Discourse Perspectives in Organizational Communication brings together researchers from the social sciences and humanities to look at discourse and how it shapes organizations and their social actors. Unlike others in the field, this book assumes that language creates and constitutes reality, rather than simply mirroring or describing it. This collection illustrates the variety of organizational phenomena that might be studied and the range of epistemological and methodological approaches that might be used in discourse analysis techniques.

Discourse Perspectives in Organizational Communication brings together researchers from the social sciences and humanities to look at discourse and how it shapes organizations and their social actors. Unlike others in the field, this book assumes that language creates and constitutes reality, rather than simply mirroring or describing it. This collection illustrates the variety of organizational phenomena that might be studied and the range of epistemological and methodological approaches that might be used in discourse analysis techniques.

How can we study organizations from a discursive perspective? What are the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of each perspective on organizational discourse? To what extent do discourse and communication constitute the organizational world? This accessible book addresses these questions by showing how classical organizational themes, objects and questions can be illuminated from various discursive perspectives. Six approaches are presented and explained: semiotics, rhetoric, speech act theory, conversation analysis/ethnomethodology, narrative analysis, and critical discourse analysis. These six perspectives are then mobilized throughout the book to study coordination and organizing, organizational culture and identity, as well as negotiation, decision making and conflicts in the context of meetings. The unifying thread of this volume is the communicative constitutive approach (CCO) to organizations, as implicitly or explicitly advocated by the great majority of organizational discourse analysts and theorists today. Throughout Organizational Discourse, this theme will help readers distinguish between discursive perspectives and other approaches to organizational life, and to understand how discourse matters in organizations.

Brings together researchers from the social sciences and humanities to look at discourse and how it shapes organizations and their social actors. Unlike others in the field, this book assumes that language creates and constitutes reality, rather than simply mirroring or describing it. This collection illustrates the variety of organizational phenomena that might be studied and the range of epistemological and methodological approaches that might be used in discourse analysis techniques.

This much-needed systematic 2006 exploration of the emerging field of organizational discourse addresses scholarly perspectives as well as empirical applications of the concepts. The interpretive, functional, critical, and structurational perspectives are examined in detail, and application chapters illustrate how discourse theory can be employed in field research.

"This book offers a refreshing and engaging overview of the ways some research traditions in organizational communication have unfolded over time and continue to be connected to everyday, real events." —Patrice Buzzanell, Purdue University Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research: Multiple Perspectives is a book unlike any in the field. Each chapter is written by a prominent scholar who presents a theoretical perspective and discusses how he or she "engages" with it, personally examining what it means to study organizations. Rejecting the traditional model of a "reader," this volume demonstrates the intimate connections among theory, research, and personal experience. Significant theoretical perspectives such as post-positivism, social construction, rhetoric, critical theory, feminism, postmodernism, structuration theory, and globalization are discussed in terms of their history, assumptions, development, propositions, research, and applications. In addition to editors Steve May and Dennis K. Mumby, contributors include Brenda J. Allen, Karen Lee Ashcraft, George Cheney, Steven R. Corman, Stanley Deetz, Robert McPhee, Marshall Scott Poole, Cynthia Stohl, Bryan C. Taylor, and James R. Taylor. Key Features • An introduction that addresses the idea of engaged research. • Accessible and cutting edge accounts of important research traditions written by well-known leaders in the field. • Personal accounts of each scholar′s place in his or her field of study. • A conclusion that explores the future of organizational communication studies. • An extensive body of references on each perspective. Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research is an indispensable resource for anyone wishing to be familiar with current trends in the field of organizational communication. It is recommended as the main text for upper-level undergraduate and entry-level graduate courses in organizational communication theory. It is also an excellent supplementary text for related courses in departments of communication studies, business and management, sociology, and industrial relations.

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse has received the 2004 Outstanding Book Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association `Organizational discourse is not a new topic but is one that has grown in significance and citations in recent years. Thanks to the new The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse there is now a definitive set of up-to-the-minute resources available, by distinguished as well as emergent researchers. It should have a prominent place on all organization researchers bookshelves′ - Professor Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney `Organizational researchers interested in discursive philosophies, methods and practices will be grateful for the much-needed background and guidance this handbook provides′ - Mary Jo Hatch, Professor, McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. Co-author The Three Faces of Leadership: Manager, Artist, Priest (Blackwell) `Discourse analysis has become increasingly popular in organizational studies over the past decade or two. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse will make it even more popular by helping scholars of organizations understand the range of domains, methodologies, perspectives and focal organizational phenomena available to them within this analytic approach. Beyond classifying and describing current literature in the various areas, the chapters in this important new handbook suggest new directions for research using discourse analysis, a valuable service that should help novice and experienced researchers alike′ - JoAnne Yates, Sloan School of Management An increasingly significant body of management literature is applying discursive forms of analysis to a range of organizational issues. This emerging arena of research is not only important in providing new insights into processes of organizing, it has also informed and influenced the broader fields of organizational and management studies. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse is the definitive text for those with research and teaching interests in the field of organizational discourse. It provides an important overview of the domains of study, methodologies and perspectives used in research on organizational discourse. It shows how discourse analysis has moved beyond its roots in literary theory to become an important approach in the study of organizations. The editors of the Handbook, all renowned authors and experts in this field, have provided an invaluable resource on the application, importance and relevance of discourse to organizational issues for use by tutors and researchers working in the field, as well as providing important reference material for newcomers to this area. Each chapter, written by a leading author on their subject, covers an overview of the existing literature and also frames the future of the field in ways which challenge existing preconceptions. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse is indispensable to the teaching, study and research of organizational discourse and will enable readers to develop a level of understanding of organizations commensurate with the most recent, state of the art, theoretical developments in the broader field of organization studies.