Authors:Katja Schönian Schönian Abstract: Internal and corporate branding have become prevalent strategies in the field of human resource management. They aim to promote employee commitment and identification with the company through its brand. However, scholars in critical management studies have highlighted the exercise of normative control through these measures. Using the example of an intranet implementation in the context of a company merger in the telecommunications industry, the article examines the branding strategies on the intranet and, furthermore, shows how it prompts employees to constantly reflect on and evaluate the different types of content and related work practices on the intranet. As becomes apparent, in the way the branding content competes with other, to employees more relevant information on the intranet, it is constantly being devaluated. In this manner, the intranet becomes an ambivalent carrier of branding practices, effectively resulting in employees undermining management’s call to identify with the new company brand through the intranet. Nevertheless, the article highlights the ability of employees to overlook irrelevant content as a positive quality of the intranet. It argues for a greater understanding of everyday work in addition to a further integration of employees into change management projects. PubDate: 2023-12-18 DOI: 10.7146/claw.v8i1.142401 Issue No:Vol. 9, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Sanna Hedrén Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between explicit and implicit aspects of communication at work and especially how discursive change is enabled in that relationship. The studied context is collegial conversations in Swedish School-age Educare settings. The purpose is to elaborate on practice-based perspectives on reproducing and changing discourse in communication at work, contributing to productive teacher discourse. This paper proposes two aspects contributing to reproduction of discourse: shallow consensus and intersubjectivity; and two aspects enabling discursive change in collegial conversations at work: multivoicing and revisiting events. Identified aspects of (re)production in collegial conversation shows positioning and constructions of group belonging in work teams are important to make conversations productive. This paper contributes to elaboration on the literature of collegial discourse and communication and literature on team-based work. PubDate: 2023-12-18 DOI: 10.7146/claw.v8i1.142402 Issue No:Vol. 9, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Aage Hill-Madsen , Anna-Vera Meidell Sigsgaard Abstract: This article is a theoretical one aimed at elaborating and operationalizing one of the more recently developed aspects of the educational theory named Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (e.g. Maton 2014). LCT is a sociological theory with a markedly interventionist streak, which is reflected in endeavours to identify and recommend ways of removing obstacles to knowledge-building for learners. Out of three active dimensions in LCT, this article is focused on the particular dimension termed Autonomy. As applied to situations of knowledge communication, Autonomy appears to be concerned with the degree of insulation or focus with which a given topic is treated, i.e. whether the topic of, e.g., a school lesson, is ‘autonomous’ in that lesson or whether competing topics and perspectives are brought in to further the educational process. However, the concept of Autonomy is in need of both concretization and operationalization and will therefore be interpreted through the lens of certain aspects of Hallidayan linguistic theory that may fruitfully elucidate the concept. The operationalization will be exemplified through two cases of knowledge communication. PubDate: 2023-12-18 DOI: 10.7146/claw.v8i1.142403 Issue No:Vol. 9, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Anna-Katrine Mygind Klok, John G. McClellan Abstract: While social media have the potential to promote positive relations online, the increasing use of contemporary apps, such as Instagram, distances many from important face-to-face interactions. In this study, we rethink the problem of ‘absent presence’ within social media by revealing the language games of Instagram. Drawing on social media literature and Gergen’s (2002) concern about the erosion of cultural norms due to the absent presence generated by new media, we engaged in a qualitative study of active Instagram users. Employing a unique ‘prompt and response’ interview approach, in which we asked participants to explain why they would (or would not) post particular statements, we gain insights into social norms of Instagram as expressed by active social media users. The results of this study show that participants base their posting decisions largely on their perception of a desired self, without much concern for who is posting or why they are posting. Because our findings reveal that posting on Instagram is done without much engagement with others and is often done only if a message corresponds with their own experiences or self-identification, this study extends the concern about absent presence. Specifically, we argue that the complex blurring of monologic and dialogic forms of communication found in contemporary social media apps generates hollow and inconsequential language games that maintain narrow concepts of self and fail to generate interactions necessary to co-create relevant and meaningful social values. PubDate: 2023-12-18 DOI: 10.7146/claw.v8i1.142409 Issue No:Vol. 9, No. 1 (2023)
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