CfP call for paper
conference
9th International Conference on Organizational Discourse: Crises,
Corruption, Character and Change
14.07.10-16.07.10
The VU, Amsterdam
Conference Theme
Contemporary organizing is confronted by seemingly endless ?crises?
which are routinely projected through apocalyptic metaphor. Over
coffee, we can skip-read through today?s ?ecological catastrophe?,
the ?global financial meltdown? and ?the collapse of capitalism?
before ?getting down to work?. All of which suggests that the
distance between our discursive projections of the future and our
inability to confront those possibilities has, perhaps, never been
greater. In the post-whatever world we now inhabit, all appears to
be simultaneously terminal and ? bizarrely ? transient.
Hence, the theme for the 9th Conference has a narrative focus on the
discursive construction and re-construction of crises, character,
corruption and change. At the meta-level, the conference theme is
intended to elicit papers which address the discursive construction
and re-construction of ?crises?. In our view, linguistic framing is
a fundamental aspect of how ?crises? are being manufactured,
constituted, projected, perceived and addressed (or finessed) at all
levels of organization.
Perhaps most problematic is how we have depicted the character of
these various crises for their technical and global complexity
invariably engenders over-simplified description. In parallel, we
appear to be experiencing a persistent growth in corruption as
manifest in the prevalence of institutional practices which directly
undermined the presumed core processes of organizations and in our
accounts of such seemingly corrupt behaviour which privilege
rhetorical dissimulation. These issues raise further questions
regarding the problems of continuity and the scope for change. What
is the role for, and status of, discourse(s) in relation to change
(or non-change). How does discourse shape ?character-formation? and
possible responses to crises and corruption?
network: The International Centre for Research in Organizational
Discourse, Strategy and Change (ICRODSC)
institution: Various in Europe, Australia and the US
contact person: Tom Keenoy, Sierk Ybema, Ida Sabelis and Cliff Oswick
email: (Discourse09 /at/ cardiff.ac.uk)
http://www.cf.ac.uk/carbs/conferences/icod10/index.html
