Conversational use of genres in managerial meetings

SummaryThis article addresses the question of how the concept of genre, defined as a linguistically realized activity type, can be applied to the study of organizational discourse. In particular, the authors show how and for what practical purposes managers invoke genres in meetings. The data of the study consist of video-recorded company-internal meetings and the methodology is based on ethnomethodological conversation analysis. In the empirical analysis the authors show how genres are used as resources for joint understanding and for conducting a particular conversational action in a meeting, namely proposing a solution to a problem. The study highlights the importance of genre knowledge in managerial meetings and the practical nature of this knowledge.

► This study combines genre and analysis of meeting interaction.
► Genres are invoked and referred to for practical purposes in meetings.
► They are resources for joint understanding in situated interaction.
► Managers jointly display and construct their knowledge of genres.
► This knowledge is embedded in what the participants do in the meeting.