Dennis K. Mumby

Theorizing Resistance in Organization Studies A Dialectical Approach

This article provides an overview and critique of the extant research on work-place resistance. It argues that much of this research has developed around an implicit duality of resistance and control. In other words, critical studies have highlighted either the growing ubiquity and subtlety of managerial control or have privileged workers’ abilities to carve out spheres of autonomy within these control mechanisms. It suggests that, in contrast to this implicit dualism of control and resistance, a dialectical approach better captures the notion of resistance and control as mutually constitutive, and as a routine social production of daily organizational life.

The political function of narrative in organizations

This article extends recent developments in critical‐interpretive approaches to organizations by examining the relationship between power, ideology, and organizational narrative. It is argued that the production of organizational reality can be explained in terms of its structuration through ideological meaning formations; such meaning formations simultaneously produce and are created by the structure of power interests in organizations. Organizational narrative is examined as one of the principal symbolic forms through which organizational ideology and power structures are both expressed and constituted.

The problem of hegemony: Rereading Gramsci for organizational communication studies

The purpose of this essay is to reread the concept of hegemony “against the grain” of interpretations currently dominant in communication studies generally, and in critical organizational communication studies specifically. I argue that the received reading of hegemony as domination through consent has lead to a bifurcation of critical studies into two models of power: a) a dominance model, in which relations of power and resistance are conceptually resolved in favor of the reaffirmation of the status quo; and b) a resistance model, where resistance to structures of domination is valorized in a largely uncritical manner. I attempt to resolve this dichotomy by suggesting that the concept of hegemony be reread within Gramscis larger philosophy of praxis. Such a move, I claim, enables critical scholars to reclaim the dialectical underpinnings of the Gramscian framework, and to recognize the mutually implicative relations amongst communication, power, and resistance.

Power and Discourse in Organization Studies: Absence and the Dialectic of Control

This paper argues for a postmodern conception of power in which discourse is conceived as the principal medium through which power relations are maintained and reproduced. Specifically, power is identified as a pervasive characteristic of organizational life which constitutes the identity of organization members. Discourse, as a structured social practice, creates meaning formations rooted in a system of presence and absence which systematically privileges and marginalizes different organizational experiences. By way of exemplification, three organizational texts are subject to a deconstructive analysis in order to explicate the processes through which meaning structures are produced and reproduced organizationally.

Narrative and social control : critical perspectives

What is the relationship between narrative, society and the forms of control that function in society? This critical analysis examines the role of narrative in the creation of various social realities. The central theme is that narrative is a pervasive form of human communication integral to the production and shaping of social order. Each chapter provides both a theoretical framework and an examination of narratives in a range of communication contexts - interpersonal, small group, organizational and mass media - illustrating the far-reaching impact of narrative on our lives and social organizations.

Disciplining Organizational Communication Studies

The authors argue that, although ostensibly organizational communication as a field of study appears fragmented, one can make the case for its status as a discipline. This status is rooted in four central problematics that implicitly frame a sense of community and identity among organizational communication scholars. These are: (a) the problematic of voice, (b) the problematic of rationality, (c) the problematic of organization, and (d) the problematic of the organization-society relationship. Together, these problematics articulate a conception of organizational communication that defines it as both object of study and discipline in a way that is radically different from other fields that study organizational phenomena.

Power, Discourse, and the Workplace: Reclaiming the Critical Tradition

In the past ten yean the critical tradition has made significant contributions to communication studies in organizations, challenging the hegemony of mainstream, functionalist approaches. As a result, issues of power and control have become legitimate areas of study for organizational researchers. This chapter assesses that critical turn and argues that, while such a move was long overdue, its effect hat been diffused because of a lack of clarity in conceptualizing the relationships among power, discourse, and the workplace. As such, after delineating the seminal contributions of Mara, Braverman, and Burawoy to the question of workplace control, we suggest how this issue can be more powerfully conceptualized in modem, dispersed-ownership, managerially oriented organizations. By focusing on the relationship between power and discourse, we show how particular systems of interest representation emerge in the modem organization. Our aim is to demonstrate that the configuration of power in organizations is jus...

Feminism, Postmodernism, and Organizational Communication Studies A Critical Reading

Recent developments in critical organization studies suggest that feminist theory and research provides an additional, and currently underexplored, domain of inquiry. Although critical studies have done much to focus attention on the relationships among communication, hegemony, and organization, little attempt has been made to explore organizations as gendered sites of communication, control, and resistance. This article takes up this issue through an exploration of the intersection of feminism and postmodernism and its potential value for organizational communication studies. The concept of gendered rationality is suggested as a useful way of framing this intersection.

Ideology & the social construction of meaning: A communication perspective

This paper examines the role of ideology in the social construction of meaning. It is argued that while interpretive philosophical frameworks have attributed a constitutive function to the role of communication in meaning construction, little attention has been paid to the ways in which social relations of power mediate in this process of meaning creation. Ideology, however, is a useful heuristic concept which provides a way of contextualizing the communication process within such power relations. It is argued that communication involves not only the process of creating meaning, but is also intrinsic to the means by which relations of domination are produced and reproduced. The notion of ideology is presented as the conceptual link between communication and power.

New approaches to organizational communication

The article reviews the book “New Approaches to Organizational Communication,” edited by Brasnilav Kovacic.