Communication Theory Essentials: Group Decisions, Organizational Culture, and Aristotle’s Rhetoric
Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making (Ch. 17)
Randy Hirokawa & Denis Gouran | Objective | Socio-psychological & Cybernetic Tradition
The authors are convinced that group interaction has a positive effect on the final decision.
- Hirokawa seeks quality solutions.
Communication serves as a social tool for group decision making to reach joint conclusions—a democracy where responsibility relies on the group.
The functional perspective specifies what communication must accomplish for joint decisions to be wise.
The Four Functions of Effective Decision Making
Requisite Functions
Requirements for a positive group outcome: problem analysis, goal setting, identification of alternatives, and evaluation of pluses and minuses for each.
- Analysis of the Problem
Groups need to look at conditions to determine if something needs to be improved or changed, or to analyze potential problems.
- Misunderstanding of the situation often occurs when members make their final decision.
Problem Analysis
Determining the nature, extent, and cause(s) of the problem facing the group.
- Goal Setting
- Goals, objectives, standards, targets, criteria.
Group members need to be clear on what they are trying to accomplish. The authors state that discussion of goals and objectives is the second requisite function of decision making.
Goal Setting
Establishing criteria by which to judge proposed solutions.
- Identification of Alternatives
“If no one calls attention to the need for generating as many alternatives as is realistically possible, then relatively few may be introduced, and the corresponding possibility of finding the acceptable answer will be low.”
- Think of it like brainstorming.
Identification of Alternatives
Generation of options to sufficiently solve the problem.
- Evaluation of Positive and Negative Characteristics
After a group has identified alternative solutions, the participants must take care to test the relative merits of each option against the criteria they believe to be important.
- This can sometimes be a sloppy process.
- Weighing the benefits (pluses) and costs (minuses) of every alternative.
Evaluation of Positive and Negative Characteristics
Testing the relative merits of each option against the criteria selected; weighing the benefits and costs.
Prioritizing the Four Functions
Prioritizing in this context refers to addressing the four requisite functions in a logical progression.
The Role of Communication in Fulfilling the Functions
Three types of communication in decision-making groups:
- Promotive: Interaction that moves the group along the goal path by calling attention to one of the four requisite decision-making functions.
- Disruptive: Interaction that diverts, hinders, or frustrates group members’ ability to achieve the four task functions.
- Counteractive: Interaction that members use to get the group back on track; brings the conversation back.
- Critique: Judging whether someone’s statement is disruptive or counteractive can be subjective.
- The authors argue that these four functions can be done in any order to reach a high-quality decision.
- Question for reflection: How much power do you think you have as an individual to condition the outcome of a group decision-making process?
Thoughtful Advice for Those Who Know They Are Right
Reflective Thinking
Thinking that favors rational consideration over intuitive hunches or pressure from those with clout.
Ethical Reflection: Habermas’ Discourse Ethics
Discourse Ethics
Jürgen Habermas’ vision of the ideal speech situation in which diverse participants could rationally reach a consensus on universal ethical standards.
Ideal Speech Situation
A discourse on ethical accountability in which discussants represent all who will be affected by the decision, pursue discourse in a spirit of seeking the common good, and are committed to finding universal standards.
Cultural Approach to Organizations (Ch. 19)
Clifford Geertz and Michael Pacanowsky | Interpretive | Socio-cultural and Semiotic Tradition
Culture as a Metaphor of Organizational Life
From Pacanowsky’s view: “Organizational culture is not just another piece of the puzzle; it is the puzzle. From our point of view, culture is not something an organization has; a culture is something an organization is — culture is an organization.”
What Culture Is; What Culture Is Not
Culture
Webs of significance; systems of shared meaning.
Cultural Performance
Actions by which members constitute and reveal their culture to themselves and others; an ensemble of texts.
Thick Description: What Ethnographers Do
Ethnography
Mapping out social discourse; discovering who people within a culture think they are, what they think they are doing, and to what end they think they are doing it.
The job of sorting out the symbolic meanings of people’s actions within their culture.
- Discussion Point: Ethnography
- Look at rituals you can see, perhaps at work, or cultures/rituals created.
Thick Description
A record of the intertwined layers of common meaning that underlie what a particular people say and do.
Also involves interpretation and reconstruction, not just detailed observations.
With this description, ethnographers realize their task is to:
- Accurately describe talk and actions and the context in which they occur.
- Capture the thoughts, emotions, and webs of social interactions.
- Assign motivation, intention, or purpose to what people say and do.
- Artfully write this up so readers feel they have experienced the events.
- Interpret what happened; explain what it means within the culture.
Metaphors: Taking Language Seriously
Metaphor
Clarifies what is unknown or confusing by equating it with an image that is more familiar or vivid.
The Symbolic Interpretation of Story
Pacanowsky suggests three types of narrative that dramatize organizational life. These stories are told over and over to provide a convenient window to view corporate webs of significance:
Corporate Stories
Tales that carry management ideology and reinforce company policy.
Personal Stories
Tales told by employees that put them in a favorable light.
Example: In the show, The Office, Dwight’s interviews include statements he makes of his excellence as an employee.
Collegial Stories
Positive or negative anecdotes about others in the organization; descriptions of how things “really work.”
Example: In The Office, Pam and Jim often tell stories about Dwight, both radical and sincere.
- Can you change a culture? Geertz argues that cultures can be very resistant to change.
- Both Geertz and Pacanowsky caution against analyzing a story and saying, “this story means…”. Narratives contain a mosaic of significance and defy a simplistic, one-on-one translation of symbols.
- Stories at Dixie (Contextual note, kept for completeness).
Ritual: This is the Way It Has Always Been and Will Always Be
Ritual
Texts that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life, often marking rites of passage or life transitions.
- Discussion Point: Rituals (Maddie Discussion)
- Described as “the way it is,” and cannot be changed.
Can the Manager be an Agent of Cultural Change?
Critique: Is the Cultural Approach Useful?
The approach looks for qualitative research methodology of ethnography to gain a new understanding of a specific group of people. A crucial part of that understanding is a clarification of values within the culture under study.
A critique is the authors’ refusal to evaluate the customs a culture portrays. Critics argue that they should expose and deplore “injustice” rather than just trying to describe and interpret it for readers. For researchers who take a cultural approach to organizational life, this misses the point. They are not trying to reform society.
The goal of symbolic analysis is to create a better understanding of what it takes to function effectively within a culture.
The Rhetoric of Aristotle
Rhetorical Tradition | Objective and Interpretive
Aristotle’s theory sits between Objective and Interpretive traditions. It is objective in having a set list of things to follow, yet interpretive in application.
The Rhetorical Tradition
Communication as Artful Public Address. Focuses on the power of language to change the minds of others.
Rhetoric (Definition)
The art of using all available means of persuasion, focusing on lines of argument, organization of ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking.
- Importance of source credibility.
- Aristotle was a student of Plato.
Rhetoric: Making Persuasion Probable
Rhetoric (Key Concept)
Discovering in each case all possible means of persuasion.
There are some things we can discover scientifically and others that are discovered through probability. The probabilities can be argued, arguing the likelihood—means of persuasion (logos, pathos, ethos)—artistic proofs (crafting a successful argument).
Aristotle’s Threefold Classification of Speech Situations
Classified according to the nature of the audience:
- Courtroom (Forensic) Speaking: About actions alleged to have taken place in the past.
- Ceremonial (Epideictic) Speaking: Heaping praise or blame on another for the benefit of present-day audiences.
- Political (Deliberative) Speaking: Attempts to influence legislators or voters who decide future policy.
Dialectic vs. Rhetoric
- Dialectic is one-to-one discussion; rhetoric is one person addressing many.
- Dialectic is a search for the truth; rhetoric tries to demonstrate the truth that has already been found.
- This involves discovering ways to make truth seem more probable to an audience that is not completely convinced.
Rhetorical Proof: Logos, Pathos, Ethos
According to Aristotle, the available means of persuasion can be artistic or inartistic.
Inartistic Proofs
External evidence the speaker does not create (e.g., scientific data). Includes testimonies, witnesses, or documents like letters or contracts.
Artistic Proofs
Internal proofs that rely on logos, pathos, and ethos appeals. Created by the speaker.
- Logos: Logical appeal.
- Pathos: Emotional appeal.
- Ethos: Ethical appeal (credibility).
Case Study: Barack Obama’s Commencement Address at Notre Dame. His speech touched on all parts of artistic proofs.
- There was much controversy from people, specifically Catholics, who said he should not be able to make the speech or get an award because of his views on abortion and stem cell research, which were contradictory to Catholic beliefs.
Logos: Quasi-Logical Arguments that Make Sense
Logos
Proofs that appeal to listeners’ rationality; lines of argument that seem reasonable; enthymemes and examples.
- Focuses on what seems reasonable.
Aristotle focused on two forms of logos: enthymemes and examples.
Enthymemes
An incomplete version of a formal deductive syllogism that is created by leaving out a premise already accepted by the audience or not drawing the obvious conclusion; a reasonable argument.
- He regarded enthymemes as the strongest of the proofs.
- The audience must “fill in the blank.”
- A large part/whole of the argument is presented, but one piece is left out, forcing the person to fill that in, which makes the conclusion make sense.
- Example: (Dangerous example of Trump speeches): “Many people are crying—we’re going to build a wall.” The blank filled in is that since the wall is at the border of Mexico, Mexicans are the ones that cause us to cry, and we have to keep them out to keep ourselves happy.
Unlike enthymemes, examples are inductive.
Pathos: Emotional Appeals that Strike a Responsive Chord
Pathos
Proofs consisting of feelings and emotions elicited by the speech.
Crafted by Aristotle as a corrective measure that could help a speaker craft emotional appeals that inspire reasoned civic decision making.
He cataloged a series of opposite feelings, explained the conditions under which each mood is experienced, and described how the speaker can get an audience to feel that way:
- Anger vs. Calmness: People feel angry when they are unable to fulfill a need. Once shown how the offender is sorry or has great power, the person will calm down.
- Friendliness vs. Enmity: If a certain positivity or mutual warmth is absent, hatred of a common enemy will emerge.
- Fear vs. Confidence: The mental image of a possible disaster evokes fear, painting a tragic possibility. But by describing the danger, confidence will emerge.
- Indignation vs. Pity.
- Admiration vs. Envy: People admire moral virtue, power, wealth, and beauty. By demonstrating that an individual has acquired life’s goods through hard work rather than mere luck, admiration will increase.
- Discussion Point: Pathos (Theo Discussion)
- The feeling the speech draws out.
- Cataloged opposite feelings.
- Example of speech by prime minister—at times drawing on friendliness and enmity in speech.
- Sometimes emotion can be used, but is used in a manipulative way that becomes propaganda.
- Does pathos without logos become propaganda?
- Is emotion manipulative either way?
Ethos: Perceived Source Credibility
Ethos
Perceived credibility consisting of the audience’s judgment of the speaker’s intelligence, character, and goodwill toward the audience, as these personal characteristics are revealed throughout the speech.
Aristotle identified three qualities that build high source credibility:
- Perceived Intelligence: Aristotle believed that audiences judge intelligence by the overlap of their beliefs and the speaker’s ideas. It has more to do with their perception of practical wisdom and shared values.
- Virtuous Character: The speaker’s image as a good, honest person. Helps to enhance the opinion of the speaker instead of tarnish it.
- Goodwill: Positive judgment of the speaker’s intention toward the audience. The speaker needs to have the audience’s best interest at heart.
Listeners think in terms of competence (intelligence), trustworthiness (character), and care (goodwill).
The Five Canons of Rhetoric
Canons of Rhetoric
The principal divisions of the art of persuasion established by ancient rhetoricians—invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory. Four distinct standards for measuring the quality of a speaker’s ability and performance.
- Invention: Discovery/construction of convincing arguments.
- Arrangement: Organization of material for best impact.
- Should not try to make a complicated organization. Just need to state the subject and demonstrate it—thesis and proof.
- Style: Selection of compelling and appropriate language.
- A helpful tool is metaphors.
- Delivery: Coordination of voice and gestures.
- Audiences reject delivery that seems planned or staged. Naturalness is persuasive.
- Memory: Mastery and rehearsal of content.
Invention (Key Concept)
A speaker’s “hunt” for arguments that will be effective in a particular speech.
Ethical Reflection: Aristotle’s Golden Mean
Aristotle assumed virtue stands between two vices. He saw wisdom in the person who avoids excess on either side. Moderation is best; virtue develops habits that seek to walk an intermediate path. The middle way is known as the golden mean.
Golden Mean
The virtue of moderation; the virtuous person develops habits that avoid extremes.
- Discussion Point: Golden Mean (John Discussion)
- Example of the Netflix film, The Social Dilemma.
- Failure and balance of the golden mean in the documentary.
- Was often pessimistic, but with a small view of hope at the end, not too emotional.
- Plays on the negative and fear to viewers.