Accounting For Change: A Discourse Analysis of Graduate Trainees’ Talk of Adjustment

Christine Coupland

Journal of Management Studies, 2001, vol. 38, issue 8, 1103-1119

Abstract: In this paper I explore how graduate trainees account for change since joining a company. The participants were on a graduate‐training scheme with a large, well known, high street chain. They were interviewed over a period of six months and asked to talk about their work. This paper is part of a larger study of graduates’ work experience. The extracts in this paper are taken from transcripts of the interviews, and are analysed using a discursive approach. These stories of work events have provided an arena for identity projects to be undertaken, where identity is regarded as a flexible resource. The participants acknowledge and refute change during their time with the company. In addition, they construct and contrast their self‐descriptions with a company ‘ideal’. Furthermore, their accounts of being similar to other employees, yet at the same time unique, appear to illustrate a dilemma through contradiction. These dilemmas are negotiated in the talk through the construction and deployment of situated identities. I conclude that by attending to the detail of talk about work, understanding may be gained regarding ideological dilemmas that face new entrants to a work place. They draw on and refute commonly understood work place practices, while situating their identity in broader cultural projects. The participants attend to ‘norms’ and ‘culture’ while denying their relevance to their own particular patterns of behaviour. Accounts of learning to behave ‘appropriately’ and to avoid being ‘bloodied’ feature in their talk of adjustment since joining the company. This has relevance for the future training of graduates and understanding work place identities.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00274

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:38:y:2001:i:8:p:1103-1119

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... s.asp?ref=00022-2380

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Management Studies is currently edited by Timothy Clark, Steven W. Floyd and Mike Wright

More articles in Journal of Management Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().