Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis and the Constitutive Role of Organizational Talk

Abstract

Taking its point of departure in an understanding of communication in general and organizational talk in particular as residing in social processes, the chapter sheds light on how organizational talk on a communicative micro-level constitutes larger organizational phenomena. It does so from the perspective of ethnomethodological conversation analysis, which is a methodology that is specifically well-fitted to analyse the naturally occurring work life practices that are constitutive of organizational life. The chapter reflects about linkages between CCO and an ethnomethodological approach, it provides a description of roots and main analytical features of ethnomethodological conversation analysis, it presents two exemplary analyses of organizational interaction, and ends by discussing the potential of doing conversation analysis for understanding the constitutive nature of organizational talk.