In the transcript from the Apprentice, it is clear that Alan Sugar has the instrumental power over the rest of the people in the room. Almost every time anyone else speaks either he interrupts or someone else in the room does. This is not very surprising in this setting, as in the boardroom type situation it is a constant struggle for power and who gets the floor and is able to share their views, which when Alan sugar interrupts this is probably him trying to get his views across, almost forcing them upon the other people. The most interesting thing I found in this piece, was that he interrupted Nick, who (from watching the show myself) is normally seen by Sugar as a right hand man, reporting back to him and someone whose views he appreciates and values, but by interrupting him when he is talking to Claire he may seriously change the dynamic of their relationship, and lower Nicks status, but in this way interrupting does not increase his, it lowers it as he as compromised his face needs -to be liked (not that he seems to be worried about this) and Nicks face need -not to be imposed upon. The presence of Claire in this situation seems to put a strain on Alan Sugars temper when she asks can she “please” ask something, it doesn’t really allow him to say no, and then she starts to talk about feelings "a vulnerable position", which is the female approach as stated by Tannen that women use feelings to build relationships whereas men use communication of information to build a conversation with someone. When he kicks her out the boardroom, he may have felt threatened by her being there and seen her as competition for the power over the group and got rid of her, therefore displaying his instrumental power and his ability to do so, almost showing her who’s really in charge, when in fact he is avoiding conflict and getting round having an actual discussion with a verbal power struggle by using actions. It’s very interesting to see how the different genders go about conflict, and how they act within a power struggle in this format.
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
ANALYSIS OF TRANSCRIPT:
In the transcript from the Apprentice, it is clear that Alan Sugar has the instrumental power over the rest of the people in the room. Almost every time anyone else speaks either he interrupts or someone else in the room does. This is not very surprising in this setting, as in the boardroom type situation it is a constant struggle for power and who gets the floor and is able to share their views, which when Alan sugar interrupts this is probably him trying to get his views across, almost forcing them upon the other people. The most interesting thing I found in this piece, was that he interrupted Nick, who (from watching the show myself) is normally seen by Sugar as a right hand man, reporting back to him and someone whose views he appreciates and values, but by interrupting him when he is talking to Claire he may seriously change the dynamic of their relationship, and lower Nicks status, but in this way interrupting does not increase his, it lowers it as he as compromised his face needs -to be liked (not that he seems to be worried about this) and Nicks face need -not to be imposed upon. The presence of Claire in this situation seems to put a strain on Alan Sugars temper when she asks can she “please” ask something, it doesn’t really allow him to say no, and then she starts to talk about feelings "a vulnerable position", which is the female approach as stated by Tannen that women use feelings to build relationships whereas men use communication of information to build a conversation with someone. When he kicks her out the boardroom, he may have felt threatened by her being there and seen her as competition for the power over the group and got rid of her, therefore displaying his instrumental power and his ability to do so, almost showing her who’s really in charge, when in fact he is avoiding conflict and getting round having an actual discussion with a verbal power struggle by using actions. It’s very interesting to see how the different genders go about conflict, and how they act within a power struggle in this format.
In the transcript from the Apprentice, it is clear that Alan Sugar has the instrumental power over the rest of the people in the room. Almost every time anyone else speaks either he interrupts or someone else in the room does. This is not very surprising in this setting, as in the boardroom type situation it is a constant struggle for power and who gets the floor and is able to share their views, which when Alan sugar interrupts this is probably him trying to get his views across, almost forcing them upon the other people. The most interesting thing I found in this piece, was that he interrupted Nick, who (from watching the show myself) is normally seen by Sugar as a right hand man, reporting back to him and someone whose views he appreciates and values, but by interrupting him when he is talking to Claire he may seriously change the dynamic of their relationship, and lower Nicks status, but in this way interrupting does not increase his, it lowers it as he as compromised his face needs -to be liked (not that he seems to be worried about this) and Nicks face need -not to be imposed upon. The presence of Claire in this situation seems to put a strain on Alan Sugars temper when she asks can she “please” ask something, it doesn’t really allow him to say no, and then she starts to talk about feelings "a vulnerable position", which is the female approach as stated by Tannen that women use feelings to build relationships whereas men use communication of information to build a conversation with someone. When he kicks her out the boardroom, he may have felt threatened by her being there and seen her as competition for the power over the group and got rid of her, therefore displaying his instrumental power and his ability to do so, almost showing her who’s really in charge, when in fact he is avoiding conflict and getting round having an actual discussion with a verbal power struggle by using actions. It’s very interesting to see how the different genders go about conflict, and how they act within a power struggle in this format.
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I like how you've read into how the relationship dynamic could have been broken when Alan Sugar interrupted Nick.
ReplyDeleteyou have done a thorough analysis and i particularly like your style of writing because it flows well. :)
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ReplyDeleteGood analysis you have really picked up on the key points a presented them well
ReplyDeleteNice link to the theory. You've presented your points well.
ReplyDeleteNicely linked to theory. I really like the close analysis of "please" and think maybe you could extend onto theories that cover smaller linguistic techniques like this as well as more well known theories like Tannen's
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