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Rhetorical profiling: Modes of meaning generation in organizational topoi
Author(s) -
Barker James,
Gilmore Sarah,
Gilson Clive
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
canadian journal of administrative sciences / revue canadienne des sciences de l'administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.347
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1936-4490
pISSN - 0825-0383
DOI - 10.1002/cjas.1263
Subject(s) - rhetorical question , topos theory , epistemology , convention , profiling (computer programming) , rhetoric , meaning (existential) , sociology , homogeneous , motif (music) , political science , linguistics , philosophy , aesthetics , computer science , social science , literature , art , mathematics , operating system , combinatorics
Accounting for homogenous action in seemingly apparent heterogeneous organizations is a research question that persists across prominent organizational studies literatures, and which have become more persistent and pertinent as organizations have become more global and diverse. To address how differing forms of relatively homogeneous solutions to practical problems arise from otherwise heterogeneous organizations, we develop a rhetorical framework that depicts the role of topoi, often understood as a theme or motif or literary convention, in an organization's rhetorical activity and facilitates the profiling of organizations according to how members use topoi as modes of meaning creation. We assert 10 propositions reflecting how members invent and legitimize functional meaning and demonstrate how such meaning can direct the organization toward different discursive paths. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.