Pedagogy and the ‘linguistic turn’: developing understanding through semiotics

The appropriation of the ‘linguistic’ turn and the application of social constructionist ideas for research projects situated in organizational contexts and concerned with managerial work has enriched the field’s understanding of the complexities of such settings and drawn attention to their processual nature. Using the unifying theory of a semiotic framework, we argue for a similar appropriation of the ‘linguistic turn’ in teaching projects, to give students of management a theoretically informed access to, and understanding of, this growing literature. Employing the understanding and vocabulary of semiotics as applied to metaphor, discourse and stories, we demonstrate how semiotic principles can be used to explore the mechanics of meaning making and expose the taken for granted assumptions inherent in this process.