Opportunities and constraints in
conducting ESRC research on
gender and language in the public
space.
Dr Judith Baxter, Aston University; j.a.baxter@aston.ac.uk
Aims of talk
Brief review of the research study and its
findings
Opportunities of the funded study
Constraints and compromises
Possibilities for future funding
Lessons learnt from Research Council
funded research: is it worth it?
Dante Gabriel Rossetti; 1877
ESRC criteria of assessment
1. Originality; potential contribution to
knowledge
2. Research design and methodology
3. Value for money
4. Outputs, dissemination and Impact
(ESRC Funding Guide, June 2011, p.22)
Women business leaders in the UK
12.5% of FTSE100 board directors in the UK
are women (The Female FTSE 100 Board Report :
Vinnicombe Sealy, Graham and Doldor, 2010)
Research questions
Is the use of language a reason why
there is a lack of women at senior
management level?
What counts as ‘effective’ leadership
language and is this gendered?
ESRC research project
• ‘Leadership Talk and Gender in Senior
Management Business Meetings in the
UK’. £85,000; January1st 2010 until May
2011.
Methodology
• Semi-ethnographic: ‘being there’: spending quality time in
companies; qualitative research methods
• Case study approach:
7 national and multi-national plc companies from various sectors:
 Mining
 Insurance
 Engineering
 Leisure
 Postal Services
 Tobacco
• 1 male and 1 female SM of equivalent status per company
(company director, board director)
Methodology
• Data collection:
 Observation:
 Interviews:
 Documentary evidence:
• Data analysis:
 Grounded theory/models of discourse analysis:
o Micro-level: Interactional sociolinguistics
o Macro-level: Corpus linguistics: FPDA
• Impact: feedback reports:
 5-week turnaround
Provisional findings
Women and men leaders positioned differently and
unequally within gendered, corporate discourses
Multiple ‘selves’ and identities which shift between
competing discourses.
Indicators of what constitutes leadership linguistic
‘effectiveness’ at micro, medio and macro and in
what way gendered.
Archetypal subject positions used as discursive
resources (Baxter 2012)
Double-voiced discourse
“If you can’t see [the powerpoint] and you’re
too far away come down and stand or squint
(.) err I think really this is the top-line level
structure that you will have seen and some of
the questions and I thought thoughts that
might be in your minds is (.) err what’s going
to be the role of the Deputy Group HR
Director it was certainly one that was in mine
so err I’ll pose and answer it as best I can for
you guys”
Opportunities of the ESRC grant
Time out
Entering another world
Acquiring new skills and expertise
Working with a Research Assistant (RA)
Offering status
Constraints and compromises
Practical problems: ‘the course of true
[research] never did run smooth…’
The scope of research too ambitious?
Diverging expectations in terms of impact:
 End users: senior managers
 The media
 ESRC
Possibilities for future funding
Greater institutional depth: e.g.
• Comparing different CofPs within a single
organisation: HR, Finance, IT, Operations, etc
• Comparing the same department across different
organisations
Collaborations: e.g.
• Working with organisation theorists
• Working with interculturalists
• Working cross-institutionally; internationally
Lessons learnt? JB and SS
Ask a ‘real’ social question
Find a niche and expand on it
Be different and original in the choice of topic, angle
upon it, and use of research design and methodology
Propose a realistic and achievable scope for the
Project: is it do-able?
References
Baxter, J. (2012: in press) ‘Women of the Corporation:
a sociolinguistic perspective of senior women’s
leadership language in the UK.’ Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 16,1: pp.___
Baxter, J.( 2011) ‘Survival or success?: A critical
exploration of the use of ‘double-voiced discourse’ by
women business leaders in the UK.’ Discourse and
Communication, 231 -246, 2011.
References contd
Bakhtin, M. (1929/1981) ‘Discourse in the Novel’ in The
Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. TX: University of
Texas
Sealy, R., Vinnicombe, S. and Doldor, E. (2009),The
Female FTSE Board Report 2009: Norway and Spain
join our census to benchmark corporate boards,
Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-andguidance/guidance/applicants/how-to.aspx