The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse has received the 2004 Outstanding Book Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association

`Organizational discourse is not a new topic but is one that has grown in significance and citations in recent years. Thanks to the new The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse there is now a definitive set of up-to-the-minute resources available, by distinguished as well as emergent researchers. It should have a prominent place on all organization researchers bookshelves′ - Professor Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney

`Organizational researchers interested in discursive philosophies, methods and practices will be grateful for the much-needed background and guidance this handbook provides′ - Mary Jo Hatch, Professor, McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. Co-author The Three Faces of Leadership: Manager, Artist, Priest (Blackwell)

`Discourse analysis has become increasingly popular in organizational studies over the past decade or two. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse will make it even more popular by helping scholars of organizations understand the range of domains, methodologies, perspectives and focal organizational phenomena available to them within this analytic approach. Beyond classifying and describing current literature in the various areas, the chapters in this important new handbook suggest new directions for research using discourse analysis, a valuable service that should help novice and experienced researchers alike′ - JoAnne Yates, Sloan School of Management

An increasingly significant body of management literature is applying discursive forms of analysis to a range of organizational issues. This emerging arena of research is not only important in providing new insights into processes of organizing, it has also informed and influenced the broader fields of organizational and management studies.

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse is the definitive text for those with research and teaching interests in the field of organizational discourse. It provides an important overview of the domains of study, methodologies and perspectives used in research on organizational discourse. It shows how discourse analysis has moved beyond its roots in literary theory to become an important approach in the study of organizations.

The editors of the Handbook, all renowned authors and experts in this field, have provided an invaluable resource on the application, importance and relevance of discourse to organizational issues for use by tutors and researchers working in the field, as well as providing important reference material for newcomers to this area. Each chapter, written by a leading author on their subject, covers an overview of the existing literature and also frames the future of the field in ways which challenge existing preconceptions.

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse is indispensable to the teaching, study and research of organizational discourse and will enable readers to develop a level of understanding of organizations commensurate with the most recent, state of the art, theoretical developments in the broader field of organization studies.

Cynthia Hardy is a Professor in the Faculty of Management, McGill University. Her publications include Strategies for Retrenchment and Turnaround: The Politics of Survival (De Gruyter, 1990) and Managing Organizational Closure (Gower, 1985).

Cliff Oswick is Professor of Organization Theory at The Business School (formerly known as Cass), City, University of London (and previously served as Deputy Dean between 2011 and 2016).  Before joining Cass, he spent 4 years at Queen Mary, University of London as Dean of the Faculty of Law & Social Sciences.  His research interests focus on the study of organizing processes and non-traditional approaches to organizational change.  He has published over 150 academic articles and contributions to edited volumes. He is an Associate Editor for Journal of Change Management, a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, an Associate Editor for Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, an elected member of the National Training Laboratory, former chair of the board of trustees for the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (2014-2020), and previously served as chair of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management (2015-2020).  Cliff has also undertaken a variety of executive education and consultancy assignments for private and public sector organizations. 

Linda L. Putnam is a Research Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her current research interests include discourse analysis in organizations, negotiation and organizational conflict, and gender.  She is the co-editor of twelve books, including The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Communication (2014), Building Theories of Organization: The Constitutive Role of Communication (2009) and the author/co-author of over 180 journal articles and book chapters. She is a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association, a Fellow of the International Communication Association, and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Academy of Management.