scholarly journals Speaking about vision, talking in the name of so much more: A methodological framework for ventriloquial analyses in organization studies

2020 ◽  
pp. 017084062093406
Author(s):  
Ellen Nathues ◽  
Mark van Vuuren ◽  
François Cooren
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
Communicative Constitution Of Organizations ◽  
Systematic Inquiry ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Communicative Constitution

Organizations have long been treated as stable and fixed entities, defined by concrete buildings, catchy names, and strategic goals neatly written on paper. The Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO) school proposes an alternative, practice-grounded conceptualization for studying organizations as emerging in communicative (inter)actions. In so doing, CCO invites organizational scholars to trace back organizational phenomena to how they are communicated into existence. The concept of ventriloquism can help us explain the communicative constitutive view as it depicts how various elements of a situation are communicated into being and make a difference in interaction. However, ventriloquism lacks a proper methodological outline. Taking employee conversations about visions—a classic constituent of organizations—as our venue, we created a four-step framework for ventriloquial analyses and explored how visions are talked into existence. In this paper, we introduce and illustrate our analytical framework, showing how to identify, order, and present ventriloquial effects. We thus provide organizational (communication) scholars with a new methodological tool that facilitates the systematic inquiry into organizing and the organized from a communicative constitutive perspective.

scholarly journals Confidential Gossip and Organization Studies

2020 ◽  
pp. 017084062095401
Author(s):  
Ziyun Fan ◽  
Christopher Grey ◽  
Dan Kärreman
Keyword(s):  
General Concept ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
The Real ◽  
Communicative Practice ◽  
Communicative Constitution Of Organizations ◽  
Communicative Constitution ◽  
Real Truth ◽  
Formal Communication

This essay sets out the case for regarding confidential gossip as a significant concept in the study of organizations. It develops the more general concept of gossip by combining it with concepts of organizational secrecy in order to propose confidential gossip as a distinctive communicative practice. As a communicative practice, it is to be understood as playing a particular role within the communicative constitution of organizations. That particularity arises from the special nature of any communication regarded as secret, which includes the fact that such communication is liable to be regarded as containing the ‘real truth’ or ‘insider knowledge’. Thus it may be regarded as more than ‘just gossip’ and also as more significant than formal communication. This role is explored, as well as the methodological and ethical challenges of studying confidential gossip empirically.

The Institutionalization of CCO Scholarship: Trends from 2000 to 2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geneviève Boivin ◽  
Boris H. J. M. Brummans ◽  
James R. Barker
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Institutional Legitimacy ◽  
Communicative Constitution ◽  
Key Questions

This article presents an empirical analysis of the communicative constitution of organization (CCO) literature to demonstrate how, and to what extent, CCO scholarship is becoming established within organizational communication studies and related fields. We assess the trajectory of CCO research from 2000 to 2015 and, via the application of a neo-institutional perspective, show that CCO scholarship is gaining legitimacy within organizational communication and is becoming increasingly recognized in fields such as management and organization studies, although it has not focused extensively on formalizing its approaches to investigating how organizations are produced in communication. Our analysis reveals key questions and challenges that future CCO scholarship should address to strengthen its institutional legitimacy and influence.

scholarly journals What makes human–animal relations ‘organizational’? The de-scription of anthrozootechnical agencements

Organization ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Doré ◽  
Jérôme Michalon
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Relational Properties ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Human Animal

Questions concerning animals’ role in society have received little attention from Organization Studies. This article develops and tests some theoretical and methodological propositions aimed at contributing to the elaboration of an analytical framework for interpreting our organized relations with animals and furthering our understanding of what makes human–animal relations ‘organizational’. First, examining the role of animals in the ‘non-human turn’ that has been emerging, especially with the Actor–Network Theory and the Symmetrical Anthropology project, it adresses the limits of the ‘non-human’ category to analyze situations of coordination of collective action involving animals. It then develops the concept of anthrozootechnical agencement to envisage the role of animals in the course of action through the lens of their relational properties and applies the notion of script to propose an operational formulation of the specifically organizational trials to which these particular agencements are subjected. Based on three case studies (the role of the leash in the organization of human–dog relations, the management of wolves’ return to France, and the production of milk on a dairy farm), this article shows that two main types of operation make human–animal relations ‘organizational’: first, the organization of anthrozootechnical relations is constituted by and constitutive of the combination of three types of specifically organizational test to which these particular agencements are subjected (the performance test, the coherence test, and the dimensioning test); second, the work of organizing anthrozootechnical relations then consists in elaborating, executing, and transforming heterogeneous scripts that are never strictly indexed on the nature (human, animal, technique) of the entities they concern.

scholarly journals The Judges Reference and the Secession Reference at Twenty: Reassessing the Supreme Court of Canada's Unfinished Unwritten Constitutional Principles Project

2019 ◽  
pp. 1077
Author(s):  
(Alyn) James Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Prince Edward Island ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Unwritten Rule ◽  
Interpretive Framework

Upon the 20-year anniversary of the Reference re Remuneration of Judges of the Provincial Court of Prince Edward Island and the Reference re Secession of Quebec, the author reflects on the methodology utilized by the Supreme Court of Canada to reach dramatic conclusions on the basis of unwritten constitutional principles in these cases. An analysis of several decisions leading up to the Judges Reference and the Secession Reference establish a pattern of reasoning from the abstract to the concrete, from unwritten principle to unwritten rule. However, these decisions lack in methodological self-reflection as they utilize unwritten principles to reach particular outcomes without situating the analysis in a larger interpretive framework. The author seeks to clarify this uncertainty by suggesting a methodological framework entitled “reasoning from constitutional essentials.” This methodology can assist in understanding the analytical framework used by courts to identify and reach conclusions on the basis of unwritten constitutional principles.

The Number of Parties and Party System Nationalization in an Integrated Analytical Framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 662-681
Author(s):  
Grigorii V. Golosov
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Direct And Indirect Effects ◽  
Effective Number ◽  
Regional Parties ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Effective Number Of Parties ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Number Of Parties

This study develops a methodological tool for integration of research on party system fragmentation and party system nationalization. The method is built by decomposing a standard indicator of fragmentation, the effective number of parties, into individual-party components (effective size scores), and weighting them by nationalization scores, which allows for disaggregating the number of parties into two distinct components, the effective numbers of national and regional parties. As a result, it becomes possible to assess the influences of substantively important factors upon the components of the number of parties and the overall level of fragmentation in a methodologically consistent, quantifiable way. In addition, the proposed framework of analysis differentiates between direct and indirect effects upon party system fragmentation. A preliminary empirical test on a sample from 90 countries demonstrates that the proposed framework for analysis allows for achieving a rich and nuanced understanding of the factors of party system fragmentation.

scholarly journals The Constitution of Organization as Informational Individuation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Bencherki ◽  
Andrew Iliadis
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Single Process ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Communicative Constitution ◽  
Gilbert Simondon

Abstract Communication scholars, especially in organizational communication, call for a constitutive approach to communication that considers communicating and organizing as a single process. Yet, current theorizing seems unable to embrace that equivalence. As an alternative, we present an informationally grounded view of communication, drawing from French philosopher Gilbert Simondon. Doing so, we extend scholarship on the communicative constitution of organization by highlighting the importance of framing communication in the context of informational individuation. Following a critical summary of constitutive communication theories, we provide a brief exegesis of Simondon’s concepts of individuation and transduction, which bind information and communication, and contribute four propositions to guide informationally grounded work on the constitutive power of communication. We then emphasize how a Simondonian view contributes to discussions on the communicating-organizing equation. We end by providing a brief empirical example and analysis, using key takeaways from a Simondonian framework, and offer areas for further discussion.

Populist stories of honest men and proud mothers: A visual narrative analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Freistein ◽  
Frank Gadinger
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Visual Narrative ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Exploratory Case Studies

AbstractThis article proposes the methodological framework of visual narrative analysis through the study of images and narratives. We are interested in the appeal of political storytelling. In applying an approach of layered interpretation, we study images and slogans to consider the more complex underlying narratives in their political and cultural context. Our exploratory case studies draw on material from right-wing populist parties, namely election campaign posters from Germany and the UK as material for the analysis. We find that narratives operate with a ‘fantasmatic logic’, which adds fantasy to politics, to depoliticise and camouflage their radical intent and gain approval by making consent desirable. We identify two exemplary narratives (honest men under threat; proud mothers) that entrench traditional gender roles in accordance with patriarchy and nationalism. Theoretically, our approach contributes to debates in IR on cultural underpinnings in international politics and the construction of collective identities through shared/divided narratives. Visual narrative analysis provides a promising methodological tool for analysing visual representations in their productive relationship with text. This perspective foregrounds the power of political storytelling through fantasmatic appeal and fosters a better understanding of the global rise of populism.

Secrecy and communication: towards a research agenda

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-566
Author(s):  
Ziyun Fan ◽  
Jana Costas ◽  
Chris Grey
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communicative Constitution Of Organizations ◽  
Communicative Constitution

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify possible lines of research relating to communication and secrecy. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a conceptual essay drawing on recent research on secrecy. Findings The findings suggest that secrecy entails the communication of rules about communication, and that secrecy can play a role in the communicative constitution of organizations. Originality/value The paper is innovative in configuring secrecy as a form of communication rather than being the opposite of communication, and in showing the linkages between what are normally two separate domains of research.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Video Methods in Organizational Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis LeBaron ◽  
Paula Jarzabkowski ◽  
Michael G. Pratt ◽  
Greg Fetzer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Tool

Video has become a methodological tool of choice for many researchers in social science, but video methods are relatively new to the field of organization studies. This article is an introduction to video methods. First, we situate video methods relative to other kinds of research, suggesting that video recordings and analyses can be used to replace or supplement other approaches, not only observational studies but also retrospective methods such as interviews and surveys. Second, we describe and discuss various features of video data in relation to ontological assumptions that researchers may bring to their research design. Video involves both opportunities and pitfalls for researchers, who ought to use video methods in ways that are consistent with their assumptions about the world and human activity. Third, we take a critical look at video methods by reporting progress that has been made while acknowledging gaps and work that remains to be done. Our critical considerations point repeatedly at articles in this special issue, which represent recent and important advances in video methods.

Masters of the Universe: Power and Elites in Organization Studies

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael I. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Hybrid Governance ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Universe

Elite analysis has re-emerged as a central theme in contemporary organization studies. This paper builds on recent contributions to this revitalized field by developing a distinctive theoretical approach and substantive agenda for the study of power relations and elite ruling in organization studies. By drawing on a realist/materialist ontology and a neo-Weberian analytical framework, the paper identifies the idea of ‘command situations’ as the key concept for identifying changing mechanisms and forms of elite domination and control in contemporary socio-political orders. Three case histories are subsequently discussed in order to provide illustrative examples of the way in which this analytical framework can enhance our understanding of the complex interplay between ‘institutional’ and ‘interstitial’ power as it shapes the emergence of hybrid governance regimes through which contemporary regimes of elite domination and rule become organized.

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