'We don't need to abide by that!': Negotiating professional roles in problem-solving talk at work. Issue 2 (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Kyoungmi; Angouri, Jo
• Is Part Of: Discourse & communication. Volume 13:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 172
• Page End: 191
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Business meetings -- formulating -- interactional sociolinguistics -- multinational corporate workplace -- negotiating -- organisational communication -- problem-solving talk -- resuming -- role negotiation -- workplace discourse; Discourse analysis -- Periodicals; Communication -- Periodicals; 401.405
• DOI: 10.1177/1750481318817623
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-4813

Abstract

In this article, we focus on problem solving talk in the business meeting event. We zoom in on the processes of formulating, negotiating and ratifying an issue as a problem, and we argue that individuals negotiate their stances in relation to their perceived/projected professional roles. The processes of problem-solving are, simultaneously, processes of self/other positioning. We take an Interactional Sociolinguistic perspective and draw on audio-recorded meeting talk collected in a multinational corporate workplace. Our analysis shows that interactants draw on issues of accountability, perceived/projected responsibilities and expertise in pursuit of their own interactional agenda in the problem-solving meeting. We close the article with directions for further research.