Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Drabble, Sarah J

Titel

The role of emotional language and identity in accounts of organisational change

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This thesis brings the recent developments of the linguistic turn in organisational research to the study of emotions through an empirical investigation of the role of emotional language in nurses’ constructions of identity during accounts of organisational change. It addresses the lack of research into the role of emotions in the construction of identity despite a growing awareness of the constructed nature of identity, as something we do rather than something we have. The research was conducted in a UK hospital, undergoing a planned reorganisation of its care delivery following construction of a new hospital wing. Consistent with the social constructionist perspective, the thesis employed a discourse analytic methodology with a particular focus on the rhetorical function of emotions. Data was selected from the transcripts of 32 semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 participants over a period of 18 months. The adoption of a discursive psychological approach brings a new perspective to the way people talk about emotions when accounting for organisational change by considering the emotional language as a flexible resource drawn on to enable people to achieve certain things with their talk. In particular the thesis extends our understanding of the ways in which emotional language is utilised in the construction of different types of identity through the process of identity work, a working through of emotions arising when identities are at stake during organisational change. Additionally, it considers the rhetorical function of emotional language through the positioning of the self during organisational change and how individuals utilise others’ emotions in talk to achieve discursive business.