional work-identity, constructed together with colleagues through shared responsibilities and the use of a common discourse; and (c) the individual work-identity, based on individual character and past-life experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a recent publication on documentation practices in elderly care homes, we have shown that the institutional work-identity is dominant, especially in relation to the individual (Nikolaidou & Karlsson, 2012). Care workers are not allowed to include personal experiences and feelings about their interactions with the residents in documentation, but are instructed instead to follow rigid guidelines on the contents of records and to use a very restricted documentation language.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Work-Identity in Ethnographic Research: Developing Field Roles in a Demanding Workplace Setting

Jansson

Nikolaidou

2013

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

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In this article we problematize our field roles as two linguistic ethnographers who aim to study the communication and documentation practices drawn upon by care workers in elderly care facilities in Sweden. Our field roles are discussed in relation to the complex nature of care workers' knowledge and competence, which results from three different aspects of their work-identities: institutional, professional, and individual. As researchers, we found ourselves in constant dialogue with the research participants, and our field roles were continuously shaped and reshaped according to the individuals and the situations in which we became involved. Even aspects of our own identities taken into the field, such as our background and personal qualities, proved to be important in establishing good relations with the care staff. Coming closer to the participants' professional identity proved to be of utmost importance for interpreting their choices and decisions in the workplace. Identity negotiation is presented here as a constructive way of discussing ethnographic field roles in the research field.Keywords: linguistic ethnography, field roles, participant observation, work-identity, aged care facilities, care work Acknowledgement: We would like to thank all the care workers who participated in this study.

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Section: Negotiating Field Identitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Work-Identity in Ethnographic Research: Developing Field Roles in a Demanding Workplace Setting

Jansson

Nikolaidou

2013

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

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“…Cuban's (2008) study of women migrant carers in Cumbria discusses documentation as unaccounted and therefore unpaid work that women carers are obliged to do while subordinating themselves and their work roles. In one of our earlier studies on carers' literacy practices in the eldercare sector (Karlsson & Nikolaidou, 2011;Nikolaidou & Karlsson, 2012), we showed that documentation of everyday practices goes through a filter of regulations regarding what is adequate and appropriate information and, more important, what is appropriate and bias-free language.…”

Section: Lean and New Public Managementmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…One conclusion to be drawn is that there seems to be a conflict between the discourse of the form and the professional competence of the carers (cf. Nikolaidou & Karlsson, 2012). On the second page of the form, the last direct question to be answered is: What measures have been taken to prevent the incident from being repeated?…”

Section: The Nursing Home: Lean Discourse In Conflict With Institutiomentioning

confidence: 99%

The Textualization of Problem Handling

Karlsson¹,

Nikolaidou

2016

Written Communication

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This article reports on research addressing the role of incident reporting at the workplace as a textual representation of lean management techniques. It draws on text and discourse analysis as well as on ethnographic data, including interviews, recorded interaction, and observations, from two projects on workplace literacy in Sweden: a study in an eldercare facility and a study in a large factory. Analysis of the data set demonstrates striking similarities, both in the way incident reporting texts are structured and worded and in the literacy practices that contextualize them. Dominant characteristics in the texts are the absence of actors and the structured, process-based approach of problems and problem handling. The forms often generate conflicts in the ways workers are asked to textually represent an incident. In this article, we argue that lean thinking has penetrated texts and literacy practices of two considerably different workplaces, and this has a large impact on the way workers are instructed to think and act with regard to problem handling techniques.

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“It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations

Blåsjö

Jonsson

2021

Applied Linguistics Review

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In the communications of modern organizations, text sharing and knowledge management are mainly digital. The digital systems that frame many types of communication consist of, e.g., intranets and document sharing software that are occasionally exchanged for new systems. Employees have to adjust to modified routines and learn new systems, and management has to make decisions about digital systems and how these are to be integrated with work processes and knowledge management. In this article, we contribute to research on work-life literacies by highlighting the increasingly frequent issue of digital text sharing in modern workplaces through the study of commercial companies, mainly through ethnographic observations and interviews. The theoretical framework comes from New Literacy Studies where literacy practices, i.e., common patterns of using reading and writing, form a key concept. Moreover, the sociolinguistic concept of metadiscourse is applied in order to uncover the reflexive orientation of participating professionals towards digital text sharing. The results show that these professionals relate the combination of digital text sharing and technological and organizational change to problems, obstacles and potential risks; ambitions of enhancing digital text sharing may exclude certain groups, and changes in digital text sharing systems per se may cause professionals to lose control. These risks are often associated with access to information: a person who cannot access information in their organization has a lower degree of agency or power over their situation. The results are discussed in light of theories concerning modern work life from New Literacy Studies.

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Chapter 28. Construction of Caring Identities in the New Work Order

Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

Work-Identity in Ethnographic Research: Developing Field Roles in a Demanding Workplace Setting

Work-Identity in Ethnographic Research: Developing Field Roles in a Demanding Workplace Setting

The Textualization of Problem Handling

“It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations

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