Presentation from the Organizational Discourse conference

1. The discursive
construction of Rebecca Whiting
and
‘generations’ at Katrina Pritchard
work
Department of
Organizational Psychology
Birkbeck,
10th International Conference on University of London
Organizational Discourse: Processes,
practices and performance
18 – 20 July 2012 Research funded by
Richard Benjamin Trust
(Early Career Award 1103)
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

2. Key assumptions in variable-based
research on generations
 ‘Generations’ are birth cohorts shaped by a shared socio-
cultural environment
 Generational cohort theory predicts that this affects values,
attitudes, beliefs e.g. Twenge et al, 2012
 Many organizational studies
 take generational differences as an established starting
point for research into variables of managerial interest
such as work ethic and values (Meriac et al, 2010; Ng et
al, 2010; Smola & Sutton, 2002)
 use a particular generation (e.g. ‘Millenials’) as the target
for investigation (De Hauw & De Vos, 2010)
 Conceptual and methodological limitations where large
scale survey methods are deployed to map differences in
variables across (disputed and poorly defined) generational
divides (Deal et al, 2010; Macky et al, 2008; Parry & Urwin,
2011)
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

3. Background: Current discourses of generations
 Generations as identity  Inter-generational
equity
 Generations as
 The ‘lost generation’ difference
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

4. Age at Work project
 12 month e-research project to map the language
of age at work using English language web-based
media:
 maps voices
 follows conversations
 examines the construction of age discourses and
particular concepts
 explores relationships between them
 Data collection: ‘tracking’ and ‘trawling’ for 5
months using Google and Nexis alerts, Twilerts and
website change detection alerts
 Methodology: discourse analysis incl Rose (2001)
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

5. Age at
work
media
conversations
voices
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

6. This presentation
 Analyses a sample week of data from the
project
 Explores the discursive construction of
‘generations’
 Aims to develop an understanding of the
ways in which emerging media are
implicated in the practices and processes of
this construction within current debates
about age and work
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

7. Data
 Scope of data not determined by traditional national,
organizational and temporal boundaries
 Data include:
 Newspaper articles and online reader comments
 Websites, blogs and web forum
 Images that accompany these texts
 Tweets
 YouTube videos, podcasts and webinars
 Usually termed ‘secondary’ data as it is unsolicited or
‘naturally occurring’
 Terms ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ (and boundaries
between them) are increasingly blurred and
potentially unhelpful
 Has implications for ‘fitting’ new types of data and
opportunities for data collection into e.g. ethical
framework
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

8. Project Data
Search / data Quantity Quantity Approx
(sample week) (average hits quantity for
per sample project (c 150
day) days)
Google and Nexis Alerts 38 5.42 813
Search terms: “age
discrimination”; “age
regulation”; “age diversity”;
“generation + work”; “older
worker”; “youth
employment”
> relevant media items
Twilerts: 361 51.57 7736
Search terms: “age
discrimination”; “older
worker”; “younger worker”;
and 2 named organizations
> relevant tweets
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

9. National &
regional
Campaign press
& lobby Government
groups
Professional
bodies
Charities
Voices
Law firms Recruitment
and
management
consultants
Bloggers
Academics
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

10. http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

11. Genres of discursive resources
used to ‘know’ and construct
generations
 Statistics
 e.g. employment rates and periods of unemployment
calculated with reference to cohorts based on chronological
marker
 Attributes
 e.g. characteristics or forms of behaviour such as work
motivation and technological know-how
 Case stories
 e.g. narratives about individual members of a generation,
either reinforcing or repudiating a prevalent stereotype
 Visual images
 e.g. photos of individuals or groups featured in text, stock
photography, commissioned graphics and photos
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

12. ‘Knowing’ Generations
 Statistics  Attributes
 Visual images  Case stories
Copyright acknowledgements and details included in
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com following slides

13. Statistics
 From Womaneer blog
 BPW Foundation voice
positioned as expert
 Gen Y very clearly defined
by birth cohort
 Statistics operate as a
technology of expertise to
construct different groups
and comparisons between
them
 Deployed to create
categories of identity
 Form the basis for
establishing them as mutually
exclusive ‘generations’ within
the labour market
Downloaded from http://womaneer.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/young-working-women-experience-gender-
and-age-discrimination/
Original date of download 28/11/11, screen shot captured 5/6/12
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

14. Visual images
 From The Telegraph (UK)
 Finance Section
 Physical: male youth
 Dress: 2 hoodies (hard to
reach, maligned,
threatening)
 Physical artefacts: visual
metaphors of
unemployment, the
brick wall, number 13,
urban
 Interpersonal
representations: alone,
static, arms folded,
sideways look
 ‘Jobless generation’
invoked
Downloaded from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8915671/The-truth-behind-the-new-jobless-
generation.html
Original date of download: 3/12/11 Screen shot captured: 5/6/12
Picture credit: Getty Images
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

15. Attributes
 London Free Press.com (UK)
 Attributes are ascribed to
construct generations and
differences between
generations
 Used to establish taxonomies
of generations through an
essentialising and
homogenising discourse
 Worked up to commodify
both ‘generations’ and
expert knowledge about
them as products or services
marketable to employer
organizations (e.g. ‘How to
manage Millenials’)
 Subject position of ‘expert’
 Legitimise strategy of
creation of‘knowledge
intensive jobs’ for Gen Y
Downloaded from http://www.lfpress.com/homes/2011/11/23/19011066.html
Original date of download 30/11/11 Screen shot capture 5/5/12
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

16. Case Stories
 Deccan Herald (India)
reproducing New York
Times
 Case story deployed as
a discursive device to
prepare the ground
for, and embed new
constructions of,
‘generations
 Extreme case
formulation of scale of
job search
 Syllogistic linking of
social unrest, strikes
and youth
unemployment
Downloaded from http://www.deccanherald.com/content/206650/young-jobless-uks-lost-
generation.html
Original date of download 1/12/11 Screen shot capture 5/5/12
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

17. Conclusions
 By looking at emerging media we can shift research out
of traditional organizational context and take a broader
perspective on those voices engaged in conversations
about age and work
 Specifically, how these are implicated in the practices
and processes of constructing ‘generations’
 Boundaries are blurred: organizational discourse does not
just happen in organizations but between them
 Different genres of discursive resources are used to
construct generations
 These require less and less explanation across different
media as the establishment of generational labelling
acquires legitimacy
 Focus on generations deflects from more structural factors
affecting jobs and work
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

18. References
 Pritchard, K and Whiting, R (2012) ‘Autopilot? A reflexive review of the piloting
process in qualitative e-research’ Qualitative Research in Organizations and
Management (In Press)
 De Hauw, S., & De Vos, A. (2010). Millennials' Career Perspective and Psychological Contract
Expectations: Does the Recession Lead to Lowered Expectations? Journal of Business and
Psychology, 25(2), 293-302.
 Deal, J. J., Altman, D. G., & Rogelberg, S. G. (2010). Millennials at Work: What We Know and
What We Need to Do (If Anything). Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), 191-199.
 Macky, K., Gardner, D., & Forsyth, S. (2008). Generational differences at work: introduction
and overview. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(8), 857-861.
 Meriac, J. P., Woehr, D. J., & Banister, C. (2010). Generational Differences in Work Ethic: An
Examination of Measurement Equivalence Across Three Cohorts. Journal of Business and
Psychology, 25(2), 315-324.
 Ng, E. S. W., Schweitzer, L., & Lyons, S. T. (2010). New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field
Study of the Millennial Generation. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), 281-292.
 Parry, E., & Urwin, P. (2011). Generational Differences in Work Values: A Review of Theory and
Evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(1), 79-96.
 Smola, K. W., & Sutton, C. D. (2002). Generational differences: revisiting generational work
values for the new millennium. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 363-382.
 Twenge, J.M., Campbell, W.K., Freeman, E.C.(2012) Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 2012, Vol. 102, No. 5, 1045–1062,
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com

19. Age at Work
Seminar
Friday 21st September 2012 Katrina Pritchard
and
at
Rebecca Whiting
Birkbeck, University of London
Dept of Organizational Psychology
Outline agenda:
This project aims to map the
11.00 – 13.00: Age at work: voices and
language of age at work. Adopting
conversations from our data a discursive framework, we are
13.00 – 14.00: Lunch considering the construction of age
14.00 – 16.00: E-research: discourses; looking at particular
methodological challenges and insights conceptions (such as generations)
from our project and examining their inter-
relationship.
The seminar is free but registration is
required Research funded by
Richard Benjamin Trust
To register or for more information, (Early Career Award 1103)
please see our research blog at
http://ageatwork.wordpress.com