Leadership discourse in a Maori workplace

negotiating gender, ethnicity and leadership at work

Authors

  • Janet Holmes Victoria University of Wellington
  • Meredith Marra Victoria University of Wellington

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i2.317

Keywords:

Identity, Gender, Leadership, Ethnicity, Workplace Discourse

Abstract

Masculinist gender norms and majority group ethnic norms are always covertly relevant as important systemic characteristics of interaction at work, subtly influencing people's unconscious interpretations of what is considered appropriate in the workplace and influencing evaluations of the ways in which individuals do gender, ethnicity and leadership. Drawing on material from the Wellington Language in the Workplace Project, we focus on a particular case study exemplifying the construction of a complex and hybridised identity in a challenging socio-cultural context. The discourse of a female M?ori Managing Director of a commercial organization is analysed to illustrate how she negotiates the complex triple bind of gender, ethnicity and leadership in her everyday talk at work. It is proposed that the analysis of such instances of the effective performance of a hybridised identity may contribute to an increased understanding of the complexities of managing workplace discourse in culturally diverse and gendered institutional contexts.

Author Biographies

  • Janet Holmes, Victoria University of Wellington

    Janet Holmes is Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington where she directs the Language in the Workplace Project and teaches sociolinguistics at every level. She has published on a wide range of topics including New Zealand English, language and gender, sexist language, pragmatic particles, compliments and apologies, and most recently on aspects of workplace discourse. Her most recent books are the 3rd edition of the Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Pearson, 2008), Gendered Talk at Work (Blackwell, 2006) and Leadership, Discourse, and Ethnicity (Oxford University Press, 2011).

  • Meredith Marra, Victoria University of Wellington

    Meredith Marra is a core member of the Wellington Language in the Workplace Project and a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington where she teaches a range of courses in sociolinguistics. Meredith’s primary research interest is the language of business meetings, and she has published in the areas of humour and gender in workplace interactions in Language in Society, the Journal of Politeness Research and Text & Talk. She is co-author of Leadership, Discourse, and Ethnicity (Oxford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of Femininity, Feminism and Gendered Discourse (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010) and Constructing Identities at Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

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Published

2011-12-20

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2011)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Holmes, J., & Marra, M. (2011). Leadership discourse in a Maori workplace: negotiating gender, ethnicity and leadership at work. Gender and Language, 5(2), 317-342. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i2.317