Browsing by Subject "critical discourse analysis"

This study is about competence development in an expertise organization. Also, gender as a cultural and discursive construction was examined. The foucauldian critical discourse analysis and the theory of critical management and organization studies formed the theoretical and methodological framework. As the research phenomenon was understood as discursively produced, power is defined through the idea of government and as a knowledge constituting concept. It was examined what kind of reality, discursive subject positions, and finally, what kind of gender is produced in the discourse covered in this study. The context of the study was an expertise company that provides comprehensive infrastructure services. Managing and leading experts were therefore one of the main themes of the study. The qualitative research data was collected in a research project which concentrated on the possibilities, barriers and preconditions of the competence and career development in three different organizations. The gender viewpoint was included in the research project. The data was collected with a semi-structured interview. In this study nine individual interviews from one of the organizations were used, of which three were managers' interviews and six were the interviews of employees . The data was analyzed with the critical discourse-analytical reading approach when the data was interpreted as the discourse of competence development. The findings identify the examined discourse as a governmental method of discipline which entwines to the business strategy of the company, producing reality about the importance of continuous competence development. It demands employees to define themselves as self-developmental and active subjects. The employees adopted the discourse by constructing themselves as experts who are willing to develop, but who at the same time are challenging hierarchical power relationships. Expertise enables position to challenge manager-subordinate relationships by constructing them as cooperational and equal. Manager-position was constructed as a legitimized developer imposed by the organization as well as a mentor who facilitates the self-direction of the employees. Generally gender was produced as a concept independent of sex. However, at the same time gender was constructed through the differences between the sexes, being either advantage or a barrier for an individual. As a conclusion, it can be interpreted that being a subordinate and a manager seems to be changing and situational in contemporary organizations. The study reveals the changing forms of control in organizations and the requirement of more subjective work.