Dr Miriam Pelusi

Dialogue has a dual nature: it is both a philosophical and an empirical concept. This thesis defines dialogue as a social construct grounded in philosophical thought, and explores it as an organisational phenomenon. Despite its recognised importance, dialogue remains an all-encompassing and underspecified term in organisational literature, and thus it suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity. This study addressed a gap in ethnographic research on dialogue in organisational settings. The aim of the study was to culturally explore dialogue in an English university with a Buberian approach. To understand dialogue, the study focused on the Buberian constructs of I-Thou and I-It, namely subject-to-subject and subject-to-object relationship respectively. These constructs were operationalised as modes of relating and applied to ethnographic data. Using a Buberian conceptual framework, this study adopted an onto-epistemological paradigm of social constructionism and interpretivism, and a qualitative methodology. The research consisted of an extensive ethnographic inquiry that included four ethnographic diaries, documentary research, participant observation, and ethnographic interviews with a PhD student, an academic, and a manager. Data collection and analysis were developed through an iterative process. Reflexive thinking was part of the analytical process, which was underpinned by an interpretive mode of theorising. The analysis yielded insights into the themes of liquidity, promotional culture, and listening, which are conceptually interrelated. The study found that dialogue is culturally constituted as a phenomenon that is sensitive to liquid university life, influenced by promotional culture, and grounded in listening. Listening was positioned as a foundational aspect of dialogue. The study revealed the dynamic nature of the relationship between the I-Thou and I-It modes of relating in the university context, yielding novel theoretical insights that contributed to greater construct clarity. The small and context-specific sample allowed for in-depth analysis; however, the findings are not generalisable.