Durham E-Theses The Rhetorical Construction of Performance Appraisal: Argument and Persuasion in the Talk of Appraisees and Appraisers JAMAL, WARDA,NAJEEB How to cite: JAMAL, WARDA,NAJEEB (2017) The Rhetorical Construction of Performance Appraisal: Argument and Persuasion in the Talk of Appraisees and Appraisers, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12289/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Durham University The Rhetorical Construction of Performance Appraisal: Argument and Persuasion in the Talk of Appraisees and Appraisers A thesis by Warda Najeeb Jamal Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Durham University Business School Durham University United Kingdom August, 2017 Abstract In view of the potential for controversy associated with performance appraisal (PA), the study considers it as the object of controversy worthy of rhetorical attention. However, being the object of controversy, which attracts rhetoric, PA becomes a less significant focus for the thesis. Instead, the argumentative and persuasive dimensions of rhetoric in the talk of appraisees and appraisers regarding the PA practiced in their banks becomes the primary subject of the research, particularly with regard to understanding how they construct the reality of their PA. Accordingly, the rhetorical framework of the study is drawn from the ideas of Aristotle (1991) and the contemporary authors, Billig (1987; 1991; 1996) and Potter (1996). The study contributes towards understanding the importance of rhetoric in an organisational context characterised by the controversy or the potential for controversy. For example, the evidence of the presence of the argumentative and persuasive dimensions of rhetoric in the talk of appraisees and appraisers throughout the analysis represents rhetoric not only as an important aspect of PA, but also demonstrates it as a valuable persuasive skill used by them. Respectively, this contributes towards building a theory of PA from the perspective of rhetoric. Hence, as a practical implication of the study, rhetoric should be regarded as an important skill to be mastered by appraisees and appraisers. Moreover, the application of the rhetorical framework for the analysis contributes towards testing the theory, which constitutes the rhetorical framework, on the talk of appraisees and appraisers. Similarly, the rhetorical framework used in the study provides an important methodological contribution and implication for future studies For example, it may be used in the future studies which are based on organisational practices characterised by the controversy or potential for controversy. Another important contribution of the study involves the ‘argumentative context’ and ‘justification process’ as the analysis demonstrates how people anticipate the arguments of absent audiences, and use rhetorical devices to justify their own arguments, regarding a potentially controversial matter. In this regard, an interesting phenomenon observed in the analysis is the code- switching of the appraisees and appraisers, from English to Urdu, when they discussed the sensitive or taboo subjects, which suggests their preference for their native language for the potency in their expressions. - 1 - Table of Contents ABSTRACT - 1 - TABLE OF CONTENTS - 2 - LIST OF TABLES - 6 - DECLARATION - 7 - STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT - 8 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - 9 - DEDICATION - 10 - CHAPTER 1−INTRODUCTION - 11 - 1.1. Structure of the Chapters - 22 - CHAPTER 2−CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW ON RHETORIC - 23 - 2.1. Rhetoric: An Introduction - 23 - 2.2. Rhetoric and Oratory - 24 - 2.3. Towards Defining and Understanding Rhetoric - 25 - 2.4. Discourse Analysis (DA), Discursive Psychology (DP) and Discursive Social Psychology (DSP): The Rhetorical Turn - 32 - 2.5. Significance of Interviews in a Rhetorical Study from the Perspective of Discursive Social Psychology (DSP) - 35 - 2.6. Rhetoric and Language, Particularly in Relevance to the Field of Management - 40 - 2.7. Historical Background of Rhetoric - 43 - 2.7.1. A Brief Overview - 43 - 2.7.2. Classical Antiquity - 45 - 2.7.3. Cicero and Quintilian - 46 - 2.7.4. Aristotle’s Background - 47 - 2.8. Understanding the Conception of Aristotle’s Rhetoric - 49 - 2.9. The Background and Understanding of the Negative View of Rhetoric - 51 - 2.10. Rhetoric and Controversy, Particularly from Organisational and Management Perspective - 54 - 2.11. Rhetoric and Persuading One’s Own Self or Self-Persuasion, Particularly from Organisational and Management Perspective - 58 - 2.12. Organisational Rhetoric - 61 - - 2 - 2.12.1. An Overview - 61 - 2.12.2. Organisational Rhetoric and Persuasion - 62 - 2.13. Rhetoric in Management Studies - 65 - 2.14. Rhetoric: Criticism versus Support, Particularly from the Perspective of Management Scholars - 66 - 2.15. Rhetoric in Organisational and Management Studies: Examples from Various Studies - 70 - 2.15.1. Rhetorical Theory in the Field of Organisational and Management Studies - 71 - 2.15.2. Rhetorical Approach in Studies Concerning Institutional Logic and Change in Organisational and Management Setting - 72 - 2.15.3. Studies, Particularly Based on ‘Inventio’ and ‘Elocutio’ (Invention and Stylistic Aspects or Figures of Speech) for Performing Rhetorical Analyses in the Arena of Organisations and Management - 75 - 2.15.4. Studies with Rhetorical Approach Based on Organisations and Management Related Documents or Texts - 77 - 2.15.5. Studies Performed Rhetorical Analysis Based on Interviews’ transcripts or text - 79 - CHAPTER 3−CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL (PA) - 83 - 3.1. Performance Appraisal (PA) - 83 - 3.2. Performance Management System (PMS) - 87 - 3.3. Performance Appraisal (PA) and Performance Management System (PMS) in Contrast - 89 - 3.4. The Importance and Effectiveness of Performance Appraisal (PA) - 91 - 3.5. The Issues, Concerns and Criticisms Associated with Performance Appraisal (PA) - 92 - 3.6. Performance Appraisal (PA): A Potentially Controversial Practice and Issue versus an Actually Controversial Practice and Issue - 96 - 3.7. The Issue of Effectiveness in Performance Appraisal (PA) and the Potential for Controversy Associated with it: Reflections from Previous Studies - 100 - 3.8. The Context of Performance Appraisal (PA) in Pakistan and How They are Conducted - 105 - 3.9. Linking Performance Appraisal (PA) to Rhetoric - 108 - 3.9.1. Performance Appraisal (PA) as a Rhetorical Situation - 108 - 3.9.2. Important Studies on Performance Appraisal (PA) with Rhetorical Suggestions - 110 - 3.9.3. Performance Appraisal (PA): An Important Feature of Employment Relations - 112 - 3.9.4 Performance Appraisal (PA) as a Communication Process and its Importance - 113 - 3.9.5 Appraisal Interviews (AIs) as a Communication Act and the Issue of Context - 114 - 3.9.6. The Presence of Mystery in Performance Appraisals (PAs) Setting - 116 - 3.9.7. Observed Behaviours of Performance Appraisal (PA) versus Interviews Regarding PA and Rhetorical analysis (RA) - 118 - 3.9.8. Performance Appraisal (PA) as a Rhetorical Situation and Interviews with Appraisees and Appraisers - 120 - CHAPTER 4−RHETORICAL FRAMEWORK - 122 - 4.1. An Overview of the Rhetorical Framework - 122 - 4.2. Introduction to the Rhetorical Framework - 122 - 4.3. Focus on Michael Billig - 123 - 4.3.1. Argumentative Context and Four Issues - 127 - - 3 - 4.3.2. The Issue of Power in Discourse - 131 - 4.4. Focus on Jonathan Potter - 132 - 4.4.1. Rhetoric as the Feature of the Antagonistic Relationship between Versions from the Perspective of Offensive and Defensive Rhetoric - 133 - 4.4.2. Ethnomethodological Understanding of Reflexivity - 134 - 4.4.3. Managing the Dilemma of Stake - 135 - 4.4.4. Category Entitlement - 135 - 4.4.5. Out-there-ness - 136 - 4.4.6. Ontological Gerrymandering - 137 - 4.5. Focus on Aristotle - 137 - 4.5.1. Aristotle’s Three Available Means of Persuasion - 137 - 4.5.2. Some Rhetorical Strategies Serving the Purpose of Logos, Ethos and Pathos - 140 - 4.6. Figures of Speech and Tropes - 141 - 4.7. Revisiting the Three Research Questions - 144 - 4.8. Rhetorical Framework in a Diagram - 145 - CHAPTER 5−RESEARCH METHODOLOGY - 146 - 5.1. An Overview of the Research Methodology - 146 - 5.2. A General Overview of the Banks in Pakistan - 146 - 5.3. The Two Selected Banks (Bank A and Bank B) and their Performance Appraisal (PA) - 149 - 5.4. Semi-structured Interviews as a Method of Data Collection - 152 - 5.5. On the Choice of Semi-structured Interviews - 154 - 5.6. Other Reasons for Using Interviews as a Method of Data Collection - 157 - 5.7. The Conduction of Interviews - 158 - 5.8. Semi-structured Interviews’ Questions: Design and Implementation - 160 - 5.9. The Themes to Organise the Findings and Analysis - 161 - 5.10. The Convenience