2005
December
Sydney
Workshop on Organisational Discourse Methods
University of Sydney ICRODSC members hosted a two-day international workshop on organisational discourse methods, with the aim of exploring various approaches to discourse analysis, as well as to reflect on the implications of its use.
Methodological approaches covered in the workshop included:
- critical discourse analysis (Cynthia Hardy, Melbourne University and Steve Maguire, McGill University),
- narrative (Andrew Brown, University of Bath),
- Laclau & Mouffe's discourse analysis (Hugh Wilmott, Judge Busines School, University of Cambridge),
- reflexivity (Robyn Thomas, Cardiff University),
- micro-level analysis (Arlene Harvey, University of Sydney), and
- multi-modality (Rick Iedema, University of New South Wales).
Other invited participants included Stefan Sveningsson (Lund University), Chris Wright (University of New South Wales) and Bill Harley and Leisa Sargent (University of Melbourne), with the workshop highlight being the interactive panel discussions and the PhD forum, which provided students with an opportunity to meet with leading scholars in the area of organisational discourse and discuss their PhD research.
November
Melbourne
Workshop on the Study of Identities and Resistance
Dr Robyn Thomas (Cardiff Business School) led a workshop that examined how the study of identities could be conducted with a critical, reflexive approach in mind.
Dr Thomas presented a paper co-authored with Annette Davies on What Have the Feminists Done for Us? Feminist Theory and Organisational Resistance, which examines how, in developing our understandings of resistance, both organisation theorists and feminist theorists have struggled with issues of the subject and object of resistance.
April
Melbourne
Seminar on A Discourse Analysis of Speakable Emotions in a College of Further Education
Dr Christine Coupland (University of Nottingham) ran a seminar on using discourse analysis to examine speakable emotions in a college of further education.
The project examines accounts or stories of emotional experiences in one organisation by interviewing across a range of employees, with the findings suggesting that, rather than an institutionally-held level of appropriate articulations of emotionality, there appears to be a role-related rule system.
April
Melbourne
Seminar on Sense-making, Organisation and Time
Dr Ida Sabelis (Department of Culture, Organization and Management at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) gave a seminar on her current research project on Sense-making, Organisation and Time.
By being able to do more in less time, technological and policy developments in organisations have not provided more 'free time', but boosted stress to the extent that many people are swept out of the mainstream device of daily life.
February
Melbourne
Melbourne Seminar on Managing Risk in Organisations
Professor David Wilson (Warwick Business School, UK) gave a seminar on Managing Risk in Organisations: Beyond Regulation, Examples from the Leisure and Travel Industry, which presented findings from a study of seven organisations.
His data provided insights into the nature of the different types of risk faced in the leisure and travel sector and how individual organisations manage risk.
February
Melbourne
Doctoral Seminar on Surviving the PhD: Answering All the Questions You Never Thought to Ask
Professor David Wilson (Warwick Business School, England) held a seminar for doctoral students designed to identify some of the more challenging aspects of conducting doctoral studies.
Having published eight books and more than 50 articles in refereed journals on a variety of aspects of management, as well as holding a variety of leadership roles in the discipline, Prof Wilson is well qualified to provide doctoral students with sound advice on surviving and excelling in their PhD.
February
Melbourne
Seminar on Ironies and Dualities in the Discursive Struggles of Pilots
Professor Linda Putnam (Texas A&M University) gave a seminar on Ironies and Dualities in the Discursive Struggles of Pilots Defending the Profession.
This presentation examined the discursive forms of resistance used by a splinter group of a United States airline pilots' union in its campaign against a contract settlement supported by union leaders. Forms of resistance included oppositional tensions, military metaphors, and dualities that surfaced in the central themes of the campaign.
February
Melbourne
Workshop on Developing Publishing Skills
Using a model that formed the basis of earlier publishing workshops in 2001 and 2004, the University of Melbourne's Cynthia Hardy, Bill Harley and Leisa Sargent facilitated a third workshop, with more than 20 PhDs and early career academics participating.
In addition, four leading international scholars - Professor Mats Alvesson (Lund University, Sweden), Professor Joanne Martin (Stanford University, USA), Professor Linda Putnam (Texas A&M University, USA) and Professor David Wilson (Warwick University, UK) - attended as experts with extensive experience in publishing, as well as in reviewing and editing for leading management journals.
February
Melbourne
Seminar on Identity Research
A workshop on Building a Research Program on Identity was held with three co-directors of ICRODSC - Professors Mats Alvesson (University of Lund), Linda Putnam (Texas A&M) and David Grant (Sydney University).
The workshop outlined an international research project on studying identity, which is being coordinated by the University of Lund in collaboration with other leading identity researchers from Sweden, the UK and the US.