Transformation in Higher Education as Rhetorical practice
– An Rhetorical Interpretation of Trust and Agency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v27i85.291Keywords:
organizational rhetoric, rhetorical practice, rhetorical agency, trust, work environment survey as discursive tool, interpretative rhetorical criticismAbstract
On a winter morning a questionnaire pops up in the inbox of the 1700 staff members at one of the new universities in Norway. Now everyone is supposed to answer questions about the work environment joining what is called an ‘ARK-survey’. It has been two merges of institutions and a period of accreditation to get the status as university since the last time the staff was asked about the work environment. “The leader at my unit always acts honestly toward me” one of the questions sounds, expecting you to answer on a scale from 1 to 5. How to answer? The article constitutes an interpretative rhetorical criticism of a cluster of texts that prepared the institution for the survey, the texts that formed the survey and selected texts that were presented to the university board after the survey. The questions we seek to answer concern the rhetorical practices: What forms of rhetorical agency that are to be found? How do the texts and transactions reflect trust between leaders and employees? And how does the ARK-survey as a discursive tool impact a university in transformation?
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