School Research Seminar - Merger as field transformation: Nurses’ positioning and metaphoric journeys
28 October 2015
Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm
Venue: FB 4.04/4.08 (Lunch from 12:30pm in the kitchen)
(40 minute talk and 20 minute Q&A)
Speaker name & affiliation
Jette Ernst, Department of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark
Seminar title:
Merger as field transformation: Nurses’ positioning and metaphoric journeys
Abstract:
The presentation argues for a dynamic perspective on culture and mergers in organizations that allows for the complexities of mergers to surface. We analyse a post-merger process where two groups of hospital nurses merge into one in a recently established hospital department. While most depictions of mergers are limited to the managerial level, we analyse a post-merger process primarily from the perspective of the employees. A Bourdieuan theoretical framework coupled with metaphor and narrative theories enables us to explore battles fought on the hospital shop floor while at the same time acknowledging the multidimensional character of these micro level processes.