Galvin
Sunday, November 09, 2003
West an Turner Chapter 19
Dramatism
Dramatism sees life as theater.
This theory is based on the research of Kenneth Burke.
Drama is a useful metaphor for Burke’s ideas for three reasons:
1) Drama indicates a grand sweep, and Burke’s goal is to theorize about the whole range of human experience.
2) Drama follows recognizable genres like comedy, musical, melodrama; Burke feel that the way we structure and use language may be related to the way these human dramas are played out.
3) Drama is always addressed to an audience
Assumptions of Dramatism
- Humans are animals who use symbols – some of what we do is motivated by our animal nature, some by symbols.
- Language and symbols form a critically important system for humans – similar to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that posits that it is difficult to think about concepts or objects without words for them. Burke also thinks that words act as, “trained incapacities”, or “terministic screens”; people can not see beyond what their words lead them to believe. Burke says, “Anything we can see or feel is already in language, given to us by language, and even produced as us by language
- Humans are choice makers – though language seems deterministic, Burke rejects determinism, considers Human Choice a cornerstone of dramatism.
Dramatism as New Rhetoric
Burke supplemented Aristotle’s concept of rhetoric as persusion with th idea of identification.
Identification and Substance
Substance – The nature of a thing.
Identification – overlap of nature of people
Division – lack of overlap of peoples’ nature
Consubstatiation – when appeals are made to increase overlap/identification between people.
The Process of Guilt and Redemption
For Burke the process of guilt and redemption undergirds the entire concept of symbolizing.
Guilt – tension, embarrassment, shame, disgust, or other unpleasant feelings, is the central motive for all symbolic activities. Burke thinks that guilt is intrinsic to the human condition, and because we constantly feel guilt, we are constantly engaging in attempts to purge it.
Burke’s Cycle: Order or hierarchy, the negative, victimage (scapegoat or mortification) and redemption.
Order or Heirarchy – Society exists in the form of an order, or hierarchy, that is created through our ability to use language. Language enables the creation of categories like richer, more powerful, haves and have-nots. We often feel guilt as a result of our place in the hierarchy.
The Negative – Exhibiting resistance to one’s place in the social order. When Burke coined the term, “rotten with perfection,” he meant that since symbols allow us to imagine perfection, we feel guilty about the difference between perfection and reality.
Victimage- the way in which we attempt to purge the guilt inherent in being human. Two ways to purge:
1) Mortification – blaming ourselves
2) Scapegoating – blaming others
Redemption – Rejection of the unclean and return to a new order after guilt has been temporarily purged.
The Redeemer – Jesus in Judeo-Christian tradition, or anyone offering salvation from guilt.
The Pentad
In 1945, Burke created the five-point Pentad to apply his theory toward an understanding of symbolic activities. It has five points:
1) The Act – What is done by a person
2) The Scene – The context surrounding the Act
3) The Agent – The person or Persons performing the Act – Attitude – the manner in which the actor positions him or herself relative to others.(e.g. Martha Stewart’s attitude of Superiority)
4) Agency – The means used by the Agent to accomplish the Act. Agency might include message strategies, storytelling, apologies, speech making, et al.
5) Purpose – The goal the Agent had in mind for the Act – Why the Act was done
When using the pentad to analyze a symbolic interaction, and labeling the points, the analyst then determines the dramatistic ratios, or the proportions of one ratio relative to another. An Agent:Act ratio is at issue when we analyze why a good person does a bad thing.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Galvin – 11/7
Project:
Face is part of Dramatism – project could be divided, e.g. back/frontspace, but shouldn’t be 80% description, 20% analysis, but the order of description and analysis is up to us. CMM may help, but Face and Dramatism are the two primary.
Organizational Culture
Cultural anthropologist at Ninex corp, studied corp during introduction of new technology. Some units took 3 days, some took 17. What would the anthropologist have reported? Within the units that took shorter time, people helped each other; in the units that took longer, people worked alone, didn’t ask for help and didn’t help each other.
Organizational Culture approach is like an anthropologists view; observe without preconceived notions. We almost have to image that we’ve arrived from Mars, to look at a situation with the eyes of a complete stranger.
Definition
Culture: A pattern of basice assumptions, invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, is to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to these problems. (Schein, 1990)
Culture – informal
- Personality
- Way we do things around here
Components
- Structure – norms, network
- Forms - practices
Functions
- Identity, Socialization, Connections, Instruction
Issues: (The heart of the final analysis we’ll do)
1) Consistency – does the culture shift, or is it stable/predictable?
2) Official/Formal vs. Enacted – Congruence of stated, formal culture (vision statements, handbook) with the way things are done around here, lived culture. (Are there town hall meetings, tuition reimbursement, training, et al?)
3) Subcultures – structural (functional), gender, race/ethnicity.
Approaches – three options for the project
1) Thematic/Core Value Analysis – look at subunit of organization and see the extent to which congruence exists
2) Root Metaphor Analysis – e.g., “life in this organization is like a basketball team.” The overarching metaphor for life in the organiztion.
3) Primary/Secondary Functions – Mainly used to analyze family culture, but if business unit claims to be a family, this approach will work.
We can go outside of the workplace to do this assignment.
Performative Indicators – behaviors in the workplace that signify culture – evidence for conclusions reached about the culture.
Rituals – patterned, repetition, normative/informal behaviors, not paid much attention.
Rite of Passage – Usually involves test or hardship, finishing transformed. E.g. bar/bat mitzfah, “Up or Out” progression of Professorship, Partnership in law and consulting, accounting firms, Hell weeks.
Rites of Enhancement – Ways in which we honor people. Sometimes do not carry the intended meaning. (Employee of the Month) Formal – Awards, gold watch retirement party, tenure awards Informal – Inside the group awards.
Rites of Degradation – Ways in which people are degraded – loss of status (smaller office, loss of parking spot), demotion, police/security escort if you are fired.
Rites of Conflict Reduction – Consultants are called in, third party within the organization is used, formal appeal systems
Rites of Revival/Renewal – Providing opportunities, training or education, sabbatical programs, retreats, management ride along with front line workers, company outings, days off.
Ceremonial – A system of rites connected with a single occasion or event – graduations.
- Narratives
- Symbols
- Artifacts
- Settings
- Language
Socialize, Stabilize, Reduce Anxiety, Reach External Audience
Narrative Paradigm
Narrative is a verbal/nonverbal account with a sequence of event to which listeners assign meaning.
What stories might you tell a newcomer to instruct them how things are done at work?
Discussion.
Think of the answers to the 7 (Handout) questions for next week:
1. What do I do if my boss breaks the rules?
2. Is the big boss human?
3. Can the little person rise to the top?
4. Why would I be fired?
5. How will the boss react to my mistakes?
6. How will the organization react to obstacles?
7. How stable is the organization?
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Goffman stuff from Steve Freeman
Click Here for Goffman's Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
ERVING GOFFMAN
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
A summary of key concepts and ideas
Goffman draws the parallel between an individual's everyday activities and a performance presented to an audience. Goffman uses the term "performance" to refer to activities of an individual before a set of observers. Thus, everyone everywhere is playing a "role". Eventually, the conception of role becomes second nature and is infused into an individual's personality. Goffman refers to several elements of role-playing, or a performance:
· front
· dramatic realisation
· idealisation
· misrepresentation
· reality and contrivance.
Front
The author defines "front" as the part that "regularly functions…in a fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance." An important part of front is the "setting", which is the scene that provides the background of a performance. For example, a living room may be the setting of some kind of performance.
Similarly, at the individual level, personal fronts provide the backdrop of a performance. Personal fronts may include age, ethnicity, gender, size and looks, posture, facial expressions and more. Notice that some may be relatively fixed while some others are transitory. For instance, ethnicity is fixed while facial expressions change over time.
Dramatic realisation
Goffman also suggests that an individual "infuses his activity with signs which highlight and portray confirmatory facts that might otherwise remain obscure". In other words, an individual performer often tries to make the "invisible" visible in some way. For an individual to dramatise his or her role, he or she must invest a significant amount of energy. Thus, a side effect of dramatic realisation becomes that individuals often find themselves with the dilemma of expression vs. action. Those who have the time and talent to perform a task well may not have the time or talent to make it apparent that they are performing well.
Idealisation
A performance often presents an idealised view of the situation. More specifically, we often try to seem a little better than we are. An individual's performance tends to exemplify social norm. For example, a woman may dress in certain ways in conformity to "official", common, values. However, there's a gap between our "human" self & "socialised" self. We do not merely live our "human" self but act out our "socialised" self, by playing a chosen character, defending and idealising our passions.
Misrepresentation
The audience tends to think of a performance as genuine or false. However, Goffman points out that we can study false performances to learn about honest performances.
Reality & Contrivance
Two common-sense models are honest and false performances. Goffman points out that performers may be sincerely convinced of their sincerity, but the performances may still be deliberate, "managed". Thus, honest, sincere performances may not be connected to "reality" as we might assume.
Goffman uses the example of the doctor who is forced to give a placebo to a patient, fully aware of its impotence, as a result of the desire of the patient for more extensive treatment (18). In this way, the individual develops identity or persona as a function of interaction with others, through an exchange of information that allows for more specific definitions of identity and behaviour.
Goffman explores nature of group dynamics through a discussion of "teams" and the relationship between performance and audience. He uses the concept of the team to illustrate the work of a group of individuals who "co-operate" in performance, attempting to achieve goals sanctioned by the group (79). Co-operation may manifest itself as unanimity in demeanour and behaviour or in the assumption of differing roles for each individual, determined by the desired intent in performance. Goffman refers to the "shill," a member of the team who "provides a visible model for the audience of the kind of response the performers are seeking," promoting psychological excitement for the realisation of a (generally monetary) goal, as an example of a "discrepant role" in the team (146). In each circumstance, the individual assumes a front that is perceived to enhance the group's performance.
GB November 6, 2003
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Galvin 11/1
Where have we seen Dramatism this week? Discussion.
Team (Cooperation)
We expect from team members:
- Good Conduct
- Familiarity
Loyalty
Avoid open disagreement
Joint decision impression
Covering for mistakes
Maintain audience/team lines
Follow director – if there is one
Environment – (Handout) Kathleen thinks the significance of the environment is often overlooked
Philosophy
Culture Bound – In US, sense of space and distance is more important than in other cultures.
Physical and Psychological Space - Actual vs. invisible lines, markers and boundaries – outsider might not know the invisible lines.
Sociopetal/Sociofugal – “petal” - supports human interaction – bars, dance floors “fugal” – discourages interaction – e.g., church, encourages interaction with “God” or minister only. Harry Osmond – worked with hospital day rooms; at first, people clung to the walls, didn’t interact in cafeteria. Osmond thought that design of these rooms kept people reading books, keeping to themselves. (Tables were arranged to be easier to clean) He designed smaller dining room talbes, smaller rooms
Hard/Soft – Hard – not easily personalized, limits communication because little is revealed about occupants (Rebecca Crown) Soft – Easy to personalize
Low Load/High Load – Low – low stimulation, little color, soft lighting, low volume music of the muzak variety High – Chuck E. Cheese, bombardment of sensory information, Nike Town
Proxemics – Edward Hall says we have physical and psychological space
Fixed Feature – immovable (walls, bolted-down furniture in a classroom) we act as if a wall is there in the psychological sense e.g. invisible line between roommates/siblings areas, streets to gangs, some offices are not to be entered without permission, locker rooms, kids in cafeterias or playgrounds
Semi fixed-feature – (tables in a classroom)
Personal (Informal) – 4 levels of personal space
0-18” – Intimate – touching, whispering
18”- 4’ – Personal – “reasonably personal” conversations, “talk show distance” lunch table or conference table
4’-12’ – Social – group space, open communication, “cocktail party space” potential to move in and out of the space
12’ + - Public – formal setting, not private or lengthy conversations, e.g. Prof and students in a lecture
Territory – Laying claim to a space and defending it. (Goffman’s front and back space) Comes from animal imprinting literature. Culturally based strategies are used to claim and defend. Markers - coat on a chair, “No Girls Allowed” on a tree house, chair in parking space in winter in Chicago. Tenure – time spent in territory means rights to territory. Function – I can operate it, therefore I own it, e.g. I can make/repair things so the garage workshop is mine
Privacy – Legal definition “the claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for themselves to whom, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. “ (Westin) Solitude – being separate from the group, observation. (Bathrooms, conference rooms) There are places where people can be observed, but left alone…treadmill at health club, walk by the lake. Conventions dictate. Intimacy – place where small groups can have privacy. Reserve – Who controls the sharing of private information. Higher status can ask lower why they came in late, but not vice versa.
Design – How space is layed out, et al (Timex Handout)
Time – How is time managed, communicated. Monochronic people – focus on one thing at a time, time has greater value than for… Polychronic people – Juggle tasks simultaneously, time is fluid.
Discussion
1) How is an upper management workplace distinguished from others?
- Office, other signs that this is a manager’s space
- Presence of Windows, nicer furniture, corner location
- Flatter organizations, (M*) all have cubes, but managers’ are in corners
2) Explicit or Implicit rules about personalizing workspace?
- Hanging plants, painting, et al
- Display work done in current job, not others
- As boss does, so can the rest of the office
- Email signatures…advice can go down, not up (lower rank can’t put quotes or advice in their email signatures)
3) How does physical layout dictate who can speak to whom?
- Doors
- Personal Assistants
- Floors or buildings, locations within the office are higher status than others
- Put someone “hard to see” in the back
4) To what extent are members’ time regulated?
- Lower down the ladder, the more you are expected to “punch in”
- Sales environment, achievers can come and go as they pleased, underachievers are given rules
- If the organization is doing well, rules are relaxed
- Service/non-exempt employees may be regimented, timed breaks
5) How has the alternative workplace movement impacted your workplace?
- IM-ing is big in some offices
- Invasiveness is sometimes enabled by technology
6) What is a Puppy, and does my workplace have one?
- A rolling file cabinet, one can roll their computer, files, et al to a meeting, then to a work area
- Checked in/out of a closet or common area – no personal space
Three ways to think about the environment
1) Determinism – Environment determines the communication
2) Possibilism – Environment has little effect
3) Probabilism – Strong effect, predictive value
Coherence (“Fit”)
- Elements Flow
- Congruence with related ones
- Believability of characters
Fidelity
- Truthfulness
- Logic of Good Reasons
- Resonance with listeners’ experience
Political Issues
Narrative – Formal and Enacted
Kathleen read “Breakfast with Al” – an “enacted culture story” – told to a new member by an existing member, not by management, gives warning that you don’t want to have a breakfast with Al.
Danielle read “P&G Whisper story” – a “formal culture story” – conceived and written for consumption by employees, circulated by management
“Account” with a sequence of events to which listeners assign meaning – this is the opposite of the rationality – emotional and meaning centered.
Narrative vs. Rationality (Fisher)
“Compelling stories as the basis of persuasion”
- Humans are storytellers
- People decide what makes sense
- We choose among stories to recreate our lives
For next week, be sure to have read the Mumby article. Listen for stories told in your own organization.
West and Turner – Chapter 29
Communication Accommodation Theory
This theory is based on the research of Howard Giles.
Whether in an interpersonal relationship, in a small group, or across co-cultures, people adjust their communication to others. Accommodation means adjusting, modifying, or regulating behavior in response to others
CAT has its basis in social psychology; the theoretical vehicle that launched CAT is Social Identity Theory. Giles introduced the “accent mobility” model in 1973. Subsequent theory and research remained sensitive to accommodations undertaken in conversations among diverse cultural groups including the elderly, people of color, the visually impaired.
Social Psychology and Social Identity
Social Identity Theory – proposes that a person’s identity is primarily determined by the groups to which he or she belongs. People are “motivated to join the most attractive groups and/or give an advantage to the groups to which one belongs.” (Worchel, Rothgerber, Day, Hart & Butemeyer, 1998)
In-groups – groups in which a person feels he or she belongs
Out-groups – groups in which a person feels he or she doesn’t belong
Giles felt that we accommodate not only to specific others, but also to those we perceive as members of other groups.
Assumptions of Communication Accommodation Theory
- Speech and behavioral similarities and dissimilarities exist in all conversations
- The manner in which we perceive the speech and behaviors of another will determine how we evaluate a conversation – perception – process of attending to and interpreting a message – evaluation – process of judging a conversation
- Language and behaviors impart information about social status and group belonging
- Accommodation varies in its degree of appropriateness, and norms (expectations of behavior in conversation) guide the accommodation process
Ways to Adapt
Convergence – a strategy whereby individuals adapt to another’s behavior
- Indirect stereotyping – imposing outdated and rigid assumptions of a cultural group upon that group
Divergence – a strategy used to accentuate the verbal and nonverbal differences between communicators
Overaccommodating – attempt to overdo efforts in regulating, modifying, or responding to others. – Sensory overaccommodation – overadapting to people perceived as limited in their abilities – Dependency overaccommodation – when speakers place listeners in lower-status role – Intergroup overaccommodation – when speakers place listeners in cultural groups without acknowledging individual uniqueness.
