Representations of Talk at Work

Abstract

This work documents a reflexive study of workplace talk. It attempts to trace the conversational encounters of a management educator whilst engaged in routine academic activities. Concepts drawn from Speech-act theory and Actor-network theory are found useful in interpreting transcribed conversational episodes and pursuing performative and translational features of their evolution. Analytical emphasis falls on the dual characteristic of talk's operation in both accomplishing pragmatic ends and facilitating ritual sociability. In considering the textual representation of workplace talk, it is argued that context-less transcription of talk is boring. Despite the legitimate analytical ambitions of ethnomethodology, the transcription protocol of conversation analysts does little to remedy the anaesthetic effects of drily reproduced exchanges. An inquiry into styles of representation adopted by playwrights and screenplay writers is used to inform an alternative approach to the representation and interpretation of dialogue.