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Diversity Perspectives in European Management
Edited by Beverly D. Metcalfe, University of Hull Business School, UK and Sandra Fielden, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK
Introduction
This research is a study of talk in organisational settings. It analyses differences between the ways in which men and women use language in real work settings. While such differences have already been identified and explored by several researchers ([4] Case, 1994; [52] Tannen, 1994; [2] Boden, 1994; [17] Fischer, 1964; et al. ), this study aims to extend and explore the assertion that men and women talk differently at work. It explores the existence and extent of similarities and differences in male and female speech acts and patterns in a single case setting, and proposes that the analysis of such differences can contribute to an understanding of other sources of difference among men and women at work, not least their unequal career progression patterns.
The literature suggests that the ritual nature of men's and women's conversations is such that they speak different languages that they assume are the same, using similar words to encode disparate experiences of self and social relationships ([3] Boden and Zimmerman, 1991; [52] Tannen, 1994; [4] Case, 1994). Since, these languages share an overlapping vocabulary, they contain a propensity for systematic mistranslation, creating impasses, which impede communication and limit the potential for cooperation in decision making and advancement. To illustrate this, this research examines the workings of conversational style through in-depth analysis of a case study ([22] Have, 1999):
Interaction in the workplace is characterized by a unique constellation of constraints: an institutional structure in which individuals are hierarchically ranked; a history of greater male participation in most work settings, especially at the higher ranking levels; a still existing, though recently permeated pattern of participation along gender lines; periodic external evaluation in the form of raises, promotions, task assignments, and performance reviews; and a situation in which participants are required to interact regularly with others who are neither kin nor chosen affiliates ([30] Kendall and Tannen, 1997, p. 81).
The workplace presents an opportunity to observe linguistic interaction between men and women in the context of the many constraints described by [30] Kendall and Tannen (1997). While research to date has concentrated mostly...