WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO- THE ETHICS OF BUSINESS DIALOGUE

ABSTRACT This paper examines the discursive strategies used by a leading Irish banker to justify their own actions and those of their failed merchant bank in the aftermath of the collapse in Irish property and banks in the... [ view full abstract ]

ABSTRACT
This paper examines the discursive strategies used by a leading Irish banker to justify their own actions and those of their failed merchant bank in the aftermath of the collapse in Irish property and banks in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Baktinian dialogical analysis was used to examine this discourse, from an interview printed in a leading Irish business newspaper. The data analysis shows that the former bank CEO used addressivity, answerability and speech genre strategies to present and minimise his own involvement and to establish others as similarly culpable for the contagion effect in the Irish economy. Recommendations include the need to have properly resourced banking regulation and serious fraud offices on a statutory footing and to have greater enforcement of existing banking regulations. As an academic approach, analysis of discourse is advocated as a valid and useful means for examining the ethical nature of business discourse.

Bakhtinian Dialogical Analysis, Critical Management Studies, Ethical Business Practice [ view full abstract ]

Bakhtinian Dialogical Analysis, Critical Management Studies, Ethical Business Practice