A one-stop source for scholars and advanced students who want to get the latest and best overview and discussion of how organizations use rhetoric
While the disciplinary study of rhetoric is alive and well, there has been curiously little specific interest in the rhetoric of organizations. This book seeks to remedy that omission. It presents a research collection created by the insights of leading scholars on rhetoric and organizations while discussing state-of-the-art insights from disciplines that have and will continue to use rhetoric.
Beginning with an introduction to the topic, The Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric and Communication offers coverage of the foundations and macro-contexts of rhetoric—as well as its use in organizational communication, public relations, marketing, management and organization theory. It then looks at intellectual and moral foundations without which rhetoric could not have occurred, discussing key concepts in rhetorical theory. The book then goes on to analyze the processes of rhetoric and the challenges and strategies involved. A section is also devoted to discussing rhetorical areas or genres—namely contextual application of rhetoric and the challenges that arise, such as strategic issues for management and corporate social responsibility. The final part seeks to answer questions about the book’s contribution to the understanding of organizational rhetoric. It also examines what perspectives are lacking, and what the future might hold for the study of organizational rhetoric.
- Examines the advantages and perils of organizations that seek to project their voices in order to shape society to their benefits
- Contains chapters working in the tradition of rhetorical criticism that ask whether organizations’ rhetorical strategies have fulfilled their organizational and societal value
- Discusses the importance of obvious, traditional, nuanced, and critically valued strategies such as rhetorical interaction in ways that benefit discourse
- Explores the potential, risks, paradoxes, and requirements of engagement
- Reflects the views of a team of scholars from across the globe
- Features contributions from organization-centered fields such as organizational communication, public relations, marketing, management, and organization theory
The Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric and Communication will be an ideal resource for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars studying organizational communications, public relations, management, and rhetoric.
List of Figures |
|
ix | |
List of Boxes and Tables |
|
xi | |
Notes on Contributors |
|
xiii | |
Preface |
|
xxi | |
Part I Introduction |
|
|
1 Introduction: Organizational Rhetoric |
|
|
3 | (12) |
|
|
Part II Field Overviews: Foundations and Macro-Contexts |
|
15 | (96) |
|
2 Organizational Communication and Organizational Rhetoric I: The Theme of Merger |
|
|
17 | (16) |
|
|
|
3 Organizational Communication and Organizational Rhetoric II: The Theme of Division |
|
|
33 | (18) |
|
|
|
4 Public Relations and Rhetoric: Conflict and Concurrence |
|
|
51 | (16) |
|
|
|
5 Marketing Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Marketing: Manipulation or Mutuality? |
|
|
67 | (14) |
|
|
|
6 Rhetorical Analysis in Management and Organizational Research, 2007-2017 |
|
|
81 | (14) |
|
|
|
7 A Theory of Organization as a Context For, and as Constituted by, Rhetoric |
|
|
95 | (16) |
|
|
Part III Concepts: Foundations Without Which Rhetoric Could Not Occur |
|
111 | (158) |
|
8 Identification: Connection and Division in Organizational Rhetoric and Communication |
|
|
113 | (14) |
|
|
|
|
|
127 | (16) |
|
|
10 The Truth About Ideographs: Progress Toward Understanding and Critique |
|
|
143 | (12) |
|
|
11 Myths that Work: Toward a Mythology of Organizations and Organizing |
|
|
155 | (14) |
|
|
12 Stasis Theory: An Approach to Clarifying Issues and Developing Responses |
|
|
169 | (16) |
|
|
13 Corporate Apologia: Organizational Rhetoric and Wrongdoing |
|
|
185 | (16) |
|
|
14 Ethos and its Constitutive Role in Organizational Rhetoric |
|
|
201 | (14) |
|
|
|
15 The New Civic Persona: Organizational/Institutional Citizenship Reimagined |
|
|
215 | (14) |
|
|
|
|
|
16 Rhetorical Figures: The Case of Advertising |
|
|
229 | (16) |
|
|
17 Spades, Shovels, and Backhoes: Unearthing Metaphors in Organizational Rhetoric |
|
|
245 | (12) |
|
|
18 Synecdoche: Another Ubiquitous and Everyday Trope |
|
|
257 | (12) |
|
Part IV Processes: Challenges and Strategies |
|
269 | (114) |
|
19 Rhetorical Legitimacy Contests: EpiPen and the Pharmaceutical Industry's Rope-A-Dope |
|
|
271 | (16) |
|
|
20 Rhetorical Agency: What Enables and Restrains the Power of Speech? |
|
|
287 | (14) |
|
|
21 Organizational Rhetoric in Deeply Pluralistic Societies: The Agonistic Alternative |
|
|
301 | (14) |
|
|
22 Understanding the Rhetoric of Dialogue and the Dialogue of Rhetoric |
|
|
315 | (14) |
|
|
|
23 Persuasion in Organizational Rhetoric: Distinguishing between Instrumental and Deliberative Approaches |
|
|
329 | (16) |
|
|
|
|
24 Strategic Message Design Defined: A Call for Focused Organizational Rhetoric and Communication |
|
|
345 | (14) |
|
|
|
25 Visual and Multimodal Rhetoric and Argumentation in Organizations and Organizational Theory |
|
|
359 | (14) |
|
|
26 Conceptualizing Audience in the Communication Process |
|
|
373 | (10) |
|
Part V Areas: Contextual Applications and Challenges |
|
383 | (70) |
|
27 Strategic Issues Management: Organizations Operating in Rhetorical Arenas |
|
|
385 | (16) |
|
|
28 Corporate Social Responsibility and Rhetoric: Conceptualization, Construction, and Negotiation |
|
|
401 | (16) |
|
|
|
29 Organizational Rhetoric-Dialogue and Engagement: Explicating the Infrastructural Approach to Risk Communication |
|
|
417 | (12) |
|
|
|
30 Rhetoric as the Progenitor: The Creation and Expansion of Crisis Communication |
|
|
429 | (10) |
|
|
31 Organizing for Advocacy: Activist Organizational Rhetoric |
|
|
439 | (14) |
|
|
Part VI Conclusions: From Origins, to Now, and Beyond |
|
453 | (46) |
|
32 Aristotle, Burke, and Beyond: Impetus for Organizational Rhetoric's Revival |
|
|
455 | (16) |
|
|
|
33 New Vistas in Organizational Rhetoric |
|
|
471 | (14) |
|
|
34 Conclusions and Take Away Points |
|
|
485 | (14) |
|
|
Name Index |
|
499 | (4) |
Subject Index |
|
503 | |
Øyvind Ihlen, Dr.art., is Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo. Ihlen has edited, written, and co-written 12 books, including The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility (Wiley Blackwell, 2011).
Robert L. Heath, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the School of Communication, University of Houston, USA, and has written and edited more than 20 books, handbooks, encyclopedias, research reports, and encyclopedia entries, plus more than 250 scholarly articles and chapters on public relations, issues management, rhetoric, corporate social responsibility, strategic stakeholder engagement, strategic communication, social movement activism, risk and crisis.