| A few selected articles: Discourse & regulation is a new chapter I've written for an upcoming book edited by Mark Zachry and Charlotte Thralls. It reports on a study of the discourse used to implement a new software package at a university (Zachry, M. & Thralls, C. 2007. Communicative Practices in Workplaces and the Professions: Cultural Perspectives on the Regulation of Discourse and Organizations. Amityville NY: Baywood. Creating rhetorical stability in corporate university discourse looks at texts that assert corporate universities should play a greater role in higher education. This study was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As part of that project, I examined the emergence of the corporate university and its role in higher education. Two book chapters, (Corporate; Migrations) co-authored with Johndan Johnson-Eilola also emerged from that study. This work is more topical and theoretical than discursive. Two more critical pieces examine the Open Source software movement and the rise of proprietary knowledge systems in universities. The second (knowledge) article, also co-authored with Johndan Johnson-Eilola appeared in Online education: Global questions, local answers edited by Kelli Cargile Cook and Keith Grant-Davie (Baywood, 2005). What's professional about professional communication? takes a critical look at the term "professional" and what is means for workplace communication - especially in more technical occupations. How is professional communication changing as a discourse and a method for personal identification? What are the implications of this change for professional work? GenEthics: Ethics and generational conflict in workplace training was created in partnership with a client organization that was having what they called "inter-generational conflicts" between new and more experienced hires. I was asked to come in and work with both groups to find out the reasons for these conflicts and recommend some solutions. "GenEthics" is the academic paper that resulted from what was a facinating project. Intuitive Ethics asks what is at stake when people rely on "gut feelings" or intuition when making decisions. The article argues that ethics is as much about understanding where personal beliefs and opinions come from (de-naturalizing ethics) as relying on them for decision making. The article (1999) is a bit afield from discourse and change but it is a useful example of the "empirical study of concepts" which is a component of change studies. |
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