Abstract:
The field of knowledge creation within organizational studies has pointed to the importance
of an organization establishing an enabling context for fostering innovation and knowledge
production. Factors identified as critical for enabling include the existence of structures and
practices that foster solid collegial relations and enact a climate of care. Based on
ethnographic research, this thesis adopts a broadly sociolinguistic approach to an exploration
of interpersonal relations within a New Zealand IT company, in order to identify the ways in
which a knowledge enabling context is instantiated.
Using, in particular, the rapport management framework developed by Helen Spencer-Oatey
(2000, 2008) and highlighting the variable of participant relations, the study analyses the
discourse of the organization as both language and action, to provide a more extensive
account than has so far been achieved in the knowledge enabling literature, as well as
extending the sociolinguistic work on language in the workplace into new domains of
discourse.
The study shows that facilitation of and support for collegial relations occurs at all levels of
the selected organization, from the spatial configuration and connectivity of the organization
as a whole, through its component social structures, to the management of relations across
levels of hierarchy. At the level of the organization as a whole, one organizational activity -
the weekly company meeting - through its frequency, regularity, inclusiveness and
management, facilitates and sustains collegial relations in multiple and distinctive ways.
Two distinct kinds of organizational community are identified: the widely recognized
community of practice (CofP); and a different kind of community, referred to in knowledge creation literature as a micro-community of knowledge. As well as identifying distinctive
characteristics of these two communities, the analyses show that rapport is managed
differently in each, while shedding new light on the productive interdependence of these two
types of community.
An interactional ethos characterized by care is reflected in the communication style at all
levels of the organization. Despite substantial differences in power and status, the study finds
that associative expressiveness, low distance and generally positive affect dominate
interaction throughout.
In closing, this thesis discusses the implications for future research into knowledge creation.
It suggests, in particular, that including considerations of spatiality in the analytical
framework has potential to contribute further to the field of language in the workplace
through its influence as a vector of interaction.
