ABSTRACT

From its inception in the 1960s, conversation analysis (CA) has been applied to the questions of how workplace interactions are managed and to what ends. Initially, conversation analysts focused heavily on “ordinary” interaction, since this is understood to be both fundamental and more elaborate than its institutional counterparts. However, CA has since been applied across an extensive range of workplace settings. This chapter introduces the approach, describing its core contributions to workplace studies, its key advantages and limitations, an overview of the analytic process, and likely future directions. Toerien draws on her extensive use of CA to illustrate its value.