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Performance appraisal interviews are becoming an increasingly important tool for human resources management in organizations. In a corpus of performance appraisal interviews recorded in three different organizations, and using conversation analysis, I examine sequences in which gender is made relevant (or not made relevant) in the context of discussing work-related stress or work-life balance. In addition, I contrast the interaction data with findings from an interview study with participants, and consider the gap between gendered accounts in the interviews conducted by researchers and the displayed orientations to gendered matters in the naturalistic performance appraisal interviews. The study draws on conversation analytic work on qualitative interviews in the social sciences, work on the gendered notion of the ‘ideal worker’ in contemporary organizations, and studies on performance appraisal interviews as situated action.

In the present paper, we report findings from a study of performance appraisal interviews between middle managers and employees. The study is based on analysis of video uptake of authentic performance appraisal interviews, and through detailed examination of participant conduct and orientation, we point to structural mechanisms and institutional norms which limit the possibilities for employees to raise topics connected to negative experiences of stress in performance appraisal talk. It is argued that norms concerning ideal employeeship are shaped by a partly hidden curriculum in the organization which in turn is talked into being in the performance appraisal interviews. The study concludes that empirical attention to the social interplay in performance appraisal interactions reveal how participant conduct aligns or disaligns with institutional and social underpinnings of workplace ideals., JämVäxt – Jämställd Hållbar Tillväxt

The present study takes as an empirical point of departure the nature of interaction in second language speaking tests. We examine the relationship between ratings of students performance in an oral proficiency test and the social practice of conducting test talk. Using conversation analysis, our focal point is how students in peer-driven test interactions manage trouble related to the task-at-hand. Given that students were assessed not only on their linguistic skills, but also on their interactional ability and treatment of topics assigned, our emphasis on task management stems from a hypothesis that orientation to the test task is intimately connected to overall test outcome. We demonstrate that different types of task-related trouble (TRT) reveal diverse understandings of the test task and that doing-being a successful task manager is connected to a moderate orientation to the task and test format. Students displaying such task management strategies were also assessed as highly proficient, whereas other task management strategies identified in our study correlated with low scores and grades. However, the relationship between subskill ratings and task management was not always clear-cut. We argue that the diverging understandings of the test task that learners display become part of how they are assessed and that certain task management strategies are rated less favorably than others. Our study holds promise for the fine-tuning of oral proficiency subskill ratings and raises questions as to the framing of test tasks, since this appears to have implications for student performance and evaluation.

Volymens engelska titel:Language and learning: Papers from the ASLA symposium in Karlstad, 7-8 November 2002

Forskningen innebar en kartläggning av personal- och politikergruppers perspektiv på räddningstjänstens strategiska utveckling. Tidsperspektivet var nutid och 5-10 år framåt. Räddningstjänstsutvecklingen diskuterades utifrån de bakomliggande resonemangen i betänkandet om Lag om skydd mot olyckor. Kartläggningen av de olika perspektiven gjordes i sammanlagt 12 grupper från tre kommuner av olika storlek. Grupper från fyra hierarkiska nivåer inom kommunerna deltog i undersökningen: politisk ledning, räddningstjänstens ledning, chefer för arbetsstyrkor samt arbetslag. I diskussionerna identifierades gruppernas perspektiv vad gällde mål, säkerhetstänkande, prioriteringar och konfliktytor. Även interaktionen i grupperna studerades. Likheter och skillnader i gruppernas perspektiv på utvecklingen beskrivs utförligt i rapporten. Resultatet av studierna visade att samtliga personal- och politikergrupper påpekade behovet av ett omfattande utvecklingsarbete vad gällde skydds- och säkerhetsfrågor och en mycket högre grad av samordning inom kommunen som helhet. Samordningen behövde även förbättras mellan de hierarkiska nivåerna inom räddningstjänstens organisation inom två av kommunerna. Att ha olika perspektiv på räddningstjänstens utveckling och att inte vara överens om målet för den strategiska utvecklingen fick påtagliga känslomässiga konsekvenser för relationerna och samarbetet

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