Abstract:
In this paper we provide an overview of research into organizational discourse,
making a tentative distinction between organizational discourse
studies (emerging from organization and management theory) and organizational
discourse analysis (emerging from more linguistic-oriented research).
Our primary aim is to focus on organizational discourse studies in
a fashion that complements, rather than replicates, previous overviews of
the field. In so doing, we suggest that organizational discourse research is
too complex and multivariate to be pigeonholed on the basis of academic
discipline or research method. Further, abstracting the multiplicity of organizational
discourse research endeavors into just two single dimensions as
do Alvesson and Karreman (2000), for example, runs the risk of losing
some of this richness. We aim to provide insight into the complexity of organizational
discourse and the philosophical and methodological richness
that it embodies by highlighting that commentators often straddle different
positions. To this end, we propose five dimensions by which to map this rich
domain of research. Our concluding argument is that organizational discourse
studies (ODS) and organizational discourse analysis (ODA) would
do well to combine the former’s normative and the latter’s analytical prerogatives
with attention to practitioner-situated problematics and struggles.
