Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information Leadership, Fifth Edition

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Management Communication Quarterly
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0893318908318514v1
22/1/74    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Symon, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Developing the Political Perspective on Technological Change Through Rhetorical Analysis

Gillian Symon

University of London, g.symon{at}bbk.ac.uk

Rhetorical analysis provides a means through which a political perspective on technological change can be developed at a micro-discursive level. Through the analysis of managers' arguments and counterarguments, this article identifies three rhetorical strategies that negotiate the relationship between the technical and the social: attributing the effects of technology; claiming convergent and divergent interests; and constructing identities for self, groups, and the technology. It argues that a rhetorical approach maintains space for agency on the behalf of employees (through the witcraft of argument) and analytical skepticism concerning the reality of technology properties and effects (through counterargument). In addition, it proposes the concept of the argumentative context as a means of bridging the gap between individual and organizational rhetoric.

Key Words: politics • argument • rhetoric • technology • organization

This version was published on August 1, 2008

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1, 74-98 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318908318514
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Management Communication QuarterlyHome page
J. A. A. Sillince and R. Suddaby
Organizational Rhetoric: Bridging Management and Communication Scholarship
Management Communication Quarterly, August 1, 2008; 22(1): 5 - 12.
[PDF]

Home page
 Management Communication QuarterlyHome page
C. Conrad and R. Malphurs
Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet?
Management Communication Quarterly, August 1, 2008; 22(1): 123 - 146.
[Abstract] [PDF]