Opportunities and constraints in conducting ESRC research on gender and language in the public space.

Dr Judith Baxter, Aston University; j.a.baxter@aston.ac.uk

Aims of talk

Brief review of the research study and its findingsOpportunities of the funded studyConstraints and compromisesPossibilities for future fundingLessons learnt from Research Council funded research: is it worth it?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti; 1877

ESRC criteria of assessment

1. Originality; potential contribution to knowledge

2. Research design and methodology3. Value for money4. Outputs, dissemination and Impact

(ESRC Funding Guide, June 2011, p.22)

Women business leaders in the UK

12.5% of FTSE100 board directors in the UK are women (The Female FTSE 100 Board Report : Vinnicombe Sealy, Graham and Doldor, 2010)

Research questions

Is the use of language a reason why there is a lack of women at senior management level?What counts as ‘effective’ leadership language and is this gendered?

ESRC research project

• ‘Leadership Talk and Gender in Senior Management Business Meetings in the UK’. £85,000; January1st 2010 until May 2011.

Methodology

• Semi-ethnographic: ‘being there’: spending quality time in companies; qualitative research methods

• Case study approach:7 national and multi-national plc companies from various sectors:

MiningInsuranceEngineeringLeisurePostal ServicesTobacco

• 1 male and 1 female SM of equivalent status per company (company director, board director)

Methodology

• Data collection:Observation: Interviews:Documentary evidence:

• Data analysis:Grounded theory/models of discourse analysis:

oMicro-level: Interactional sociolinguisticsoMacro-level : Corpus linguistics: FPDA

• Impact: feedback reports: 5-week turnaround

Provisional findingsWomen and men leaders positioned differently and unequally within gendered, corporate discourses

Multiple ‘selves’ and identities which shift between competing discourses.

Indicators of what constitutes leadership linguistic ‘effectiveness’ at micro, medio and macro and in what way gendered.

Archetypal subject positions used as discursive resources (Baxter 2012)

Double-voiced discourse

“If you can’t see [the powerpoint] and you’re too far away come down and stand or squint (.) err I think really this is the top-line level structure that you will have seen and some of the questions and I thought thoughts that might be in your minds is (.) err what’s going to be the role of the Deputy Group HR Director it was certainly one that was in mine so err I’ll pose and answer it as best I can for you guys”

Opportunities of the ESRC grant

Time out

Entering another world

Acquiring new skills and expertise

Working with a Research Assistant (RA)

Offering status

Constraints and compromises

Practical problems: ‘the course of true [research] never did run smooth…’

The scope of research too ambitious?

Diverging expectations in terms of impact: End users: senior managers The media ESRC

Possibilities for future funding

Greater institutional depth: e.g.• Comparing different CofPs within a single

organisation: HR, Finance, IT, Operations, etc• Comparing the same department across different

organisations

Collaborations: e.g.• Working with organisation theorists• Working with interculturalists• Working cross-institutionally; internationally

Lessons learnt? JB and SS

Ask a ‘real’ social question

Find a niche and expand on it

Be different and original in the choice of topic, angle upon it, and use of research design and methodology

Propose a realistic and achievable scope for the Project: is it do-able?

References

Baxter, J. (2012: in press) ‘Women of the Corporation: a sociolinguistic perspective of senior women’s leadership language in the UK.’ Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16,1: pp.___

Baxter, J.( 2011) ‘Survival or success?: A critical exploration of the use of ‘double-voiced discourse’ by women business leaders in the UK.’ Discourse and Communication, 231 -246, 2011.

References contd

Bakhtin, M. (1929/1981) ‘Discourse in the Novel’ in The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. TX: University of Texas

Sealy, R., Vinnicombe, S. and Doldor, E. (2009),The Female FTSE Board Report 2009: Norway and Spain join our census to benchmark corporate boards, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/guidance/applicants/how-to.aspx