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The Accomplishment of Authority Through Presentification

How Authority Is Distributed Among and Negotiated by Organizational Members

Université de Montréal

François Cooren

Université de Montréal

The complex distribution and negotiation of authority in real time is a key issue for today's organizations. The authors investigate how the negotiations that sustain authority at work actually unfold by analyzing the ways of talking and acting through which organizational members establish their authority. They argue that authority is achieved through presentification—that is, by making sources of authority present in interaction. On the basis of an empirical analysis of a naturally occurring interaction between a medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières and technicians of a hospital supported by her organization, the authors identify key communicative practices involved in achieving authority and discuss their implications for scholars' understanding of what being in authority at work means.

Key Words: authority • organizing • presentification • interaction

This version was published on August 1, 2009

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1, 5-31 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318909335414


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