Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO)

Overview

• CCO Perspective: Communication constitutes organizations. Organizations are an effect of communication rather than a setting where communication happens.
• Constitutive View: Elements of communication are formed within the act of communication itself.

CCO Schools of Thought

1. McPhee & Zaug's Four Flows
   • Focuses on distinct communicative flows that generate social structures through interaction.
2. The Montreal School
   • Emphasizes the agency of texts in communication processes.
3. Luhmann's Social Systems
   • Centers on decision-oriented messages for organizational emergence.

Background

• Roots in the linguistic approach from the 1980s.
• Karl E. Weick: Proposed that organizations are dynamic processes of communication.

McPhee & Zaug's Four Flows

Organizational Self-Structuring

• Distinguishes organizations from other groupings.
• Relies on recursive and dialogic communication for controlling processes.
• Examples: Charters, organizational charts.

Membership Negotiation

• Links organizations to members through recruitment and socialization.
• Involves power dynamics and negotiation processes.

Activity Coordination

• Ensures that members’ activities align with organizational purposes.
• Requires communication to adjust work processes and resolve issues.

Institutional Positioning

• Links organizations with external entities like suppliers and competitors.
• Establishes organizational identity and legitimacy.

The Montreal School

• Founded by James Taylor, Francois Cooren, and Bruno Latour.
• Texts and Conversations: Central concepts, where texts influence organizational structures.
• Coorientation: Orients individuals to each other and the organizational environment.
• Concepts like imbrication and ventriloquism describe the processes of organizational communication.

Luhmann's Social Systems

• Systems Theory: Communication is the core element of social systems.
• Emphasizes communication over human agency in organizational constitution.
• Communication is seen as an amalgam of information, utterance, and understanding.

Similarities in CCO Perspectives

• Communication events are crucial in producing organizations.
• Communication is inherently social and involves both human and non-human agents.
• CCO focuses on communication events and does not extend beyond them.

Key Premises

1. CCO examines communication events as central to organizational constitution.
2. Both macro and micro communication are important.
3. Communication is a co-constructed social phenomenon.
4. Artifacts can shape organizational actions.
5. Focuses solely on communication events.
6. Organizations are grounded in action, constantly becoming through communication.

References

• Additional resources include works by Karl Weick and the contributions of McPhee and Zaug, Taylor et al., and Cooren.
• Concepts are supported by various theoretical and empirical studies in organizational communication.