ERIC Number: ED197418
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1980-Aug
Pages: 24
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Rhetoric, Metaphor, and Organizational Reality.
Koch, Susan; Deetz, Stanley
Noting that a shared social reality that is constituted, sustained, and modified in symbolic interaction is central to life in an organization, this paper contends that contemporary developments in rhetorical theory make possible careful descriptions of how discourse functions in maintaining and changing that social reality. The paper demonstrates the interpreted nature of experience and the interpreting function of talk in organizations. From this foundation, it reviews how other rhetorical critics have analyzed the "epistemic" function of rhetorical action. In conclusion, it introduces a system of analysis based on metaphor use that has been found to be appropriate for organizations and useful in providing a better understanding of organizational reality and discourse. (Author/FL)
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Colloquium on Verbal Communication (7th, Lincoln, NE, August, 1980).