Session Summary

Session Number:498
Session ID:S878
Session Title:Special Session: Organizational Talk: The Transformational Potential of a Feminist Approach
Short Title:Special Session: Feminist Talk
Session Type:Division Other
Hotel:Hyatt West
Floor:LL3
Room:Stetson F
Time:Tuesday, August 10, 1999 3:40 PM - 5:00 PM

Sponsors

GDO  (Audrey Murrell)amurrell@katz.business.pitt.edu (412) 648-1651 

General People

Chair Baker, Ann C.  George Mason U. abaker1@gmu.edu (703)-222-0784 
Presenter Comerford, Susan A. U. of Vermont scomerfo@zoo.uvm.edu (802)-656-3169 
Presenter Fambrough, Mary J. J. Case Western Reserve U. mxf27@po.cwru.edu  

Submissions

Abstract

Given the ubiquitous nature of talk in organizations, its invaluable resource and potential is often undervalued. This symposium addresses the transformational potential of using a confident feminist approach to organizational talk to avert the either/or dilemma of either avoiding talking about the difficult topics or aggressively attacking them. Recognizing the importance of exploring the undiscussables that challenge prevailing assumptions (Argyris, 1985, 1994), especially in the knowledge economy, this dilemma of avoidance or ineffective aggressivity is not a viable option. Organizations are facing a wide variety of challenges related to "talk." A feminist approach offers a process model of challenge, accountability, and change to contemporary organizations with people from ever-increasingly diverse constellations of social identity. The symposium offers an evolutionary perspective of this feminist perspective, insight into how to create an environment of trust for truth telling to promote learning, and strategies for finding a more feminine, mid-range way of talking that does not place women in the double-bind of being labeled as weak or uncertain.