Culture, consent and confidentiality in workplace autoethnography

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the author’s experiences as a school teacher and a lesbian. It considers the culture and discourses of power in the school and the ethical implications of telling the author’s story. Utilizing autoethnography as a method of inquiry, it draws on a critical incident to explore the incompatibility of the author’s private and professional identities, and reflect on the impact of homophobic and heteronormative discursive practices in the workplace, on health, well-being and identity. Design/methodology/approach This research is grounded in an interpretivist philosophy. It utilizes writing about the self as a method of inquiry. Findings This research examines the incompatibility of the author’s private and professional identities and offers insight into the steps that those in positions of power will take to protect and perpetuate the heteronormative discourse of rural life. Research limitations/implications This research presents the perspective of only one lesbian teacher in a rural context. Consequently, generalizations are inappropriate and recommendations are difficult. Whilst the absence of clear ethical regulation presents an infinite number of possibilities for autoethnographers, the silence that surrounds the prescription of the ethics of autoethnography leaves those of us at the beginnings of our research careers without clear guidance. Originality/value This research specifically addresses a dearth of research examining the experiences of the rural lesbian (or gay) teacher in the UK. Headteachers of rural schools must ensure that their schools are inclusive and welcoming environments for teachers, and their equalities policies are living documents that are not simply cast aside in the face of rural parent power. Young people in the countryside deserve access to the full pool of teaching talent and should have access to the diverse role models that their urban and suburban counterparts are beginning to enjoy.

Organizational resistance and autoethnography

“…Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011;Rambo, 2005). In our chapter, we have focused specifically on organizational autoethnographies to illustrate resistance to a range of organizational phenomena, to bureaucracies (Pelly, 2016(Pelly, , 2017, bullying managers (Sobre-Denton, 2012;Vickers, 2007), discrimination (Lee, 2018); organizational policies and rules (Jonrad, 2018), emotional labor and dirty work (Alexander Clarke, 2014;Denker, 2017;O'Boyle, 2014;Pinney, 2005;Rivera & Tracy, 2014), gendered cultures (Ford & Harding, 2010;Hunniecutt, 2007;Riad, 2007), and academic conventions (Anderson, 2006;Engstrom, 2012;G Raineri, 2013;Rambo, 2007;Wall, 2006). These studies show that autoethnography is particularly important in studying, understanding, and theorizing about organizational resistance, bringing out issues and problems that would otherwise have remained untold or hidden in our traditional means of researching organizational life.…”

“…Such examples are rare in other autoethnographic studies, which primarily represent concomitant resistance as well as self-disciplining according to the normalized discourse. In that sense, autoethnographies provide a particularly nuanced window to the powerful and intricate ways the normalization, resistance and self-discipline are intertwined (for further examples see Engstrom, 2012;Ford & Harding, 2010;Lee, 2018;Pinney, 2005;Raineri, 2013;Riad, 2007). Denker's study of her former-life identity as bartender serves as an illustrative example.…”

Ethical Autoethnography: Is it Possible?

“…Rather than representing experiences of others, we write about ourselves, and our experiences in interaction with those who were present when the experiences occurred. It is here that I recognize Lee's (2018) claim that "[t]he autoethnographer strives to achieve a version of the self and an account of events that is consistent and acceptable to their own conscience" (p. 313). Wood and Liebenberg (2019) emphasized the value of respectful relationships, and the careful use of words to reflect this respect.…”

Impact of creative talents’ organisational culture consent on job satisfaction

“…Improving employee identity is the focus and the main challenge in corporate culture construction. Lee (2018) summarised organisational culture consent as the discourses of organisational power and workplace identities. Guo (2020) conveyed the fact that organisational culture consent involves the communication and corporate culture identity that can affect the psychological and behavioural patterns of employees, maintain the stability of the team, improve the internal human resource structure of the enterprise and maintain the competitiveness of the enterprise.…”