Discursivity, Relationality and Materiality in the
Life of the Organisation
The field of organisational communication has been rapidly transforming in the wake of the linguistic and discursive turns that have been sweeping across the social sciences since the mid-eighties. These turns have prompted organisational communication scholars to look more closely at how they think about communication and its relationship to the organisation and the process of organising. What has emerged from these reflections is a perspective that proposes communication is not merely something that happens in organisations but is the heart of organising and therefore actually constitutes the organisation. This perspective, which embraces several sub-threads, is now commonly referred to as the Communication as Constitutive of Organization (CCO) perspective. This is itself evolving as scholars come to realize that organising does not just occur at the discursive level. It is inextricably coupled to the material and relational aspects of work the discourse mutually constitutes relationships between human and non-human bodies that combine to create what we encounter when we participate in organisational life. This book examines the way these three dimensions combine to create organisational outcomes. In doing so, it advances CCO and sociomateriality scholarship and contributes to new ways of thinking about strategy and practice. The series of empirical studies should interest the widely interdisciplinary audience that seeks to understand work, organising and management.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Communication Research and Practice journal.
Colleen E. Mills is a Professor of Management at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and an International Faculty Affiliate at Audencia Business School, France. Her research interests include organisational communication, sensemaking, materiality and organisational change. She is an executive member and past president of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association, board member of the International Communication Association and editor-in-chief of Communication Research and Practice (2018).
Franois Cooren is a Professor of Communication at the Universit de Montral, Canada. His research interests include organisational communication, language and social interaction, and communication theory. He is a fellow and past president of the International Communication Association, Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association and former editor-in-chief of Communication Theory (20052008).
Discursivity, Relationality
and Materiality in the Life of
the Organisation
Communication Perspectives
Edited by
Colleen E. Mills and Franois Cooren
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2018 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association
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ISBN 13: 978-0-8153-8461-8
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The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen during the conversion of this book from journal articles to book chapters, namely the possible inclusion of journal terminology.
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Contents
Colleen E. Mills and Franois Cooren
Nicolas Bencherki
Nicolas Arnaud and Bertrand Faur
Carole Groleau and Christiane Demers
Theresa Castor
Consuelo Vsquez
Viviane Sergi and Claudine Bonneau
Matthew A. Koschmann
The chapters in this book were originally published in Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 267271
Nicolas Bencherki
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 272289
Nicolas Arnaud and Bertrand Faur
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 290310
Carole Groleau and Christiane Demers
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 311333
Theresa Castor
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 334350
Consuelo Vsquez
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 351377
Viviane Sergi and Claudine Bonneau
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 378406
Matthew A. Koschmann
Communication Research and Practice, volume 2, issue 3 (September 2016) pp. 407431
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Nicolas Arnaud is a Professor of Management at the Audencia Business School, France. His research looks at collective competence, managerial innovation, communication, human resources management, organisational behaviour and theory, and strategic management. His work has appeared in many journals, including Communication Research and Practice, Management International and the British Journal of Management.
Nicolas Bencherki is a Professor in the Department of Human Sciences, Arts and Communication at Universit TLUQ, Canada. His research focuses on organisational communication among community-based organisations, in particular when it comes to collaboration between groups to achieve collective action. His work has been published in Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication and Communication Research and Practice.
Claudine Bonneau is a Professor in the Department of Management and Technology at the Universit du Qubec Montral, Canada. Her research focuses on social media usage and technological collaboration in a professional setting, business information systems and qualitative social research. Her work has been published in journals including
