Decision-making, social influence, resistance, and responsibility are important aspects of how sustainability issues might be negotiated in organisations. They are also terms we use to describe complex psychological processes, actions, and stances. Strategic decision-making in workplaces often involves some extent of negotiation between people who might use different strategies to take a position – for example, in meetings.

Instead of trying to understand what might be going on in someone’s mind, discursive psychology focuses on understanding what someone does in a conversation – what actions do they accomplish? For example, do they avoid commenting on a particular subject; justify a particular behaviour; deflect responsibility to others; or work to portray themselves as a good person. By closely examining how people talk, we can identify the specific discursive features and strategies used to help achieve these actions – such as hesitation, changes in volume or speed, or using specific vocabularies. Through identifying patterns of actions achieved in similar interactional contexts, we can gain new insights into how to more effectively negotiate decisions and responsibility in workplace settings.

Learn more about discursive psychology: Wiggins, Sally. 2017. Discursive Psychology: Theory, Method and Applications. London: SAGE.