Purposes for talk in nurse managers' meetings

Abstract

This study employed qualitative research methods to examine purpose talk in four nurse managers' meetings. Observation combined with audio-tape recordings, interviews, and printed institutional documents were the data sources used. A typology of purposes for talk in meetings, and a comparison of purposes for meeting talk to purposes for holding meetings were generated. The typology reveals a hitherto unformulated category system that makes noticeable a groups' idea and perceptions about their purpose talk. A comparison of members' stated purposes for meeting roughly correlated with their purposes for talk in those meetings. Beyond the research questions, a summary display of the data is offered which posits that the talk in the nurse managers' meetings helped to materially shape what went on beyond the setting in which it occurred. This model organizes the data in terms of meeting-relevant, organization-relevant, and dual purpose talk.