Cover not available
Part of
Identity Struggles: Evidence from workplaces around the world
Edited by Dorien Van De Mieroop and Stephanie Schnurr
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 69] 2017
► pp. 207–224

Chapter 11
Workplace conflicts as (re)source for analysing identity struggles in stories told in interviews

Workplace conflicts are often realised on the interactional level and occur when two identities intersect. If one of them is regarded as contested, this may lead to identity struggle. By applying Positioning Theory (Lucius-Hoene and Deppermann 2004), this chapter draws upon narratives about such workplace conflicts expressed in interviews, and analyses the locus of different kinds of identity struggles as well as which identities are constructed. The findings show that identity struggles are initiated by clashes of norms and expressed either in the story or in the interview by drawing heavily on dialogue/reported speech. The analysis also shows that identity construction is reflexively linked to the story and the interview so as to reinforce each other.

Keywords: positioning, narratives, workplace conflicts, identities, identity struggle
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Narratives in interviews as resource for identity constructions
  • Data
  • Identity struggles in the workplace
    • Example 1: The struggle with being accepted in the workplace
    • Example 2: The struggle with feeling excluded in the workplace
    • Example 3: The struggle with conforming to the workplace
  • Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 26 April 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69.11mig
References
Angouri, Jo, and Marlene Miglbauer
2014 “‘And Then We Summarise in English for the Others’: The Lived Experience of the Multilingual Workplace.” Multilingua – Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 33(1–2): 147–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Åslund, Olof, and Oskar Nordström Skans
2010 “Will I See You at Work? Ethnic Workplace Segregation in Sweden, 1985–2002.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 69(3): 471–493. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, Michael
1997 “Positioning Between Structure and Performance.” Journal of Narrative and Life History 7: 335–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 “‘I Know It May Sound Mean to Say This, but We Couldn’t Really Care Less about Her Anyway’: Form and Functions of “Slut Bashing” In Male Identity constructions in 15-year-olds.” Human Development 47: 331–353. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, Michael, De Fina, Anna, and Deborah Schiffrin
2007 Selves and Identities in Narrative and Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baynham, Michael
2011 “Stance, Positioning, and Alignment in Narratives of Professional Experience.” Language in Society 40: 63–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bell, Myrtle P., McLaughlin, Mary E., and Jennifer M. Sequeira
2002 “Discrimination, Harassment, and the Glass Ceiling: Women Executives as Change Agents.” Journal of Business Ethics 37(1): 65–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blåka, Gunhild, and Cathrine Filstad
2007 “How Does a Newcomer Construct Identity? A Socio‐Cultural Approach to Workplace Learning.” International journal of lifelong education 26(1): 59–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buttny, Richard
1998 “Putting Prior Talk into Context. Reported Speech and the Reporting Context.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 31(1): 45–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cortina, Lilia M.
2008 “Unseen Injustice: Incivility as Modern Discrimination in Organizations.” Academy of Management Review 33(1): 55–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davidson, Marilyn J., and Ronald J. Burke
2012 “Women in Management Worldwide: Progress and Prospects–An Overview.” In Women in Management Worldwide: Progress and Prospects, ed. by Marilyn J. Davidson, and Ronald J. Burke, 1–20. Farnham: Gower.Google Scholar
De Dreu, Carsten K., and Michele J. Gelfand
2008 Conflict in the Workplace: Sources, Functions, and Dynamics across Multiple Levels of Analysis. In The Psychology of Conflict and Conflict Management in Organizations. The organizational frontiers series, ed. By Carsten K. De Dreu, and Michele J. Gelfand, 3–54. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group/Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
De Fina, Anna
2003 Identity in Narrative: A Study of Immigrant Discourse. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 “Discourse and Identity.” In Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, ed. by Teun Van Dijk, 263–282. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deppermann, Arnulf
2015 “Positioning.” In The Handbook of Narrative Analysis, ed. by Anna De Fina, and Alexandra Georgakopoulou, 369–387. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dipboye Robert, and Stefanie Halverson
2004 “Subtle (and not so Subtle) Discrimination in Organizations. In The Dark Side of Organizational Behaviour, ed. by Ricky Griffith, and Anne O’Leary-Kelly, 131–158. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Drew, Paul, and John Heritage
(eds) 1992 Talk at work: Interaction in Institutional Settings (Vol. 8). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dyer, Judy, and Deborah Keller-Cohen
2000 “The Discursive Construction of Professional Self through Narratives of Personal Experience.” Discourse Studies 2(3): 283–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, Joyce K.
1999 Disappearing Acts. Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ghumman, Sonia, Ryan, Ann Marie, Barclay, Lizabeth A., and Karen S. Markel
2013 “Religious Discrimination in the Workplace: A Review and Examination of Current and Future Trends.” Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(4): 439–454. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glenn, Phillip J.
2003 Laughter in Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving
1981 “Footing.” In Forms of Talk, ed. by rving Goffman, 124–159. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harré, Rom, and Luk van Langenhove
(eds) 1999 Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hatoss, Aniko
2012 “Where Are You From? Identity Construction and Experiences of ‘Othering’ in the Narratives of Sudanese Refugee-background Australians”. Discourse and Society 23: 47–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet
2003 “Small Talk at Work: Potential Problems for Workers with an Intellectual Disability.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 36(1): 65–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Gendered Talk at Work: Constructing Gender Identity through Workplace Discourse. Malden: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, and Meredith Marra
2005 “Narrative and the Construction of Professional Identity in the Workplace.” In The Sociolinguistics of Narrative, ed. by Joanna Thornborrow, and Jennifer Coates, 193–213. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Greer C.
2006 “The Discursive Construction of Teacher Identities in a Research Interview.” In Discourse and Identity, ed. by Anna De Fina, Deborah Schiffrin, and Michael Bamberg, 213–232. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, Kristen P., Peddie, Chad I., Gilrane, Veronica L., King, Eden B., and Alexis L. Gray
2013 “Not so Subtle a Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Correlates of Subtle and Overt Discrimination.” Journal of Management, Prepublished 42(6):1588–1613.10/ 11/ 2013. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Krings, Franciska, Johnston, Claire, Binggeli, Steve, and Christian Maggiori
2014 “Selective Incivility: Immigrant Groups Experience Subtle Workplace Discrimination at Different Rates.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 20(4): 491. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, William, and Joshua Waletzky
1967 “Narrative Analysis: Oral Versions of Personal Experience. In Essays on the verbal and visual arts, ed. by June Helm, 12–44. Seattle: Washington University Press. Reprinted in the Journal of Narrative and Life History 7: 3–38.Google Scholar
Labov, William
1997 “Some Further Steps in Narrative Analysis.” Journal of Narrative and Life History 7: 395–415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lawler, John J., and Johngseok Bae
1998 “Overt Employment Discrimination by Multinational Firms: Cultural and Economic Influences in a Developing Country.” Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society 37(2): 126–152.Google Scholar
Lucius-Hoene, Gabriele, and Arnulf Deppermann
2004 Rekonstruktion Narrativer Identität: Ein Arbeitsbuch zur Analyse Narrativer Interviews. Wiesbaden: VS.Google Scholar
Lutgen-Sandvik, Pamela
2008 “Intensive Remedial Identity Work: Responses to Workplace Bullying Trauma and Stigmatization.” Organization 15(1): 97–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Markaki, Vassiliki, and Lorenza Mondada
2012 “Embodied Orientations towards Co-Participants in Multinational Meetings.” Discourse Studies 14(1): 31–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marra, Meredith, and Janet Holmes
2007 “Humour across Cultures: Joking in the Multicultural Workplace.” Handbook of Intercultural Communication 7: 153–172.Google Scholar
Miglbauer, Marlene
2010 Postsocialist Globalised Workplaces in Croatia and Serbia: Work Characteristics, Gender and Identities. Unpub PhD thesis, University of Vienna.Google Scholar
O’Connor, Patricia
1994 “‘You Could Feel It Through the Skin’: Agency and Positioning in Prisoners’ Stabbing Stories.” Text 14(1): 45–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polanyi, Livia
1985 Telling the American Story: A Structural and Cultural Analysis of Conversational Storytelling. Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Publishers.Google Scholar
Posthuma, Richard A., Wagstaff, Maria F., and Michael A. Campion
2012 “Age Stereotypes and Workplace Age Discrimination.” In The Oxford Handbook of Work and Aging, ed. by Walter C. Borman, and Jerry W. Hedge, 298–312. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reissner, Stefanie C.
2010 “Change, meaning and identity at the workplace.” Journal of Organizational Change Management 23(3): 287–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rowe, Mary P.
1990 “Barriers to Equality: The Power of Subtle Discrimination to Maintain Unequal Opportunity.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 3(2): 153–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruohotie-Lyhty, Maria
2013 “Struggling for a Professional Identity: Two Newly Qualified Language Teachers’ Identity Narratives during the First Years at Work.” Teaching and Teacher education 30: 120–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey
1972 “An Initial Investigation of the Usability of Conversational Data for Doing Sociology.” In Studies in Social Interaction, ed. by David Sudnow, 31–74. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah
1996 “Narrative as Self-Portrait: Sociolinguistic Constructions of Identity.” Language in society 25(2): 167–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie, and Angela Chan
2011 “Exploring Another Side of Co-leadership: Negotiating Professional Identities through Face-Work in Disagreements.” Language in Society 40(2): 187–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Lori A., Carmichael, Jennifer S., Blackwell, Lauren V., Cleveland, Jeanette N., and George C. Thornton >III
2010 “Perceptions of Discrimination and Justice among Employees with Disabilities.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 22(1): 5–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tannen, Deborah
1999 “The Display of (Gendered) Identities in Talk at Work.” In Reinventing Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse, ed. by Mary Bucholtz, A. C. Liang, and Laurel A. Sutton. 221–240. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2007 Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue and Imagery in Conversational Discourse, (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van De Mieroop, Dorien
2006 “Identity Construction in Institutional Speeches: The Crucial Role of Pronouns.” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 2: 81–103.Google Scholar
Van Laer, Koen, and Maddy Janssens
2011 “Ethnic Minority Professionals’ Experiences with Subtle Discrimination in the Workplace.” Human Relations 64(8): 1203–1227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vogelpohl, Darla A., Rice, Susan K., Edwards, Mary E., and Christopher E. Bork
2013 “New Graduate Nurses’ Perception of the Workplace: Have They Experienced Bullying?” Journal of Professional Nursing 29(6): 414–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watson, Tony J.
2009 “Narrative, Life Story and Manager Identity: A Case Study in Autobiographical Identity Work.” Human Relations 62(3): 425–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Willis, Paul
2012 “Witnesses on the Periphery: Young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Queer Employees Witnessing Homophobic Exchanges in Australian Workplaces.” Human Relations 65(12): 1589–1610. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wortham, Stanton, Mortimer, Katherine, Lee, Kathleen, and Elaine Allard
2011 “Interviews as Interactional Data.” Language in Society 40: 39–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young, Kathryn S.
2009 “I Have a Student Who…: An Exploration of Societal Norms Embedded in Co-Constructed Narratives.” Narrative Inquiry 19(2): 356–371. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, Don
1998 “Identity, Context and Interaction.” In Identities in Talk, ed. by Charles Antaki, and Sue Widdicombe, 87–106. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Al-Khulaifi, Afra & Dorien Van De Mieroop
2024. “Why not the thoub and the abaya?” An interactional sociolinguistic approach to the interplay between nationality, gender, and professional identity in the Qatari academic workplace. Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics 2:1 ► pp. 94 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2020. Discursive Navigation of Employable Identities in the Narratives of Former Refugees [Studies in Narrative, 27], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.