Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM): A Research Manual consists of the work of Barnett Pearce, Vernon Cronen, and their colleagues over the past 40 years. The theory offers a rich set of ideas for understanding communication processes. Still dedicated to ways in which people coordinate interaction and construct meaning, the theory offers fresh ways of examining human social life. This manual provides a brief, clear, and useful set of tools for CMM research. Although this booklet does provide a short introduction to the theory, it assumes some background in CMM theory and is designed for CMMers who want a clearer picture of how to conduct research in this tradition. Of particular importance in this endeavor is maintaining a communication perspective to ensure that researchers focus on the communication processes, rather than look through it to something else. To achieve this goal, researchers can describe the process, interpret communication events, provide critique, and assert action plans. The framing of research questions is especially important in maintaining a communication perspective. Research tools are organized into the categories of description, interpretation, critique and action. In addition, the CMM consulting method known as SEAVA is translated into research processes that involve storyboarding, enriching stories, analyzing interaction, visioning, and acting.

This book honors the life and work of the late W. Barnett Pearce, a leading theorist in the communication field. The book is divided into four sections. The first section will lead with an essay by Barnett Pearce. This will be followed by sections on (1) practical theory, (2) dialogue, and (3) social transformation. In the broadest sense, these are probably the three general themes found in the work of Pearce and his colleagues. In another sense, these categories also identify three important dimensions of Pearce’s major contribution, the theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning.

Communicating Possibilities exemplifies what it means to live one's life in conversation--noticing details in moments of communication that matter and acting into them to enhance the chances of more desirable outcomes. The approach that Wasserman and Fisher-Yoshida articulate and demonstrate represents CMM's radical approach to communication in general and turn-taking in particular. Rather than focusing on the cues that enable smooth turn-taking, they argue for interjecting turns that make a difference. This is turn-making at its best." Arthur Jensen, Syracuse University The treatment of CMM offered by Wasserman and Fisher-Yoshida in Communicating Possibilities is one of, if not the, best short introductions now available. It provides a strong focus on what makes CMM a distinctive way to understand communication. Its examples are clear and I expect readily understood by students, teachers, and practitioners. I am particularly impressed by the way the authors have shown the connection between "cosmopolitan communication" and the other features of CMM theory. Given the present political situation that is surely an important contribution. Vernon Cronen, University of North Carolina; UMASS Amherst. This much-needed volume, Communicating Possibilities, provides an illuminating introduction to a ground-breaking theory of communication. Pearce and Cronen's ideas on the Coordinated Management of Meaning virtually transformed our conception of human communication. Most importantly, the ideas could be usefully applied to everyday life--in organizations, therapy, family exchanges, informal relations, and more. With new tools for reflection, new and more productive possibilities for action emerge, conflicts are reduced, collaboration encouraged, and creativity unleashed. With caring clarity, and rich illustration, Wasserman and Fisher-Yoshida provide an invaluable introduction to this fascinating domain. Kenneth J. Gergen, Swarthmore University; The Taos Institute and author of An Invitation to Social Construction This important book by Wasserman & Fisher-Yoshida provides useful examples and explanations of some of the essential features of CMM, such as a systemic understanding of patterns of communication, multiple contextual constructions of meaning, and a framework for mapping out complex processes of social interaction to make changes or open new possibilities. Especially effective is the emphasis Wasserman & Fisher-Yoshida place on sequential and reflexive unfolding of meaning and action. In light of the challenges we face in these times, such a heuristic communication model is especially needed, one that considers the social construction of ethics, different forms of awareness, and patterns of communication that we create together. This introduction to CMM provides valuable resources and tools that facilitate an ongoing conversation filled with new possibilities. Victoria Chen, San Francisco State University Communicating Possibilities is an inspiring book about how to use CMM in the various contexts of our lives--from our most intimate relationships to the larger systems of which we are a part. Wasserman and Fisher-Yoshida provide relevant and useful examples that help the reader see how to use CMM mindfully and compassionately in all aspects of our social worlds. This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in living intentionally and compassionately in our complex and divided world. Kim Pearce, Founder and President, CMM Institute for Human and Social Evolution

Making Social Worlds: A Communication Perspective offers the most accessible introduction to the tools and concepts of CMM – Coordinated Management of Meaning – one of the groundbreaking theories of speech communication. Draws upon advances in research for the most up-to-date concepts in speech communication Defines the 'critical moments' of communication for students and practitioners; encouraging us to view communication as a two-sided process of coordinating actions and making/managing meanings Questions how we can intervene in dangerous or undesirable patterns of communication that will result in better social worlds

Do you despair about the divisiveness, the hatred, and the lack of compassion in our social world? Are you looking for a better way to manage the complexities and demands of 21st century social life? Well, this book offers just such a way. Following the adage of Einstein, that you cannot solve problems with the mindset that created it, you are introduced to a new way of thinking and acting that opens up possibilities for a more hopeful future than the one we currently face. The new mindset presumes that we create our social worlds in communication, that our relationships with people matter deeply to the quality of our lives and that living with difference enriches us. The authors draw on the Theory of the Co-ordinated Management of Meaning for inspiration, making dense concepts and technical language more accessible so that you can use the theory. You are introduced to such notions as relational beings, self-reflexivity and storied worlds, along with what it can mean to engage in joint action, dialogue and cosmopolitan communication. By drawing on these ideas and implementing them in our everyday interpersonal communication, the authors show how changing our communication practices can bring about social and cultural change.

The Reflective, Facilitative and Interpretive Practices of the Coordinated Management of Meaning: Making Lives, Making Meaning, showcases practical applications of the theory of Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM). In the facilitation section, CMM creates dynamics within groups leading toward improved ways of working together; in the interpretation section CMM offers alternative frames to interpret interactions with one another; and in the reflection section CMM is a means to reflect on experiences and interactions to deeper levels of understanding and learning. CMM is grounded in social constructionism, takes a communication perspective and provides concepts and tools for making better social worlds.

Starting with the premise that we live in communication (rather than standing outside communication and using it for secondary purposes), Pearce claims that people who live in various cultures and historical epochs not only communicate differently but experience different ways of being human because they communicate differently. This century, he notes, ushered in the "communication revolution," the discovery that communication is far more important and central to the human condition than ever before realized. Essential to the communication revolution is the recognition that multiple forms of discourse exist in contemporary human society. Further, these forms of discourse are not benign; they comprise alternative ways of being human. Thus communication theory must encompass all that it "means to live a life, the shape of social institutions and cultural traditions, the pragmatics of social action, and the poetics of social order."