Papers by Susan Ainsworth
Women Constructing Masculinity in Voluntary Firefighting
Within gender studies, research and theorizing have used archetypal 'masculine'occupati... more Within gender studies, research and theorizing have used archetypal 'masculine'occupations to explore how masculinity is accomplished and practised in social interaction. In contrast, little work has explored how masculinity is constructed in the voluntary sector. In this paper, we address this gap by exploring how masculinity is constructed and experienced by women volunteers who are active firefighters in rural and regional Victoria. Firefighting is widely recognized as a non-traditional occupation for women and they are ...
Discourse & Communication, 2009
A B S T R A C T Reforms associated with New Public Management (NPM) have led to changes in the ma... more A B S T R A C T Reforms associated with New Public Management (NPM) have led to changes in the management of work and organization that challenge the stability, durability and linearity of the managerial hierarchy in contemporary public sector workplaces. Against this background, this article considers the ways in which two clinician-managers who work in a large metropolitan teaching hospital speak about their organizational roles. Reflecting the complexity of their part of the organization, the emergency department, the interviewees position themselves as operating at the interstice between the competing and contradictory spatial logics of locality and mobility. With their identities strongly anchored in emergency as locality, the clinician-managers intervene in the flows of meanings and resources that affect its processes in ways that require intra-and inter-organizational mobility and which are incommensurate with traditional perceptions of middle managers. In regarding the interviews as 'practical authoring' , we note our own spatial ambiguity as academic researchers interested in organizations other than our own and suggest that our insider-outsider positionings are reflected in the interviews' complex spatialities. We conclude that the interviewees' boundary-spanning and cross-spatial self-positionings are indicative of the hybrid roles that workers under NPM increasingly embody and are in contrast to traditional perceptions of how the provision and management of public service work is carried out. K E Y W O R D S : identity, middle management, New Public Management, space
Organization Studies, 2012
This paper analyzes how a case for institutional change is made through rhetoric in an individual... more This paper analyzes how a case for institutional change is made through rhetoric in an individual text. Drawing on Aristotle’s three types of rhetorical justification, logos, pathos and ethos, we make three contributions. First, we show that the multiple competing logics which often dominate a field can become incorporated into key texts. As a result, the notionally rational argumentation repertoires which underpin each logic exist in tension, and are prone to contradict each other, making it difficult for a text to support convincingly one logic rather than another on the basis of logos appeals. In such instances, the authors of a text may favour one logic over another through the strategic use of ethos (moralizing) and pathos (emotion-evoking) rhetoric. Second, we demonstrate how ethos and pathos function to construct social categories (identities) and draw on dominant cultural myths. Third, we theorize these textual strategies as acts aimed at reconfiguring relations of power/knowledge.
Discourse and identities
… handbook of organizational discourse, Jan 1, 2004
... 1995), as well as social practices that include architecture, bodies, equipment, etc.(Foucaul... more ... 1995), as well as social practices that include architecture, bodies, equipment, etc.(Foucault, 1976). ... DISCOURSE AND IDENTITIES 155 concept of a'man', an'editor', a'newspaper'. In addition, we can show the value discourse analysis has for exploring identities, following the ...
Critical Discourse Studies, Jan 1, 2004
Gender, Work & Organization, Jan 1, 2002
This article discusses the overlap of gender and age identity and its implications in a specific ... more This article discusses the overlap of gender and age identity and its implications in a specific political context Ð a public inquiry into the problems facing the older unemployed. Using discourse analysis, it examines how`older worker' identity is socially constructed in this setting. At the beginning of the inquiry, fundamentally gendered versions of`older worker' identity were initially constructed, yet by its conclusion, female versions had disappeared. The analysis shows that this`invisibility' of female`older worker' identity is the outcome of a central discursive struggle for recognition of older male workers as a disadvantaged group in the labour market. This`disadvantaged' status is achieved by constructing a companion version of`feminine advantage' in the search for employment. The article discusses the complexity of discursive processes through which this invisibility is accomplished and its implications for those targeted by female and male older worker identity.
Online Consultation
Management Communication …, Jan 1, 2005
10.1177/0893318905276562 MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY / AUGUST 2005 Ainsworth et al. / E-DE... more 10.1177/0893318905276562 MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY / AUGUST 2005 Ainsworth et al. / E-DEMOCRACY AND E-RESISTANCE ONLINE ... E-Democracy and E-Resistance in the Case of the Development Gateway ... CYNTHIA HARDY BILL HARLEY University ...
Organization studies, Jan 1, 2003
In this article, we explore the dynamics of control, compliance and resistance using two case stu... more In this article, we explore the dynamics of control, compliance and resistance using two case studies where 'family' has symbolic, material and ideological significance. While the 'family' metaphor is often invoked to suggest a normative unity and integration in large organizations, we investigate the use of shared understandings of divisions and difference, as well as unity and similarity, in constituting organizational culture in two small family-owned firms. Diverging from mainstream family business research, we adopt a critical and interpretative approach that incorporates employee perspectives and explores how forms of control and resistance need to be understood in relation to their local contexts. We also argue that organization studies could benefit from revisiting progressive assumptions that equate developments in forms of organization with forms of organizational control.
Organization, Jan 1, 2008
The discourse of enterprise has permeated contemporary society with signifi cant implications for... more The discourse of enterprise has permeated contemporary society with signifi cant implications for government, organizations and individuals alike. In particular, enterprise prescribes an ideal identity, that of the 'enterprising self'. This study examines the ability of the older worker to become part of this enterprise culture through the analysis of an Australian government inquiry. Our fi ndings show that certain categories of identity-such as older workers-are unable to don the mantle of enterprise, although they are nonetheless subjected to it, helping to explain why the discourse of enterprise is so persistent and durable.
Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Jan 1, 2001
This paper presents a reflection on the process of doing critical discourse research. Examples fr... more This paper presents a reflection on the process of doing critical discourse research. Examples from a current project on the discursive construction of 'older worker' identity are used to illustrate how major challenges inherent in undertaking discourse research can be addressed. These involved initial justifications of discourse theory as a research framework, research design and the selection of a research site, data collection, data analysis and framing key findings in order to contribute to broader debates about age, gender and unemployment.
Discourse & Communication, Jan 1, 2007
A B ST R A C T Our study of a public inquiry shows how particular constructions of the older work... more A B ST R A C T Our study of a public inquiry shows how particular constructions of the older worker -as male and lacking in self-esteem -were privileged as a result of discursive manoeuvres that established comparative disadvantage among different identities. Paradoxically, traditional gender stereotypes were subverted to construct female willingness to accept low status, low paid jobs as a reason why they did not need help in the form of policy initiatives; while men's intransigence meant they deserved greater support. A second paradox concerned the construction of the older worker as lacking self-esteem: it led to self-esteem based solutions that were the responsibility of the individual to remedy but, precisely because older male workers lacked self-esteem, they were unable to help themselves and needed the help of employment and welfare agencies. Thus we can see the link between particular identity constructions, discourse and the reproduction of particular institutional structures.
A review and Integration of Research on Employee Participation in Australia 1983-1999
The discursive construction of older worker identity
WorkChoices and Word Choices
Our Work... Our Lives: National conference on women …
Human Relations, Jan 1, 2009
We examine how physical and psychotherapeutic discourses regulate the identity work of older work... more We examine how physical and psychotherapeutic discourses regulate the identity work of older workers. We show that they have separate effects: physical discourse inferred that the loss of work for older workers would be permanent whereas psychotherapeutic discourse suggested that the solution to unemployment lay in the mind of older workers themselves. They also have combined effects through the notion of grief: older workers are expected to progress through the normative stages of grief to arrive at acceptance of job loss and continued exclusion from the labour market. Despite moments of resistance in the identity work of older workers, these individuals were subjected to these regulatory effects through three key processes: participation by individual older workers in these discourses through their own identity work; collaboration from a range of diverse actors in contributing to this identity work; and translation of the meaning as initial narratives are retold by other actors.
Gender, Work & Organization, Jan 1, 2008
In this article we explore how the reluctance to introduce a national paid maternity leave scheme... more In this article we explore how the reluctance to introduce a national paid maternity leave scheme in Australia reflects gendered norms and constructions of parenthood and work. We report on the findings of a study of selected media texts that show how the public discourse that surrounded proposals to introduce such a scheme exhibited deep-seated resistance to women who combine motherhood with continued attachment to the paid workforce. Using a multi-modal approach to discourse analysis, we show how gender and maternity are constructed using cultural and historical discursive resources that reinforce a conservative national identity. By focusing on what is both absent and present in the media texts we show how 'actual fathers' are rendered invisible and the space filled by the government as 'symbolic fathers' impregnating a production line of maternal citizens.
(Re) producing gender: Management Accounts of Affirmative Action
APROS 11: Asia-Pacific …, Jan 1, 2006
In this work-in-progress research we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender ar... more In this work-in-progress research we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations, through their commentaries on their Affirmative Action programs. In Australia, private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their Affirmative Action programs for women. In these documents, ...
Personnel Review, Jan 1, 2009
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics between management approach, human ... more Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics between management approach, human resource systems and practices, and responses of seasonal workers. Design/methodology/approach -After reviewing literature on contingent workers focusing on seasonal workers in particular, this paper presents a case study of how seasonal work is managed in a specific organisational context. Findings -There is a noticeable gap between the organisation's initial approach to human resource management (during recruitment and induction) and the way employees are actually managed during the course of their employment. While seasonal employees may have low levels of organisational commitment as a consequence, nevertheless their commitment to colleagues, supervisors, and in some cases, clients has side-benefits for the organisation.
The discursive construction of older worker identity: A reflection on process and methods
Tamara Journal for Critical Organization …, Jan 1, 2010
Gender, Work & Organization, Jan 1, 2009
In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in man... more In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their affirmative action programmes for women. In these documents, management representatives outline objectives for the coming year and report on their progress in reducing employment-related barriers for women. In doing so they account for the 'problem' of gender-based discrimination that affirmative action is designed to address, justify their actions (or lack of action) and reproduce versions of gendered identity. Thus we use affirmative action reporting as cases of management rhetoric to explore how aspects of gender and organization are constructed, taken for granted, challenged or problematized. Comparing reports from the hospitality sector over a 14-year period, we explore whether there is any evidence of discursive change in management accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations.
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Papers by Susan Ainsworth