Organizations as Networks of Communication Episodes: Turning the Network Perspective Inside Out
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In: Organization Studies, Vol. 33, No. 7, 01.07.2012, p. 879-906.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Organizations as Networks of Communication Episodes
T2 - 61st Annual Conference of the International Communication Association - ICA 2011
AU - Blaschke, Steffen
AU - Schoeneborn, Dennis
AU - Seidl, David
N1 - Conference code: 61
PY - 2012/7/1
Y1 - 2012/7/1
N2 - Over the last decades, the idea that communication constitutes organizations (CCO) has been gaining considerable momentum in organization studies. The CCO perspective provides new insights into key organizational issues, such as the relation between stability and change, between micro-level and macro-level phenomena, or between emergence and control. However, despite various theoretical advancements, the CCO perspective’s range of methodologies is still limited to analyzing local communication episodes, rather than studying organizations as broader networks of communication episodes. In this paper, we present a new methodological approach to the study of the relation between organization and communication, based on network analysis. Following a discussion of existing network approaches, we incorporate the fundamental assumptions of the CCO perspective into a methodology that places communication at the center of network analysis by turning the prevalent network perspective inside out, so that the vertices of the network represent communication episodes and the edges represent individuals. We illustrate our methodology with an empirical case study, in which we examine the structures and dynamics of an actual organization as a network of communication episodes.
AB - Over the last decades, the idea that communication constitutes organizations (CCO) has been gaining considerable momentum in organization studies. The CCO perspective provides new insights into key organizational issues, such as the relation between stability and change, between micro-level and macro-level phenomena, or between emergence and control. However, despite various theoretical advancements, the CCO perspective’s range of methodologies is still limited to analyzing local communication episodes, rather than studying organizations as broader networks of communication episodes. In this paper, we present a new methodological approach to the study of the relation between organization and communication, based on network analysis. Following a discussion of existing network approaches, we incorporate the fundamental assumptions of the CCO perspective into a methodology that places communication at the center of network analysis by turning the prevalent network perspective inside out, so that the vertices of the network represent communication episodes and the edges represent individuals. We illustrate our methodology with an empirical case study, in which we examine the structures and dynamics of an actual organization as a network of communication episodes.
KW - Management studies
KW - communication constitutes organizations (CCO)
KW - Montreal School
KW - network analysis
KW - organization theory
KW - organizational communication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863756868&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0170840612443459
DO - 10.1177/0170840612443459
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 33
SP - 879
EP - 906
JO - Organization Studies
JF - Organization Studies
SN - 0170-8406
IS - 7
Y2 - 26 May 2011 through 30 May 2011
ER -