Identity struggles : evidence from workplaces around the world / edited by Dorien Van De Mieroop, Stephanie Schnurr.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mieroop, Dorien Van De, editor.

Schnurr, Stephanie, 1975- editor.

Series:

Discourse approaches to politics, society, and culture ; Volume 69.

Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 1569-9463 ; Volume 69

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis--Social aspects.

Discourse analysis.

Identity (Psychology).

Workplace literacy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (471 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam, [Netherlands] ; Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania] : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2017.

Summary:

This collection provides a kaleidoscopic view of a range of identity struggles in the workplace context. It features twenty-two case studies that present an eclectic mix of workplaces in different socio-cultural contexts. They include, among others, household workers in Peru and Hong Kong, female professionals in India and the UK, social workers in Botswana and on Canadian reserves, tourist guides in Europe and construction workers in New Zealand. The volume addresses important questions on professional competence, group membership, (sometimes competing) expectations, and identity boundaries. The chapters establish that identity struggles are a reflection of issues of knowledge, competing norms and attempts for social change.

Contents:

Intro

Identity Struggles

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Dedication page

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Introduction: A kaleidoscopic view of identity struggles at work

Introduction

A shared approach, centered around several overarching themes

Struggling to construct professional competence

Struggling to (de-)construct in-group membership

Struggling to combine (sometimes competing) expectations

Struggling to define identity boundaries

Conceptualising identity

A framework to study identity construction

Researching identity struggles at work

Towards a kaleidoscopic approach to identity

References

Part I. Struggling to construct professional competence

Chapter 2. Coping with uncertainty: Gender and leadership identities in UK corporate life

Women in leadership

A case study of Karen: A woman business leader

The analysis

Denotative analysis

Connotative analysis

Identity struggles in women's leadership

Chapter 3. Constructing a "competent" meeting chair: A study of the discourse of meeting chairing in a Hong Kong workplace

Identity construction in Hong Kong workplaces

Data

Successful construction of a competent meeting chair

Negotiating struggles over identity construction

Discussion and conclusion

Appendix

Transcription conventions

Abbreviations in the glosses

Chapter 4. Juggling "I"s and "we"s with "he"s and "she"s: Negotiating novice professional identities in stories of teamwork told in New Zealand job interviews

Identity struggles in job interviews

Competency-based interviews

The graduate recruitment context

Theoretical background

Data and methodology

Analysis

Identity Dilemma 1

Identity Dilemma 2

Identity Dilemma 3.

Discussion and conclusion

Chapter 5. Epistemic "Struggles": When nurses' expert identity is challenged by "knowledgeable" clients

The roles and identities of nurses

Establishing and orienting to participants' epistemic statuses in the process of negotiating each other's identities

Acknowledgement

Chapter 6. Who's the expert?: Negotiating competence and authority in guided tours

Unpacking the notion of identity

Guided tours: "Knowledgeable guide" and "unknowing guided"?

Claiming knowledge in first position

Claiming knowledge in second position

Guided participants responding to the guide's emerging projections

Completion of recognizably "incomplete" turns

Early completion in overlap

Exploiting ongoing projections: Competing continuations of the guide's turn

Continuing after the end of a sequence initiated by the guide

Competing for the right to extend the explanation

Part II. Struggling to (de-)construct in-group membership

Chapter 7. You're a proper tradesman mate: Identity struggles and workplace transitions in New Zealand

Professional identities

Identity as a site of struggle

Exploring authentic interaction

Identity struggles at work

The apprentice builder

From intern to co-worker

Professional identity across contexts

Acknowledging and maintaining the boundaries

Patrolling and defending the boundaries

Implications and conclusions

Appendix. Transcription conventions

Chapter 8. Indian women at work: Struggling between visibility and invisibility

The (in)visibility vortex

(In)visibility processes from a discursive angle

Data description.

Analysis

The invisible woman

The (in)visibility dilemma

Chapter 9. The dynamics of identity struggle in interdisciplinary meetings in higher education

Disciplinarity, entitlement and epistemics

The challenge of hybridity

Disciplinary identity and epistemic status

Wets and dries

The balance of contributions

Struggling to be heard

Conclusion

Chapter 10. Laughables as a resource for foregrounding shared knowledge and shared identities in intercultural interactions in Scandinavia

Laughables, identity struggles and co-membership

Membership categorisation and epistemics

Abbreviations

Chapter 11. Workplace conflicts as (re)source for analysing identity struggles in stories told in interviews

Narratives in interviews as resource for identity constructions

Identity struggles in the workplace

Example 1: The struggle with being accepted in the workplace

Example 2: The struggle with feeling excluded in the workplace

Example 3: The struggle with conforming to the workplace

Discussion

Chapter 12. Identities on a learning curve: Female migrant narratives and the construction of identities of (non)participation in Communities of Practice

Method - narrative analysis

Leila - a narrative of exclusion

Yulia: a narrative of inclusion

Discussion and conclusions

Part III. Struggling to combine (sometimes competing) expectations

Chapter 13. Managing patients' expectations in telephone complaints in Scotland

Complaints, consumers and the UK National Health Service (NHS).

The NHS complaints process

Methods and data

Data analysis

The moral work required to complain

Conflicting agendas for complaint recipients

Conversational affiliation

Chapter 14. Identity work in nurse-client interactions in selected community hospitals in Kenya

Background of nursing care in Kenya

Analytical framework, methodology and data

Data analysis and discussion of findings

Conclusions

Chapter 15. 'Even if there were procedures, we will be acting at our own discretion…': General practitioners' struggle about identity

Background to Polish family medicine and management of patients with MUS

Method and research design

Struggling with emotions: containing negative emotions and uncertainty

Balancing patients' expectations with the professional ethos, impeded by institutional barriers

Chapter 16. A kind of work: Narratives from Canadian indigenous women

Indigenous people in Canada

The women

Borderlessness

Balance

Binds

Concluding remarks

Chapter 17. Adapting self for private and public audiences: The enactment of leadership identity by New Zealand rugby coaches in huddles and interviews

Background: Leadership identity in sports

Private and public identity performance in (professional) sport

The current study: struggling with interactional settings

Findings

Differences in leadership tasks

Realisation of coaching speech acts: assessments of confidence and performance

Realisation of coaching speech acts: criticising acts

Getting it right: adapting speech across the private/public divide

Conclusion and implications for leadership research and future research.

References

Chapter 18. "I speak French=eh": Multilingualism and professional identity struggles in Luxembourg

The sociolinguistic situation of Luxembourg

Fresh &amp

Fruity

InfoTech

Part IV. Struggling to define identity boundaries

Chapter 19. The discursive accomplishment of identity during veterinary medical consultations in the UK

Data and analysis

Identifying animals

Identifying patients

Identity struggle

Transcription symbols (adapted from Jefferson 2004)

Chapter 20. Embracing a new professional identity: The case of social work in Botswana

Background: A brief history of social work in Botswana

Social work in Botswana today

Methodology and Data

Role conceptualisation

Language

Cultural norms

Authority and collective accountability

Chapter 21. Identity and space: Discourse perspectives

Introduction: Aims and theoretical framework

Space and discourse

Identity and organizational space

Discourse, space and identity on a new university campus: An exploratory case study

Background

Discourse about and in space

Critical reflections

Concluding thoughts

Chapter 22. Household workers' use of directives to negotiate their professional identity in Lima, Peru

Domestic service in Peru

Frames, relational work and directives in discursive negotiations of identity

Directives and their strategic employment for identity negotiation in the workplace

Address systems as markers of power differences between household workers and employers.

The household workers' construction of expertise power employing directives.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.