From<i>administrator</i>to<i>CEO</i>: Exploring changing representations of hierarchy and prestige in a diachronic corpus of academic management writing

Mautner, Gerlinde; Learmonth, Mark

doi:10.1177/1750481319893771

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…As publicly available documents they not only offer an assessment of standards but also indicate the context and focus on inspections and how abstract standards may be interpreted in practice. As Mautner and Learmonth (2020) suggest, these “discursive constructions […] permeate the taken-for-granted assumptions of organisational actors” (2020, p. 275), that is, the way that leadership is discussed in these reports shapes our understanding of leadership. This is not just an academic concern though, these reports are also intended to play an important role in shaping the “purchase decisions” of those that are paying for their own care, forming a critical element of the evidence used in making an informed choice about where to seek care.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in the use of language, noted by Willcocks and Wibberley (2015) are not value-free. Rather, they are important and symbolic, reflecting a control over the nature of the discourse (Mautner and Learmonth, 2020) that derives from the interpretive control that they exercise over the sector. As Black notes, we can shine a light on the “anatomy” of authority by throwing some light on “how interpretive control over the norms (rules, standards, principles) that are written is established and exercised” (2017, p. 287).…”

Section: Role Of the Regulatormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports

Mongan

Thomas

2021

LHS

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Purpose As part of their inspection of care homes in England, the statutory inspector (the Care Quality Commission [CQC]) makes a judgement on the quality of the home’s leadership. Their view is critical as it is intended to inform consumer choice and because the statutory nature of inspection means these views hold considerable authority. The purpose of this paper is to look at the content of a selection of reports and seek to determine what the CQC understands by the concept of “good leadership”. Design/methodology/approach A purposive sample of recent CQC inspection reports was selected and subjected to a qualitative content analysis. Inspections are structured around five main questions. The resulting themes describe areas of focus within the section of reports that feature the question “Are they well-led?”. Findings Inspection reports were found to focus on four main themes: safety and quality of care; day-to-day management of staff; governance and training in the home; and integration and partnership working. In the discussion section, the authors reflect on these themes and suggest that the CQC’s view of leadership is rather limited. In particular, while an emphasis is placed within the literature and policy on the importance of leadership in delivering change and quality improvement, little attention is paid to this within the leadership section of inspection reports. Research limitations/implications The authors’ research is based on a small-scale sample of inspection reports; nevertheless, it suggests a number of avenues for further research into the way in which leadership and management capabilities are developed and monitored in the sector. Originality/value The analysis in this report offers a view of how the inspection regime implements its own guidance and how it assesses leadership. The reports, as public-facing documents, are artefacts of the inspection regime and critical not just as evidence of the practice of inspection but as influence on care home operations and the choices of care home residents and their families.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Role Of the Regulatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports

Mongan

Thomas

2021

LHS

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“…The second example is from the Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ) corpus, which consists of every article and book review published in the journal from its inception in 1956 through to the end of 2018 (3,547 articles; 19,470,470 tokens) (Mautner and Learmonth, 2020). Table 2 shows the top ten most frequent nouns in the corpus.…”

Section: Rankmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies

Gillings

Mautner

Baker

2023

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The breadth and spread of corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) indicate its usefulness for exploring language use within a social context. However, its theoretical foundations, limitations, and epistemological implications must be considered so that we can adjust our research designs accordingly. This Element offers a compact guide to which corpus linguistic tools are available and how they can contribute to finding out more about discourse. It will appeal to researchers both new and experienced, within the CADS community and beyond.

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“…Words are never innocent after all, and as Mautner and Learmonth (2020, p. 277) argue, ‘“labels” for social actors, whether leader [or any other]. .…”

Section: The Ubiquitous ‘Leader’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This everyday power seems both to have shifted and been enabled by the shift towards public discourse which has framed organizational phenomena in increasingly positive terms. In this context, a semantic drift towards a preference for ‘leaders’ can be seen as part of wider trends that depict organizational life in ways that suggest positive cultural valences (Mautner & Learmonth, 2020).…”

Section: The Language Of ‘Leadership’ Exemplifying Neoliberalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Leadership’ as a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of ‘Leaders’

Learmonth

Morrell

2021

Organization Theory

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It is increasingly common for anyone with formal, hierarchical status at work to be called a ‘leader’. Though widespread, this relatively recent change in day-to-day discourse is largely passing by unnoticed. We argue that using ‘leader’ in this way is not simply fashion or empty rhetoric; rather it can be understood in relation to neoliberalism. We argue that the language of ‘leadership’ represents a particularly subtle but powerful opportunity for the pursuit of individual elite interests to be disguised so that it looks as if it is for the benefit of all. This opportunity has arisen because using ‘leader’ has tangible effects that reinforce implied values and assumptions about human relationships at work. In terms of implied values, the label ‘leader’ is celebratory and predisposes us to see elites in overly positive ways. In terms of implied assumptions, referring to executives as ‘leaders’ draws a veil over the structured antagonism at the heart of the employment relationship and wider sources of inequality by celebrating market values. Making ‘leadership’ recognizable as a political project is not intended primarily to suggest intentionality, but to help challenge representational practices that are becoming dominant. ‘Project-ing’ leadership also helps us to emphasize the risks inherent in taking this label for granted; which, we argue, is an important contribution because the language of leadership is increasingly used but is hardly questioned within much contemporary organizational life as well as organization theory.

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FromadministratortoCEO: Exploring changing representations of hierarchy and prestige in a diachronic corpus of academic management writing

Cited by 13 publications

References 38 publications

Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports

Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports

Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies

‘Leadership’ as a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of ‘Leaders’

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