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Вестник СПбГУ Язык и литература. 2024. Т. 21. Вып. 2
Oksana A. Evtushenko
Volgograd State Technical University, 28, pr. Lenina, Volgograd, 400005, Russia ksenja22@yahoo.com
Natalya A. Prom
Volgograd State Technical University, 28, pr. Lenina, Volgograd, 400005, Russia natalyprom77@gmail.com
The value characteristics of the administrative discourse
For citation: Evtushenko O. A., Prom N. A. The value characteristics of the administrative discourse. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Language and Literature. 2024, 21 (2): 508-523. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu09.2024.214
The presented study was conducted within the framework of axiological linguistics. It has revealed the relationship between the participants of the administrative discourse, namely, a senior official and subordinates, through language markers in order to identify the values of modern managerial communication that regulate these relations. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the value and linguistic characteristics of the administrative discourse as a special dimension of status-based communication are of interest to any person involved in the employer-employee relationship. The authors dwell on the discourse's qualitative change caused by globalization and digitalization and have come to the conclusion that such an impact is reflected in the evolution of values of the modern administrative discourse. The institutional feature of value attitudes towards subordinates has been proved to be expressed through texts of the "corporate website" hypergenre and lies in promotion of utilitarian and practical values. The authors pay special attention to the analysis of the hypergenre of administrative discourse — "corporate website", which is considered as a multifunctional Internet hypergenre of administrative discourse, incorporating various genres and subgenres, performing an informing function and being virtual environment for institutional, administrative communication, which helps corporate values and traditions be broadcast and cultivated. The results of the discursive and linguistic analysis of corporate websites of organizations made it possible to decode the value dominants in the behavior of the leader in relation to the subordinate. An up-to-date list of administrative discourse values has been compiled and their hierarchy has been built, with the employee loyalty being highlighted as its key value. The identified values are in a binary opposition of "values for the organization" (employee loyalty) — "values for the employee" (person, care, health, education).
Keywords: administrative discourse, hyper-genre, corporate site, employee loyalty, values. Introduction
The social function of a person as an employee of small and large companies is an important part of anthropological research. The object of these investigations are dominant/ subordinate status roles. A special dimension of status-based communication is the ad-
© St. Petersburg State University, 2024
ministrative discourse (henceforward AD) that manifests itself in different areas of communication and includes various thematic fields. The AD is an institutional discourse that has its own typical codes and subcodes and implies that management subjects take certain actions focused on directing objects [Evtushenko 2018]. The norms of official communication at a social distance determine its communicative tone.
"Senior official and subordinates" have a set of duties and ethical standards based on universal, civilizational, ethno-cultural and group values. To correctly orient themselves in this axiological field is an important person's adaptive ability that determines his social competence [Prom 2020b]. A person internalizes universal, civilizational and ethno-cultural values from the first days of life. They form his/her cultural background. The group values within an organization build up a strong value system, when organization members share key values related to acceptable behavior and the organization's strategic direction [Weiner 1988]. The group values espoused by organizational leaders [Deal, Kennedy 1982] are not always obvious. They can be explicitly or implicitly expressed in the employees' speeches and corporate texts. Therefore, we could find the empiric material for research on the corporate website of different companies.
The corporate site is a virtual environment for institutional administrative communication. The hypothesis of our study was the idea that texts of a corporate website have implicit information about cultivated corporate values and traditions. The linguistic analysis of the corporate site texts can reveal both the linguistic features of the administrative discourse and its value orientation. The data obtained, on the one hand, will allow the employee to better adapt to the new corporate culture, on the other hand, will help the senior official to effectively use values management to motivate workers and improve their performance.
Due to the importance of the AD for society, it has repeatedly become the subject of scientific research in the field of sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, etc. [Brusseau 2012; Chan et al. 2021; Corley 2004; Deal, Kennedy 1982; Evtushenko 2018; Grosman 1989; Paarlberg, Perry 2007; Vas'kov, Diatlov 2015]. However, little attention has been paid to linguistic features that can reveal its value characteristics. Therefore, the study of the AD axiological field is important.
The purpose of our study was to identify the AD value characteristics based on the linguistic features of corporate website texts. For this purpose, we needed to complete the following tasks:
1) to characterize the corporate website as a core hyper-genre of the administrative discourse;
2) to describe the AD linguistic features based on the hyper-genre "corporate site";
and
3) to decode the AD values and determine their combinatoric set in the modern AD in order to obtain evidence-based reliable knowledge about the value dominants that affect the communicative behavior of modern managers and subordinates.
Literature review
Many scholars have addressed the issues of electronic communication genres, including the corporate website [Crystal 2002; Goroshko, Zemliakova 2011; Herring et al. 2005; Makarov 2005; Lutovinova 2009; Poteriakhina 2013; Shchipitsina 2009; Shepherd,
Watters 1999; etc.], but its value and language features in the administrative discourse are considered for the first time.
Values are the highest guidelines for behavior, the concentrates of culture [Karasik 2015: 25]. Values are often compared with norms of behavior and rules that fix prescriptions and prohibitions. Values are expressed in language [Vinogradov 2007]. There is another understanding of values interpreted as person's needs [Prom 2020a].
The values classification is traditionally based on the language community boundaries corresponding to the types of communicative distances. There are some types of values distinguished, i. e. individual (personal and copyright); microgroup (family and friends); macrogroup (social, role and status); ethnic; and universal values [Hall 1994: 116-125]. Classification criteria can be the content (utilitarian, moral, vital and spiritual); quantitative coverage (universal, civilizational, ethno-cultural, group and individual) [Karasik 2015]; and assessment (psychological, aesthetic, utilitarian, normative and teleological) [Arutiunova 1999: 198-199].
The values are determined by ethics that decides what's worth doing and what doesn't matter so much. "Business ethics is the way we decide what kind of career to pursue, what choices we make on the job, which companies we want to work with, and what kind of economic world we want to live in and then leave behind for those coming after" [Brus-seau 2012: 15]. In the framework of our study, we deal with subject-oriented values that are transmitted in a vector way — from a manager to a subordinate.
In the field of public administration, L. Paarlberg & J. Perry used the term "values management" as a social process that influences individual behavior through shared values systems. But they focused their attention "on the nature and roles of individual values in the workplace, the impact of shared values on individual and organization performance, and the process of managing workplace values" [Paarlberg, Perry 2007: 388]. It is important to note that values can be lost, modified, or reintroduced [Prom 2020b]. V. I. Karasik noted certain dynamics in the development of value attitudes and a gradual increase in the share of moral values in the collective and individual consciousness.
In a consumer behavior research, Ph. Cheng proposed an Integrated Consumer Perceived Value Model comprising utilitarian, hedonic and social values to explain observed consumer decisions (viz. purchase or do not purchase). Hedonic value is considered a dimension of consumer perceived value associated with senses, pleasures, feelings and emotions; social value is connected with social interactions, with common culture and language, social status and self-esteem; and utilitarian value associated with the necessities of living [Cheng 2014: 3].
Conceptions of modern and traditional values considered in the social research [Chan et al. 2021] are named fundamental structures that are essential for determining corporate practices and behavior. Concluding that modern value systems (which are rational ones) have substituted traditional value systems the authors note that some of the traditional and modern values still coexist at present.
Materials and methods
Corporate websites of various organizations served as source of material for the study. A corpus of texts was obtained from the websites of the enterprises in the site sections "Career", "Personnel" and "Ethics Code". The unit of the study was a text fragment
that expresses the value characteristics of institutional administrative relations between the participants in communication.
The research methodology was based on a comprehensive approach. We analyzed texts on 78 corporate sites of top Russian companies operating in various fields, i. e. banking, oil production, sales, education, communication, medicine and IT technologies. The texts serve a means of actualizing values and also help to develop a corporate value system that affects the behavior, thinking and communication of AD participants. In order to characterize the corporate website as a hyper-genre of the administrative discourse, we applied a genre analysis based on the L. Yu. Shchipitsina's model.
The linguistic side of the administrative hyper-genre "corporate site" was analyzed using the conventional semantic method. We examined meanings of significant (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) and auxiliary (prepositions, conjunctions, allied words and particles) words and interpreted the values they express.
The study was conducted within the framework of axiological linguistics. There are three approaches distinguished to study values, namely, modeling concepts, modeling discursive entities and modeling values in the content of words and phraseological units [Karasik 2015]. We rely on the "discursive dimension of values" that is foregrounded "through the use of key and thematic words, metaphors, implications, allusions and argumentative strategies" [Babaeva 2003: 11]. The study employed the analysis of contextual meaning, which is more specific and human-oriented [Steen et al. 2010]. The authors performed the contextual analysis of lexical units that explicitly and implicitly decode the AD values. The quantitative procedure was also employed to find dominant values of the AD.
Results
Hyper-genre "Corporate Website" in administrative discourse
A corporate website is a stable type of text; its organizing purpose in administrative communication on the Internet determines the form [Goroshko, Zemliakova 2011]. At this stage of our research, we needed to isolate its main genre features and, on their basis, define this phenomenon.
To date, there are a number of models for analyzing Internet genres [Casan-Pitarch 2016; Giltrow, Stein 2009; Mehler et al. 2011; Prom, Iovanovich 2017; etc.]. J. M. Swales proposed a three-level genre model that includes a communicative purpose as the social purpose of a given text type, a move structure — a conditional internal structure that reveals a particular text genre and its rhetorical verbal and visual strategies [Swales 1990]. I. Askehave & A. Nielsen added a hypertextual mode to this list [Askehave, Nielsen 2005]. J. Yates & W. Orlikowski distinguished similar parameters, i. e. the purpose of a communicative act, the content and sequence of semantic elements, the length and physical form of the message, the addressor and addressee of the message, temporal restrictions and local parameters of the genre. C. Ihlstrom proposed the form, content, purpose and function as genre characteristics.
We were guided by the complex Shchipitsina's model of the Internet genre that, in our opinion, considers features of the Internet space the genre belongs to. The model includes the following components: 1) media exposure that contains a genre design, interactivity, hypertextuality, synchronism and the number of communicators; 2) pragmatic
parameters that are the communicative goal, type of author, addressee and chronotope; 3) structural-semantic parameters that involve the content of the text of the genre and its structural elements; 4) language parameters, i.e. language tools used to create texts of different genres [Shchipitsina 2009: 30].
The analysis of the media parameters of the corporate site showed that the design of the site is a kind of Internet platform that combines many software elements, namely, HTTP Web intranet server, SMTP/IMAP e-mail server, Messaging server (MSN Messenger and Jabber), NNTP news server and VoIP server for intracorporate telephony. This type of asynchronous communication occurs in the web space with unlimited access to electronic content, has a public one- or two-way direction and does not require an instant response from the addressee. Software elements are key factors in creating texts. For example, when creating the text of a document, the author uses an existing template offered by the program, so the elements of the software are always associated with the text being created. The rich multimedia content of the corporate site includes photographs of employees of the organization, video conferences, meetings and sound files. The interactivity is due to its purpose to unite members of the organization and ensure communication between them.
In the pragmatic aspect, the author of this genre is a leader who initiates communication with an addressee, a subordinate, and addresses him/her accumulated systematized information through the common cyberspace. So, an organization or an employer is a translator of corporate culture values and a source of reliable and relevant material for our lingo-axiological research.
The analysis of multimedia, structural and pragmatic characteristics (linguistic features are discussed in the next section of the article) showed that a corporate site is not just a genre, but a hyper-genre of the cyberspace. It is a stable speech form used in typical communicative situations of the administrative discourse and includes several genres. We also found out that the large repertoire of this hyper-genre includes informative genres that are used to present or receive information (advertisement and informational messages), directive genres that are designed to encourage the addressee to take some action (business letter, instruction and order), communicative genres that meet the need for communication and adherence to etiquette standards (video meeting, online meeting, leader's blog and comments).
Thus, we define a corporate website as a multifunctional AD Internet hyper-genre that incorporates various genres, performs informing, directive and communicative functions and is a virtual environment for institutional administrative communication that broadcast the attitudes of organizations and their leaders to subordinates and cultivates corporate values and traditions. The nature of this hyper-genre generates numerous sections that allowed us to determine the strategy for its analysis. According to our observations and the analysis of corporate websites, the most revealing sections indicating the relationship of the "senior official — subordinates" pair are "Ethics Code", "Career in the company" and "Personnel".
Linguistic characteristics of administrative discourse
the concept of corporate culture is a conscious and motivated representation of employees and management of corporate structures about their common values and norms
of behavior, traditions, methods of activity, the role and place of the corporation in the life of the country and the world [Gaidukova 2008: 250]. Against the background of globalization, digitalization and the computer technologies development, the evolution of AD and its symbiosis with the Internet have determined some linguistic features of the hyper-genre "corporate site" [Evtushenko 2017]. Since administrative communication can no longer be limited by formality, distance or closedness, administrative discourse has acquired such a feature as the corporate loyalty [Evtushenko 2018].
Before considering the linguistic markers of the corporate loyalty in the texts under study, it seems necessary to dwell on the sociological understanding of this phenomenon. B. A. Grosman considered corporate loyalty as an ambiguous concept, i. e. an employee believes that loyalty on the part of corporate employer means... a long-term commitment by the employer. The corporate employer believes that a loyal employee puts the corporate interest above personal interests, is a team player. and behaves in a way that is predictable — he or she is reliable [Grosman 1989: 565].
V. A. Mitiagina et al. considered corporate loyalty as a set of common goals, interests, values and communicative actions that form corporate discourse and its ability to influence interaction with other corporate organizations. I. P. Romashova noted that corporate loyalty forms a sense of belonging to the group and the need to carry out this joint activity, as well as positioning the group in the minds of external and internal target audiences. We understand corporate loyalty as a commitment to the company.
The corporate loyalty language used by management is intended for modifying the perception of reality without modifying reality itself [Grosman 1989: 565]. Corporate loyalty is not only a feature, but also a key value of modern AD. Verbalization of this value employs a number of markers. The main marker is the inclusive pronouns WE and OUR. The high frequency use of these pronouns indicates that the organization is team-oriented and takes responsibility for their activities, helping their subordinates in trouble, for example:
We are a close-knit team of professionals who cannot imagine their life without the sky. We are always open to innovations, initiatives and new knowledge to develop and move forward. We respect our colleagues and are ready for a constructive dialogue to achieve results. We provide a stable work environment with equal opportunities for learning and personal growth (Aeroflot) [AA].
The personal pronoun WE serves to express the unity of management and subordinates, it creates a positive effect on subordinates, since the feeling of leadership involvement and engagement is developed. The peculiarity of the linguistic embodiment of corporate loyalty in a number of cases is read contextually through the synonyms: cohesion, unity, an established team, a holistic organism, an atmosphere of cooperation, a single team, the spirit of teamwork, our friendly team, a global community of scientists, a company of new friends;
The established team is what allows us to act as a whole organism (Sogaz) [AA].
All of our employees were involved and everyone felt like part of a big family (McDonald's in
Russia) [AA].
The lexemes TOGETHER, ALL, EVERYTHING, ALWAYS play a special role in the verbalization of corporate loyalty. The frequency of their use proves that modern organizations / managers declare their unity with subordinates, their full support in joint activities, and therefore their corporate loyalty to the employees.
Achieve more together (Severstal)[AA].
The best employees are selected in all enterprises of the industry (Rostatom) [AA].
(All this is available to RUSAL employees. Together with them, we welcome all those who are
ready to become a member of the team (Rosneft) [AA].
Magnit relies on responsible and motivated people who want to develop together with the company. Together we set ambitious goals and achieve success (Magnit) [AA].
Certain axiological semantics is acquired by prepositions and prepositional phrases of purpose in the AD texts on the corporate websites: for the sake of, taking into account, in the name of, from the interests of, for, for the purpose, which reminds the employee of the care and attention from the management side, according to the latest online surveys (carried out by inside-pr.ru and www.rbc.ru) this is a significant element of management: we proceed from the interests of the employee, we carry out activities taking into account..., the opportunity for professional development.
Favorable conditions are being created for their development (Rosseti) [AA]. In order to improve the level of employees' social security, ROSSETI is constantly developing a system of corporate benefits and privileges. Society does not deviate from its values for the sake of profit (Rosseti) [AA].
The value semantics of corporate value is verbalized in the names of corporate events held in modern organizations. The analysis of the language showed that the events are most often aimed at revealing the creative potential of the team (the creative festival "Rosneft lights the stars", "Magnit-Idea", "Club of Funny and Inventive for Sberbank"), the opportunity to show oneself not only in work, but also in out of work activities, but more attention is paid to demonstrating professional skills and mastery, to motivate employees to spend more time in a team that can be called a family ("Champion of Hospitality", "Best in Profession", "Rosatom Treasure", "Rosatom Capital", "Rising Star", "Best + title of specialty", "I am a professional", WorldSkills and professional skill competitions). Thus, the organization takes care of increasing the self-esteem, significance, success and development of its employees.
The corporate loyalty is associated with large scale, so company websites often draw on the use of cardinal numbers, which has a certain evidential effect in order to convince an employee that he has made the right choice of work place, for example:
RUSAL was one of the first in Russia to join, become part of a team that includes more than 50,000professionals around the world (Rusal) [AA].
More than a hundred professions in demand, more than 120 thousand people study at Russian Railways every year, We are a million — 1,000,000 (RZhD) [AA].
Our team includes 22 thousand employees. 70 % of employees' engagement (Rosseti) [AA].
According to the analysis, some groups of verbs were identified as markers of value semantics used by modern managers towards their subordinates, denoting promotion and
Table. Linguistic units and their meaning in administrative discourse
Means Meaning Examples
Pronouns WE and OUR Inclusive: unity of management and subordinates; the effect of involvement and contribution of the management We encourage our employees to the fullest. (Nestle) [AA].
Lexemes TOGETHER, ALL, EVERYTHING, ALWAYS Unity of managers and subordinates, full support in joint activities Show your talent together with Russian Railways (RZhD) [AA]. At the same time, we have always been united by a single mission and common values. (Lukoil) [AA].
Prepositions and phrases of purpose Care and attention from the management Everything the company does is done by people and for people. LUKOIL creates all possible conditions for the continuous development of employees, stands for a reasonable balance between work and personal life of employees. (Lukoil) [AA].
Names of corporate events Concern for increasing self-esteem, importance, success and development of their employees, motivating the company's commitment "Rosatom Talents," Sports Team Building for VTB, Gazprom Labor Festival. (Rosatom) [AA].
Cardinal numbers Evidence effect SOGAZ is the strongest team uniting 12,000professionals in 800 branches across the country. (Sogaz) [AA].
Verbs — markers of value semantics Promotion and improvement (raise, take care, conduct, expand) The company ensures transparency and openness in personnel management, constantly improves management methods, providing employees with favorable working conditions, the opportunity to improve their skills and realize their potential. (Gazprom) [AA].
Creation (create, maintain, take action) Creating is easy if you think outside the box (MTS) [AA]; We take action to source raw materials from local producers for our products, and therefore support agriculture and higher education in this area is an integral part of PepsiCos responsible business conduct. (PepsiCo) [AA].
Moving forward and development (develop, improve) The Bank undertakes to: create conditions for improving the professional level of employees, their personal and career growth. (Rosselkhozbank) [AA].
Norms of behavior and discipline (observe, prevent, prohibit, be a model of behavior, show by example, appreciate, led by example, take action) Managers should set a personal example of ethical behavior and be guided by the following principles. (Aeroflot) [AA].
improvement (contribute, assist); creation (form, implement, organize); forward movement and development (achieve, strive); norms of behavior and discipline (exclude actions, establish, appoint, take action, take into account compliance).
We have presented the obtained data in the table.
The table shows that the linguistic feature of the hyper-genre "corporate website" is the vocabulary that indicates the unity and integrity of managers and subordinates (personal pronoun We, prepositions for the sake of, in the name of, for, cardinal numbers, verbs with the semantics of promotion, improvement, creation and lexemes All, Always, Everything). This indicated that the corporate loyalty is a dominant utilitarian value of modern AD, following which contributes to the commitment training of company's employees.
Value characteristics of administrative discourse
The values revealed in the "Code of Ethics" section gave an idea of people working in the organization, employees' expectations and behavior models. Initially the values that are explicitly presented in the section under consideration made it possible to establish the hierarchy in terms of their frequency. This hierarchy of values was built by continuous sampling lexemes that explicitly indicated values significant for the company. The calculation made it possible to identify the dominant values. They are shown in the figure below.
Patriotism 10
II!1 I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Fig. Dominant values of AD
The figure shows that the most frequent AD values are mentioned in 30-50 % of cases. They ranked in the following order: respect (34), efficiency (34), honesty (33), professionalism (31) and responsibility (29). Among the explicitly presented values also are cohesion (20), conscientiousness (17), justice (17), focus on the future (15), leadership (12) and patriotism (10). The most unpopular and not included in the hierarchy are the values of pride (1), image (2), environmental friendliness (3), courage (2) and innovation (4).
The data obtained allowed us to conclude that the category of respect is a priority in relation to an employee within a modern organization: "Respect for people" (GSK) [AA], "Respectfor each other" (Sberbank) [AA], but along with this ethical value there is teleo-logical value which of efficiency, i. e. a modern employee is expected to achieve significant results that contribute to the company development, e. g.
It is necessary to follow employees in their daily work activities in order to contribute to the
effective solution of corporate problems (RZhD) [AA].
Frequent values are honesty and transparency that are explained by the manager's desire to avoid conflict situations, be open and fair in managerial actions and simplify the communication mechanisms between the manager and the subordinate, for example
I am honest with myself, colleagues and clients (Sberbank) [AA];
We are open and honest towards each other (Gazpromneft) [AA].
The fourth most frequent value is professionalism, its value semantics is expressed through the following phrases: professional growth/development, professionalism, a team of professionals. Thus, ethical values become leading. M. A. Vas'kov & A. V. Diatlov pointed out that a responsible manager has to organize the team learning the value system and orientations of people as well as recognizing and protecting values [Vas'kov, Diatlov 2015: 248]. The study revealed that modern managers seek to develop employees and create necessary conditions for this.
Intra-organizational relations, new types of communications, managerial relations and the principles of communication are based on a value system that is shared by the head and subordinates of this organization. To determine the AD values, we also turned to the information sections of "Career" and "Personnel" which made it possible to decipher the image side of the employer and his loyalty to the employee. Effective management aims to effectively recognize everything that motivates and mobilizes employees, namely, pride, a sense of superiority and a sense of belonging; specific advantages of the organization, i. e. speed of operations, quality of service, innovation in technology, reliability and safety of products, good image, popularity among customers and partners, etc. Values unite company members and give them access to main goals. This is the role of ethical values as the main component of organizational culture for the prosperity of the firm [Vas'kov, Diatlov 2015].
The axiological analysis of the texts in the "Code of Ethics" section at corporate websites made it possible to single out such moral and ethical AD values as respect, honesty, responsibility, conscientiousness and justice. In the sections "Career in the company" and "Personnel", the manager's value preferences expressed in the semantics of linguistic units are highlighted. The key value of modern Russian companies was found to be PERSON who has the right to self-expression, development and decent life.
In the studied texts attention should be paid to lexemes with for naming employees: specialist, professional, team, experts, company assets, our people, polytechnics (about the employees of the former polytechnic institute), a team of professionals, an intellectual diversified personality, creative community of workers, human resources, daredevils and pioneers. The majority of companies tend to avoid the lexeme employee and emphasize the team cohesion and integrity through the collective nouns.
In a modern organization, the value is employee him/herself. The analysis showed that in the manager considers the subordinate as:
1) Personality:
Put the person first. For us people are more important than technology, behind the statistics we always see a specific person (Russian Railways) [AA]; Treat others the way you want to be treated (Rosneft) [AA]; Human life is the highest value (Rosneft) [AA];
Everything the Company does is done by people and for people (Lukoil) [AA]; Employees are the heart of the company (Magnit) [AA];
2) Company success resource:
Human resource is the source of successful activity (Moscow State University) [AA]; Our employees are a valuable asset, largely thanks to which the efficiency grows (Lukoil) [AA];
The Company's employees are an indispensable factor in its success (Rosenergosbyt) [AA]; Employees are the main competitive advantage (Aeroflot) [AA];
3) Part of the team:
The company's team as its main asset (Rosseti) [AA]; "I am a leader", "We are a team" (Sberbank) [AA];
Working in a team of like-minded people allows you to achieve unique results. The success of employees is the success of the company (Rosstat) [AA].
The company names its value preferences using positively colored vocabulary that characterizes an ideal employee. The analysis showed that the most frequent adjectives with a positive connotation are purposeful, energetic, proactive, talented, creative, ambitious, responsible, efficient and active, e. g.
We need people who possess modern knowledge and technologies, who are proactive, ambitious, ready to learn from the experience of previous generations and continue the development of the industry (Rosatom) [AA];
Responsibility, activity andpurposefulness determine our success (Lukoil) [AA]; We appreciate in our employees the desire to achieve results, the willingness to work in a team and take responsibility (Gazprom) [AA].
The manager appreciates an employee who is in constant motion and motivated by the energy of growth and development, which explains the priority of teleological values.
The value semantics of corporate loyalty is objectified through the concepts of CARE and RESPONSIBILITY to its employees, most often manifested through concern for health, material well-being of employees, quality recreation and education and is verbalized through
a) the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, e. g.
The life of employees and their health is more important than production achievements and economic results (Rusal) [AA]; and
b) encouraging initiative and promising employees, awarding diplomas and cash certificates, providing assistance, e. g.
We make every effort to help our employees, we give them the opportunity to enjoy the air, they offer the opportunity to have a fun and useful vacation, a competitive level of
remuneration, effective remuneration, bonuses for the results of the production activities of employees, additional payments and allowances, an annual bonus system, participation of employees in authorized capital (Rusal) [AA]; The company's concern for the employee's children (Sogaz) [AA].
Modern companies declare each employee's opportunity of growth, development and advancement within the company, so we can highlight another key value of modern AD which is EDUCATION. The employer motivates his subordinates for continuous development. This value is verbalized through the following lexemes: improvement, promotion, self-realization, training, development of competencies, platform for future growth, professional development, acquisition of skills, experience and knowledge. The axiological semantics of this concept is explained by the following means:
1) lexemes from educational discourse (business workshops, field seminars, special training programs, foreign internships, advanced training courses, distance learning, continuing education system, Ladder to Success seminars, trainings and business games, corporate academy);
2) verbs and verbal nouns of scientific discourse (creation of scientific and educational laboratories, opening of new branded audiences, implementation and expansion);
3) terminology of pedagogical discourse (active work is underway to identify and disseminate best practices, implement a knowledge management system, managerial competencies, implemented educational and methodological materials);
4) slogans calling for learning (learning new things is the key to Gazprom's long-term success, The energy of the young is the energy of the future, Students are our future, The main thing is professionalism, Go ahead, change and try new things! (Norilsk Nickel) [AA].
The axiological analysis of the texts in the "Career" and "Personnel" sections at corporate websites made it possible to represent the basic AD value concepts: a person, care and education identified as utilitarian and practical values focused on maximizing the subordinate's satisfaction. It is important to note that the study was conducted on the basis of Russian linguistic culture. However, it should be borne in mind that the corporate culture originated in the countries of Western civilization and spread to the whole world having undergone minor changes in individual countries under the influence of local cultures. In this regard, we can talk about the universality of the identified values.
Discussion
This study attempted to shed light on relations between the participants of the administrative discourse due to language markers to identify the values of modern AD and focused on corporate website as a nuclear hypergenre of AD. The result of the AD evolution is the emergence of hyper-genres and genres of electronic modus: 1) information hypergenres — corporate web portal (intranet), Internet sites; 2) interactive genres — conference calls, online meetings [Evtushenko, Pervukhina 2020]. We investigated language features and values of AD within the hypergenre "corporate website". The research was aimed at obtaining scientific knowledge about the value dominants that affect the communicative behavior of modern managers and subordinates.
In "The Business Ethics Workshop" by J. Brusseau the following leading manager's value features are mentioned: visionary, coach, affiliative, democratic, pacesetter and commander. This article attempted to broaden understanding of managers' values [Brusseau
2012]. Our findings suggest that there are also respect, efficiency, honesty, professionalism, responsibility, cohesion, conscientiousness, justice, focus on the future, leadership, patriotism, pride, image, environmental friendliness, courage and innovation.
Strategic values, on the one hand, motivate employees; on the other hand, they serve as an indicator of internal values (affective, normative and task-oriented values). In other words, the whole zone of values. The value management as a social process arises from routine interactions, and formal management systems serve as the foundation for improving interpersonal interactions that determine the employees' motivation.
"Corporate semantics that soften employment realities and the implications of dislocation with positive rhetoric increases the sense of failure and guilt on the part of both employer and employee" [Grosman 1989: 565]. In contrast, our analysis suggested utilitarian values focused on maximizing subordinate satisfaction. In the era of "participative management" such language becomes less acceptable. Instead of employee, the term associate, team member, colleague, softens the nature of the relationship [Grosman 1989: 565].
According to research in the field of organizational communication, ethical values of responsibility, tolerance, diligence, responsiveness, initiative and professional honor are prioritized. "Organizational culture affirms values in the manager-subordinate relationship, thereby having a positive impact on the effectiveness of managerial communication" [Vas'kov, Diatlov 2015].
The undertaken study enabled the authors to conclude that utilitarian values are being promoted in administrative communication, in particular in the hyper-genre "corporate website". Changed axiological ideals lead to the value re-evaluation in the modern culture. The concept of value is interpreted as something beneficial for a person, his activity and existence. Each action, including a communicative act, correlates with the principle of benefit to a person or society. Behavior patterns become dependent on situational benefits and acquire a dynamic and changeable character.
Additional research is needed to understand the significance of utilitarian values for society in the age of global reforms, which will help to identify an important aspect of society development determining the expected positive result. "Values will be even more important in governing the new organizational forms of tomorrow" [Agle, Caldwell 1999: 327].
Conclusion
The study proved that the AD evolution is the result of the digitalization of the modern discursive space, which significantly influenced the development of the AD value system, when several key values are decoded through the hyper-genre of corporate website and distinguished. The identified values are in the binary opposition of "values for the organization" (employer's loyalty) — "values for the employee" (person, care, education). Our findings suggest that the institutional feature of values expressed through the language of the corporate website is the promotion of utilitarian ones that benefit the employee. There were highlighted ethical values of respect, efficiency, honesty, professionalism, responsibility, cohesion, conscientiousness, justice, focus on the future, leadership and patriotism.
Abbreviations
AA — authors' archive (based on corporate websites). AD — administrative discourse.
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Received: March 24, 2023 Accepted: February 12, 2024
Евтушенко Оксана Александровна
Волгоградский государственный технический университет, Россия, 400005, Волгоград, пр. Ленина, 28 ksenja22@yahoo.com
Пром Наталья Александровна
Волгоградский государственный технический университет, Россия, 400005, Волгоград, пр. Ленина, 28 natalyprom77@gmail.com
Цeнностные характеристики административного дискурса
Для цитирования: Evtushenko O. A., Prom N. A. The value characteristics of the administrative discourse. Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Язык и литература. 2024, 21 (2): 508-523. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu09.2024.214
Данное исследование, проведенное в рамках аксиологической лингвистики, раскрывает связь между участниками административного дискурса — начальником и подчиненными — посредством языковых маркеров с целью выявления ценностей современной управленческой коммуникации, регулирующих эти отношения. Актуальность исследования обусловлена тем, что ценностные и языковые характеристики административного дискурса как особого измерения статусно-обусловленной коммуникации представляют интерес для любого человека, вовлеченного в отношения «работодатель — работник». Авторы останавливаются на качественном изменении административного дискурса, обусловленном глобализацией, цифровизацией и компьютеризацией, и приходят к выводу о том, что подобное влияние отражается на эволюции ценностей современного административного дискурса. Доказано, что институциональная особенность ценностных установок по отношению к подчиненным, выраженных через тексты гипержанра «корпоративный сайт», заключается в продвижении утилитарно-практических ценностей. Особое внимание авторы уделяют анализу гипержанра административного дискурса «корпоративный сайт», который рассматривается как многофункциональный интернет-гипержанр административного дискурса, инкорпорирующий различные жанры и субжанры, выполняющий информирующую функцию и являющийся виртуальной средой для институционального, административного общения, в ходе которого транслируются и культивируются корпоративные ценности и традиции. Результаты дискурсивного и языкового анализа материала корпоративных сайтов организаций позволили декодировать ценностные доминанты в поведении руководителя по отношению к подчиненному. Составлен актуальный список ценностей административного дискурса и выстроена их иерархия с выделением его ключевой ценности — корпоративности. Выявленные ценности находятся в бинарной оппозиции: «ценности для организации» (корпоративность) — «ценности для сотрудника» (человек, забота, здоровье, образование).
Ключевые слова: административный дискурс, гипержанр, корпоративный сайт, корпоративность, ценности.
Статья поступила в редакцию 24 марта 2023 г.
Статья рекомендована к печати 12 февраля 2024 г.
