Meeting Minutes as Symbolic Action

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 1998

ROBERT W. McEACHERN

Abstract

Postmodern assumptions employed by some organizational theorists recognize that “administrators' greater power lies not in their ability to control resources but in their ability to manipulate symbols—the ceremonies, rituals, images, and language of the organization” (Graham and David 9). Thus, even a genre that is often considered neutral and objective, such as meeting minutes, can become a tool of managerial control. This article presents data from an ethnographic case study that describes how an administrator in a theater organization manipulated language by using the minutes from a board of directors meeting to influence board members to vote to disband the organization.

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 1998-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651998012002002
Open Access: Closed
Topics: qualitative research multimodality

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Cites in this index (3)

Baker et al. (1994)

The rhetoric of power: Political issues in management writing

Technical Communication Quarterly
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Written Communication

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10.1080/00335638409383686

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10.2307/2393771

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