Suchergebnisse

This timely collection addresses central issues in organizational communication theory on the nature of organizing and organization. The unique strength of this volume is its contribution to the conception of materiality, agency, and discourse in current theorizing and research on the constitution of organizations. It addresses such questions as: To what extent should the materiality of texts and artifacts be accounted for in a process view of organization? What part does materiality play in the process by which organizations achieve continuity in time and

This article discusses two ways in which language and discourse have entered the conception of organizing: as communicative activities of agents ( conversations); and as discursively based interpretations defining agents, purposes, and organizations ( texts). Conversation, framed within a material/social and a language environment, is the site where organizing occurs and where agency and text are generated. As text, in turn, the language environment frames conversations and reflects the sensemaking practices and habits of interpretation of organization members dealing with their immediate material/social purposes. Using a senior management meeting as an illustration, the article discusses these two levels of apprehension of the language–organization relationship and argues that a dynamic view of language and organizing must account for the processes linking both sides of the organization– language relationship.