Doing collegiality and keeping control at work: small talk in government departments 1

Abstract

This chapter draws on a range of examples from one particular institutional setting, namely, government departments. Most discussions of small talk begin from Brontislaw Malinowski's definition of 'phatic communion'. The negative perception of small talk as marginal or purposeless reflects to some extent the way it is often defined, explicitly or implicitly, as talk which is not concerned with information, which is not 'purposive' or task-oriented. 'Informativeness' is one useful criterion: core business talk is well-focussed, referential talk with high information content. In the workplace, the equivalent activity can perhaps be described as 'doing collegiality'. 'Doing collegiality' involves, in particular, paying attention to the positive face needs of participants, and small talk is an obvious example of discourse which is oriented to the addressee's positive face needs. Indeed, small talk might be considered a core example of positively polite talk.

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