Social Actors “to Go”: An Analytical Toolkit to Explore Agency in Business Discourse and Communication

Abstract

This paper makes a case for raising critical language awareness in business communication education and proposes that the development of discourse analytical skills should be made part of management and business communication curricula. As one specific approach to train such awareness and skills, we propose a three-step analytical model to explore agency and action in business discourse and communication. The proposed model draws on organizational discourse scholarship, critical discourse studies and approaches from systemic-functional linguistics, and allows for gaining a better understanding of how agency is assigned in organizational texts. The method draws attention to linguistic and discourse practices and thus helps students to analyze texts more systematically, enables researchers to gain deeper insights into agency and action in organizational discourse, and assists practitioners to reflect on communication processes and consequently to improve their practice and produce texts with more impact. The study is thus part of a broader agenda that sets out out to fully realize the linguistic turn: it promotes an approach that views discourse as central to organizational processes, and by making the analytical framework accessible, it renders the approach easy to adopt by business and management curricula.

Illusory social agents within and beyond voices: a computational linguistics analysis of the experience of psychosis

“…Darics and Koller (2019) highlight that ‘elite’ social actors are likely to be represented as individuals whereas those who are less prominent or ‘ordinary’ tend to be assimilated into collectives. Among participants whose experiences involved numerous social agents, only social agents who were experienced positively by the participants, or those that were perceived to be particularly powerful, frightening or to have higher levels of intelligence were referred to with singular pronouns.…”

Redéfinir le dirigeant d’entreprise : le retravail de l’ethos collectif dans le discours de remise de diplômes de Faber

“…Pour comprendre la manière dont Faber construit discursivement son ethos ainsi que l'ethos collectif du dirigeant d'entreprise, il est pertinent d´identifier les personnes et groupes présents dans son discours. Pour cela, nous introduisons dans le cadre global de l'analyse du discours et de l'argumentation une analyse des acteurs sociaux (social actor analysis), cadre méthodologique introduit par van Leeuwen ( 2008), puis successivement développé par Koller (2012) et Koller et Darics (2019). Koller et ensuite Koller et Darics utilisent cette méthode pour analyser des données issues du monde de l'entreprise, telles que les brochures publicitaires et les discours de dirigeants d'entreprise.…”

“…Koller et ensuite Koller et Darics utilisent cette méthode pour analyser des données issues du monde de l'entreprise, telles que les brochures publicitaires et les discours de dirigeants d'entreprise. Koller et Darics (2019) proposent un modèle en trois étapes pour analyser les textes : 1) identification des acteurs sociaux, 2) déduction des idéologies sousjacentes et 3) hypothèses sur les intentions possibles de l'énonciateur. Les deux premières étapes seront traitées dans l'analyse, tandis que la dernière sera traitée plus amplement dans la discussion.…”

“…Dans cet article, nous introduirons d'abord succinctement le cadre théorique, en définissant les notions d'ethos préalable, d' ethos collectif et de retravail de l' ethos. Ensuite, nous présenterons les données, et introduirons notre méthode qui combine l'analyse des acteurs sociaux (Darics et Koller 2019) avec l'analyse discursive et argumentative telle que généralement pratiquée dans les études sur l'ethos. Nous offrirons alors une analyse plus détaillée du discours fondée sur la méthode en question, avant de discuter la manière dont Faber retravaille l'ethos collectif et de dégager la portée argumentative de ce discours.…”

Critical Language and Discourse Awareness in Management Education

“…The importance of this agenda cannot be overstated. It is hard to find an area of organizational life where such a critical lens would not be warranted: from exposing the cultural and linguistic disadvantage of candidates in promotion and job interviews (and challenging managers’ own cultural predispositions) (Roberts, 2011; Roberts & Campbell, 2005; Scheuer, 2014) to critically examining the function and appropriateness of linguistic practices such as teasing, jocular abuse, swearing, and rudeness in management discourse (Ladegaard, 2012; Mak & Darics, 2017; Schnurr, 2009), and from understanding how cultural, linguistic, and gender differences manifest in communication and influence participation in and management of workplace activities (Alvesson & Billig, 1997; Angouri, 2010, 2018; Baxter, 2011) to exposing the role of language in justifying questionable business decisions (Amernic & Craig, 2006; Spicer, 2018) or shifting blame and avoiding responsibility (Darics & Koller, 2019; Hargie et al, 2010). The final step is therefore to embrace the critical stance: Management education needs to encourage students to use their knowledge to challenge the taken-for-granted, as a way to not only nurture higher order cognitive skills but also develop self-reflexive, responsible management practice in the hope of challenging unfair work practices (see Roberts, 2011).…”