Abstract

The aim of this article is to study employees’ discursive construction of disparate survivor responses. The analysis reveals how employees position themselves simultaneously within different types of categories by use of discursive actions. Drawing on various discourses, the actors reject having one solid core of identity and instead signal the existence of various flexible identities. The article contributes to a greater understanding of the importance of discourse within organizational change. An increased managerial sensitivity toward employee discourse may help to understand why employees obstruct organizational changes and subsequently make it easier to preempt and handle such reactions.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2014-12-01
DOI
10.1177/2329490614547757
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

References (80)

  1. Aggerholm H. K. (2009). Afskedigelser og organisationskommunikation: En undersøgelse af organisationskommunik…
  2. Liberating theory
  3. Training and Development Journal
  4. Lenin and philosophy and other essays
  5. 10.5465/amr.2003.8925191
     ↗
Show all 80 →
  1. 10.1177/0021886300362002
     ↗
  2. 10.1177/0021886395311005
     ↗
  3. The functions of the executive
  4. European Scientific Journal
  5. The social construction of reality. A treatise in the sociology of knowledge
  6. 10.1007/BF01419446
     ↗
  7. Research in organizational behavior
  8. 10.1037/0021-9010.73.3.436
     ↗
  9. 10.2307/2392882
     ↗
  10. An introduction to social constructivism
  11. 10.1093/oso/9780195072853.003.0002
     ↗
  12. Survivors: How to keep your best people on board after downsizing
  13. Academy of Management Executive
  14. 10.1177/017084068901000402
     ↗
  15. 10.1177/0149206309346735
     ↗
  16. Democracy in an age of corporate colonization: Developments in communication and the poli…
  17. Transforming communication, transforming business: Building responsive and responsible wo…
  18. 10.4135/9781412986243.n1
     ↗
  19. 10.1177/13505084030103002
     ↗
  20. 10.4135/9781446221785
     ↗
  21. Discursive psychology
  22. 10.2307/2393494
     ↗
  23. 10.2307/256313
     ↗
  24. 10.4135/9781412986243.n11
     ↗
  25. 10.4135/9781452231051
     ↗
  26. 10.1177/0893318902154001
     ↗
  27. 10.1515/9781503620766
     ↗
  28. 10.1108/13527591311312123
     ↗
  29. 10.1177/001872679905201202
     ↗
  30. Journal of Management Research
  31. 10.1017/S1833367200000833
     ↗
  32. The saturated self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life
  33. 10.1002/job.170
     ↗
  34. Identity: A reader
  35. 10.4135/9781412986243
     ↗
  36. Handbook of organizational communication: An interdisciplinary perspective
  37. Diskursanalyse som teori og metode
  38. 10.1177/001872679705000102
     ↗
  39. Handbook of interpersonal communication
  40. 10.1177/0170840606067249
     ↗
  41. Stress, appraisal, and coping
  42. 10.5465/amr.1998.926627
     ↗
  43. Discourse as social interaction
  44. 10.1108/00251741011076735
     ↗
  45. Healing the wounds: Overcoming the trauma of layoffs and revitalizing downsized organizations
  46. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199711)18:1+<623::AID-JOB909>3.0.CO;2-T
     ↗
  47. Business Review
  48. 10.2307/259206
     ↗
  49. 10.4135/9781446222119
     ↗
  50. Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour
  51. Communication within the organization: An interpretive review of theory and research
  52. 10.1177/105256299902300104
     ↗
  53. Robinson S. L. (1992). Retreat, voice, silence, and destruction: A typology of behavioural responses to organ…
  54. Academy of Management Executive
  55. 10.2307/256461
     ↗
  56. Learned helplessness
  57. 10.1108/00251741111094473
     ↗
  58. 10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.916
     ↗
  59. Journal of American Academy of Business
  60. The organization in crisis. Downsizing, restructuring, and privatization
  61. The organization in crisis: Downsizing, restructuring and privatization
  62. Academy of Management
  63. 10.1177/0093650206298068
     ↗
  64. Handbook of rhetorical and communication theory
  65. Communication and organizations: An interpretive approach
  66. 10.1177/0893318903262241
     ↗
  67. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-050X(199821)37:1<71::AID-HRM7>3.0.CO;2-S
     ↗
  68. 10.5465/amr.2008.34422019
     ↗
  69. 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00724.x
     ↗
  70. Socialkonstruktivisme—positioner, problemer og perspektiver
  71. Socialkonstruktivisme under debat: Om relativisme og realisme i kulturvidenskaberne
  72. Mapping the language of racism: Discourse and the legitimation of exploitation
  73. 10.2307/2393565
     ↗
  74. Philosophical investigations
  75. Case study research: Design and methods