Management Communication: Communicative Ethics and Action

345 Pages·2008·1.356 MB·English

by  Thomas Klikauer (auth.)

Management
Communication
Communicative Ethics and Action
Thomas Klikauer
Management Communication
Also by Thomas Klikauer
COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT AT WORK
Management Communication
Communicative Ethics and Action
Thomas Klikauer
© Thomas Klikauer 2008
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008978-0-230-51566-6
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First published 2008 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom
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ISBN 978-1-349-35404-7 ISBN 978-0-230-58323-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230583238
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country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klikauer, Thomas, 1962–
Management communication : communicative ethics and action /
Thomas Klikauer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Communication in management. I. Title.
HD30.3.K574 2008
658.4′5–dc22 2008015886
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
This book is dedicated to all those
who askedwhy
and to those who have therefore been called a
Communist.
“When you give food to the hungry, they call you a saint.
But when you ask why the hungry have no food,
they call you a communist”.
By:
Roman Catholic Archbishop Helder Camera
Source: Jim Forest, Love Is The Measure:
Biography of Dorothy Day, Paulist Press, 1986 pg. 204
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Tables and Figures x
1 Introduction: Communication in Management, Work and 1
Society
2 Communication I: Basic Contexts at Work 17
Basic concepts of communication 23
Communication and contextual meaning 28
3 Communication II: Signs and Meanings 34
Myths and mythologies 42
Symbols, metaphors, stories & narratives 50
4 Distorted Communication I: Classifications 55
Managerial classifications as ordering instruments 63
5 Distorted Communication II: Ideologies 74
The managerial creation and use of ideologies 75
6 Distorted Communication III: Hegemonies 91
Neutralisation and naturalisation 96
Routines in managerial communication and the distortion 101
of history
7 Distorted Communication IV: Culture, Rhetoric and Meetings 108
Managerial rhetoric and rituals 112
Form and content of managerial meetings 118
8 Distorted Communication V: Persuasion, Attitudes and 124
Responses
The conditioning of workers’ responses and thinking 138
9 Communicative Action I: The Basics of Ideal Speech 141
Ideal speech and distorted communication 149
10 Communicative Action II: Ethics and Communication 160
The universal pragmatics of ideal speech 173
11 Communicative Action III: The Two Logics of Work Relations 179
Overcoming the conditioning of asymmetrical work relations 189
vii
viii Contents
12 Communicative Action IV: The Two Logics of Communication 198
The two logics of ideal speech and social action 210
13 Communicative Action V: Communicative Ethics at Work 215
The ethics of communicative action in the labour domain 225
14 Practical Conclusions 231
A universal and practical discourse forum 231
Drafting a workable discourse forum 233
Notes 246
Bibliography 307
Index 322
Acknowledgements
As much as my first book on Communication and Management at Work(2007)
has been written to elaborate the historical development of the link between
communication and the world of work and delivered an assessment thereof
from the standpoint of critical theory, this book is dedicated to a somewhat
more focused issue, Management Communication. For their original and
continuous support I would like to thank all those who have assisted in the
conception of this book by providing constructive criticism on Communica-
tion and Management at Work (2007). Special thanks go to those who con-
tributed through their highly valuable critique, their comments, and their
assistance. As much as their evaluation on my 2007 book has been helpful
for this book, there have been a number of people who have turned my
writings and ideas into a comprehensible book.
These have been Khalida Malik providing her editorial assistance on the
first drafts and, above all, my delightful and lovely wife Katja for proof-
reading the book three times despite being pregnant with our child.
Unknowingly, I had married a former magazine and book editor. However,
my foremost gratitude goes to my parents – without their support my transi-
tion from a student of very basic German schooling of the Hauptschuleto an
academic working at a university would never have been possible. I am also
deeply in debt to the German trade union foundation, the Hans-Böckler-
Stiftung who not only financed my eventual arrival at the academic level –
completing studies at five universities over ten years (1986–1996) – but also
supported all this through years of encouragement. The production of this
book received no internal or external support or funding. Finally, I would like
to thank Palgrave’s editorial team, especially Mirabelle Boateng, Virginia Thorp,
and above all Shirley Tan.
ix