You are here

Strategic Ambiguities
Share

Strategic Ambiguities
Essays on Communication, Organization, and Identity



December 2006 | 328 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
'Eisenberg's book is refreshing, in addition to its theoretical merits, for the presence of a distinctive human voice, unafraid to express passion, anger and hope. Readers will benefit enormously from the substance of his book, but also from its form.'ùHUMAN RELATIONSôThis collection of essays is insightful, thought-provoking, and forward-looking. Eric Eisenberg takes on challenging positions, writes in a cogent and accessible manner, and always stimulates new scholarship. This work will be an important teaching tool, not just for the innovative content of the writing, but also for the historical narrative of organizational communication embedded in it.öùSteve May, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillIn Strategic Ambiguities: Essays on Communication, Organization, and Identity, Eric M. Eisenberg, an internationally recognized leader in the theory and practice of organizational communication, collects and reflects upon more than two decades of his writing. Strategic Ambiguities is a provocative journey through the development of a new aesthetics of communication that rejects fundamentalisms and embraces a contingent, life-affirming worldview. Strategic Ambiguities: Explores the role of language and communication in the construction of social structures and personal identities. Provides a useful intellectual and historical context for students through framing chapters and head notes developed especially for this volume.Chronicles the historical development of an important argument about communicating and organizing through the sustained focus on a single theorist.Intended Audience:This text is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Organizational Communication, Communication Theory, and Organizational Behavior in the fields of Communication, Business &BAD:amp; Management, and Educational Leadership.
 
Introduction: Laying Down a Path in Walking
 
PART I. EMBRACING AMBIGUITY
 
1. Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication
 
2. Meaning and Interpretation in Organizations
 
3. Conflict at Disneyland: A Root-Metaphor Analysis
Eric M. Eisenberg and Marsha G. Witten
4. Reconsidering Openness in Organizational Communication
 
PART II. TRANSCENDENCE AND TRANSFORMATION
 
5. Jamming: Transcendence Through Organizing
Eric M. Eisenberg and Steven R. Phillips
6. Miscommunication in Organizations
 
7. Dialogue as Democratic Discourse
 
8. A Communication Perspective on Interorganizational Cooperation and Inner-City Education
 
9. From Anxiety to Possibility: Poems 1987-1997
 
10. Openness and Decision Making in the Search for a University Provost
Eric M. Eisenberg, Linda Andrews, Alexandra Murphy, and Linda Laine-Timmerman
11.Transforming Organizations Through Communication
12. Flirting With Meaning
 
PART III. A NEW COMMUNICATION AESTHETIC
 
13. The Kindness of Strangers: Hospitality in Organizational Communication Scholarship
 
14. Building a Mystery: Communication and the Development of Identity
 
15. Creating Clearings for Communication
 
16. Karl Weick and the Aesthetics of Contingency
 
Conclusion

Eric M. Eisenberg

Eric M. Eisenberg (Ph.D. & M.A., Michigan State University; B.A., Rutgers University) is co-author of the best-selling introductory organizational communication textbook (Eisenberg/Goodall, Organizational Communication:  Balancing Creativity and Restraint, 4/e, Bedford/St. Martin’s ©2005) and is consid­ered one of the top organizational communication scholars and researchers in the field.  A recipient of numerous grants and academic and teaching awards, Eisenberg also serves as associate editor to the fol­lowing journals:  Communication Monographs; Communication Research; Management Communication Quarterly;... More About Author

For instructors

Purchasing options

Please select a format:

ISBN: 9781412926881
$75.00
ISBN: 9781412926874
$125.00

SAGE Knowledge is the ultimate social sciences digital library for students, researchers, and faculty. Hosting more than 4,400 titles, it includes an expansive range of SAGE eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more.

The platform allows researchers to cross-search and seamlessly access a wide breadth of must-have SAGE book and reference content from one source.