SPONTANEOUS TALK, LINGUISTIC CAPITAL, AND DIVERSITY - COMMUNICATION IN KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

In knowledge-based organizations, talk is more than just talk. Verbal ability plays a key role in career mobility in the workplace. Every wo rker is also expected to have good listening and interpretive skills. These skills are essential because the communication system in such or ganizations contains linguistic codes that allow several different mes sages to be sent in a single transmission. As minorities and women mov e into white-collar positions, they must be able to decipher the lingu istic codes within these messages. Organizations are reluctant to teac h them the code because so much of the existing power arrangement is o rganized around the receptive and interpretive skills of White males. This article discusses how codes are used to maintain the status quo a nd inhibit the career mobility of minorities and women.