Using Conversation Analysis for Business and Management Students

In Using Conversation Analysis, David Greatbatch and Timothy Clark introduce the key elements of conversation analysis, an increasingly prominent form of business research analysis, which involves analysing audio and visual recordings of naturally occurring talk-in-interaction such as television speeches and interview exchanges, to see how meanings are constructed.

Ideal for Business and Management students reading for a Master’s degree, each book in the series may also serve as reference books for doctoral students and faculty members interested in the method.

Part of SAGE’s Mastering Business Research Methods Series, conceived and edited by Bill Lee, Mark N. K. Saunders and Vadake K. Narayanan and designed to support researchers by providing in-depth and practical guidance on using a chosen method of data collection or analysis.

David Greatbatch is a Visiting Professor at Durham University Business School and has previously held positions at the Universities of Nottingham, Oxford, London and Warwick, and the Xerox Research Laboratory in Cambridge.  He has undertaken studies using conversation analysis in a wide variety of contexts including, management consultancy, live corporate events, broadcast journalism, general practice and telemedicine. He has published articles in leading international journals such as American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Language in Society, Human Relations, Leadership Quarterly, The Sociology of Health and Illness, Management Communication Quarterly, Interacting with Computers, and Law and Society Review. He co-authored Management Speak (Routledge, 2005) with Timothy Clark.

Timothy Clark is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Social Sciences & Health) at Durham University, UK. He has conducted a series of studies into different aspects of the activities of management consultants and management gurus. These projects have resulted in a number of publications in a range of journals as well as books.  He is also co-authored Management Speak (Routledge, 2005) with David Greatbatch. He is also a past General Editor of Journal of Management Studies and past President of the British Academy of Management.