Doing leadership in style: Pragmatic markers in New Zealand workplace interaction

Abstract

Abstract The Wellington Language in the Workplace Project (LWP) team has devoted considerable attention over the last few decades to researching workplace communication. We have focused especially on the insights that discourse analysis can provide regarding similarities and differences between the two major ethnic groups in New Zealand in “ways of doing things at work”. In this paper, we draw on both quantitative and qualitative analyses of interaction in Māori and Pākehā workplaces to demonstrate how these complementary approaches contribute to understanding different styles of leadership. Using Holmes’ concept of the culture order and Connell’s concept of the gender order, we analyze the distribution and use of two specific pragmatic markers, eh and you know. Eh is a distinctively New Zealand pragmatic marker while you know has been well-researched in English-speaking communities, providing rich contextual information on its functions. We examine the frequency of occurrence of each marker in both large formal meetings and smaller one-to-one interactions. We then analyze in more detail how these pragmatic markers contribute to one Māori male leader’s effective construction of a progressive, hybridized leadership identity, whilst also demonstrating the familiar double bind facing successful women leaders.