G5 Doctoral dissertation (article)
Jännitteet, vuorovaikutukselliset karikot ja diskursiiviset muutokset työyhteisöiden konsultoinnissa (2021)
Tensions, communicational obstacles to consulting goals and discursive changes in organizational consulting conversations

Pohjola, M. (2021). Jännitteet, vuorovaikutukselliset karikot ja diskursiiviset muutokset työyhteisöiden konsultoinnissa [Doctoral dissertation]. Jyväskylän yliopisto. JYU Dissertations, 383. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8641-4

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Pohjola, Mikko

eISBN: 978-951-39-8641-4

Journal or series: JYU Dissertations

eISSN: 2489-9003

Publication year: 2021

Number in series: 383

Number of pages in the book: 1 verkkoaineisto (76 sivua, 53 numeroimatonta sivua)

Publisher: Jyväskylän yliopisto

Place of Publication: Jyväskylä

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: Finnish

Persistent website address: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8641-4

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Abstract

In this dissertation, I studied tensions, communicational obstacles to consulting goals, and discursive change in the context of multi-party organizational consultation conversations. Discourse analytical methods and positioning theory were used to gain insight into these phenomena. The study data consisted of audio recordings of real consultation situations and their written transcripts. The empirical part of the dissertation comprises three published articles. The first article discusses discursive struggles in the context of a participative organizational intervention. The second article focuses on how responsibility and agency were negotiated in a consultation meeting. The third article examines how a moral dilemma was created and handled in a consultation meeting. The results of this research suggest that the tensions emerging in consultation conversations can be understood as discursive struggles. They may stem from contradictory ways of meaning-making concerning work goals and ways of working. Discursive struggles may also be generated when the social and moral orders of the organization are constructed in conflicting ways. The study showed that these tensions and their negotiation can produce obstacles to communication that can make it difficult for the consultant to promote conversation in line with the ideals of participative and dialogic consultation. The data analysis showed that even short consultation conversations can promote discursive changes. In the consultation conversations, new ways of talking about the organization’s conflicted issues were sought. The discursive changes related to ways of conducting the conversation and the emergence of new meanings. During the consultation meeting, conflicted discourses were reworked in ways that made them less demanding and extreme. Moreover, the moral order of the consultation conversation was renegotiated. This made it possible for the interlocutors to position themselves more favourably and to overcome communicational obstacles. According to the results of the research, consulting conversations can be understood as a forum for negotiating conflicted discourses. The consultation meetings created a “dialogical container” and “liminal space” that challenged the participants to find new ways of talking and create new meanings. Finally, the contribution of these findings to the theories and practices of consultation and organization development are discussed.

Keywords: work communities; well-being at work; interaction; contradictions; conflicts (societal events); consulting; social inclusion; discourse analysis; doctoral dissertations

Free keywords: communication; tensions; conflicts; organization consultation; participation; discourse analysis; positioning theory; positioning; moral orders; responsibility; agency

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021