Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Sep 2021

Negotiating Ethos: An Army Corps of Engineers Resource Manager Persuades a Community to Protect a Recreational Lake Area

Kristin Pickering Tennessee Technological University

Abstract

This article presents an observational case study of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Resource Manager working with community members through a contested project. Using the Aristotelian concepts of ethos, credibility, and character development, I examine ethos appeals the Resource Manager used to align Corps’s sustainability values with the community’s values. Transcribed interviews with community members reveal this alignment evolved through a coconstructed ethos negotiation process between the Resource Manager and the community. The article concludes with rhetorical and pedagogical insights gained from the case study that apply to conflict resolution in organizational communication.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2021-09-01
DOI
10.1177/23294906211012401
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy argument professional writing qualitative research
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Spinuzzi et al. (2025)
    “The City Residents Do Not Get Involved”: Understanding Barriers to Community P…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

References (66) · 11 in this index

  1. Allen M. W., Walker K. L., Brady R. (2012). Sustainability discourse within a supply chain relationship: Mapp…
     ↗
  2. Alvesson M., Hardy C., Harley B. (2008). Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive textual practices in organizati…
     ↗
  3. Aristotle. (1990). From Rhetoric (Roberts W. R., Trans. Solmsen F., Ed.). In Bizzell P., Herzberg B. (Eds.), …
  4. Aristotle. (2007). On rhetoric: A theory of civic discourse (Kennedy G. A., Trans. 2nd ed.). Oxford Universit…
  5. Aristotle. (2012). Nicomachean ethics (Bartlett R. C., Collins S. D., Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (…
Show all 66 →
  1. Aristotle. (2019). Art of rhetoric (Bartlett R. C., Trans). University of Chicago Press. (Original work publi…
  2. Bakhtin M. M. (1983)
    The dialogic imagination: Four essays
  3. 10.5749/j.ctt22727z1
     ↗
  4. Baumlin J. S., Meyer C.A. (2018). Positioning ethos in/for the twenty-first century: An introduction to Histo…
     ↗
  5. Bitzer L. F. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1(1), 1-14. http://www.arts.uwaterloo…
  6. Bondi M., Yu D. (2019). Textual voices in corporate reporting: A cross-cultural analysis of Chinese, Italian,…
     ↗
  7. Bourdieu P. (1986)
    Handbook of theory and research in the sociology of education
  8. 10.1515/9781503621749
     ↗
  9. Boussebaa M., Brown A. D. (2017). Englishization, identity regulation and imperialism. Organization Studies, …
     ↗
  10. Bowers T. (2010). Constructing the organization: Engaging students in the public role of contemporary corpora…
     ↗
  11. Boyd J., Waymer D. (2011). Organizational rhetoric: A subject of interest(s). Management Communication Quarte…
     ↗
  12. Braet (1992)
    Ethos, pathos and logos in Aristotle's Rhetoric: A re-examination
    Argumentation
  13. Burke K. (1968)
    Language as symbolic action
  14. 10.1525/9780520353237
     ↗
  15. Campbell K. K. (2015)
    The rhetorical act: Thinking, speaking, and writing critically
  16. Castelló I., Morsing M., Schultz F. (2013). Communicative dynamics and the polyphony of corporate social resp…
     ↗
  17. Cheney G. (1991)
    Rhetoric in an organizational society: Managing multiple identities
  18. Cheng (2012)
    Colin Powell's Speech to the UN: A Discourse Analytic Study of ReconstitutedEthos
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  19. 10.4324/9780203890400.ch27
     ↗
  20. Corbin J. (2014)
    Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory
  21. Cyphert D. (2010). The rhetorical analysis of business speech: Unresolved questions. Journal of Business Comm…
     ↗
  22. Cyphert et al. (2019)
    Communication Activities in the 21st Century Business Environment
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  23. DeKay S. (2011). When doing what’s right becomes messy. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 412-414. htt…
     ↗
  24. Foucault M. (1980)
    Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977
  25. Foucault M. (1983)
    Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics
  26. Foucault M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (Sheridan A., Trans. 2nd ed.). Random Hous…
  27. Glaser B. G. (1967)
    The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research
  28. Griffin F. (2009). Merck’s open letters and the teaching of ethos. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 6…
     ↗
  29. Halloran (1982)
    Aristotle's concept of ethos, or if not his somebody else's
    Rhetoric Review
  30. Hargrave T. J., Van de Ven A. H. (2017). Integrating dialectical and paradox perspectives on managing contrad…
     ↗
  31. Henderson A., Cheney G., Weaver C. K. (2015). The role of employee identification and organizational identity…
     ↗
  32. Heracleous L., Barrett M. (2001). Organizational change as discourse: Communicative actions and deep structur…
     ↗
  33. Heracleous L., Klaering L. A. (2014). Charismatic leadership and rhetorical competence: An analysis of Steve …
     ↗
  34. 10.2190/CPIC7
     ↗
  35. Higgins C., Walker R. (2012). Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports.…
     ↗
  36. 10.1017/9781009406512
     ↗
  37. Isaksson M., Jørgensen P. E. F. (2010). Communicating corporate ethos on the web: The self-presentation of PR…
     ↗
  38. Jaworska S. (2018). Change but no climate change: Discourses of climate change in corporate social responsibi…
     ↗
  39. Killingsworth M. J. (1992)
    Ecospeak: Rhetoric and environmental politics in America
  40. Kinsella (2005)
    Rhetoric, Action, and Agency in Institutionalized Science and Technology
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  41. Kvale S. (1996)
    Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing
  42. Lehtimäki H., Kujala J., Heikkinen A. (2011). Corporate responsibility in communication: Empirical analysis o…
     ↗
  43. Mackiewicz (2010)
    The Co-construction of Credibility in Online Product Reviews
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  44. MacNealy (1999)
    Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  45. Mara (2008)
    Ethos as Market Maker: The Creative Role of Technical Marketing Communication i…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  46. Mason R. O. (1996). Commentary on varieties of dialectic change processes. Journal of Management Inquiry, 5(3…
     ↗
  47. McCormack K. C. (2014). Ethos, pathos, and logos: The benefits of Aristotelian rhetoric in the courtroom. Was…
  48. Meisenbach R. J., Feldner S. B. (2011). Adopting an attitude of wisdom in organizational rhetorical theory an…
     ↗
  49. Pasztor S. K. (2019). Exploring the framing of diversity rhetoric in “top-rated in diversity” organizations. …
     ↗
  50. Patterson et al. (1997)
    The Environmental Rhetoric of "Balance": A Case Study of Regulatory Discourse a…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  51. Pickering (2018)
    Learning the Emotion Rules of Communicating Within a Law Office: An Intern Cons…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  52. Saldaña J. (2016)
    The coding manual for qualitative researchers
  53. 10.2190/CPIC9
     ↗
  54. Shim K., Kim J.N. (2017). The impacts of ethical philosophy on corporate hypocrisy perception and communicati…
     ↗
  55. Strauss A. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org…
     ↗
  56. van Dijk T. A. (1995). Discourse semantics and ideology. Discourse & Society, 6(2), 243-289. https://doi.org/…
     ↗
  57. Verboven H. (2011). Communicating CSR and business identity in the chemical industry through mission slogans.…
     ↗
  58. Walton (2013)
    How Trust and Credibility Affect Technology-Based Development Projects
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  59. Weaver R. M. (1970)
    Language is sermonic: Richard M. Weaver on the nature of rhetoric
  60. Weick K. E. (1995)
    Sensemaking in organizations
  61. Weresh M. H. (2012). Morality, trust, and illusion: Ethos as relationship. Legal Communication and Rhetoric: …
CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2018
    Transliteracies in Intercultural Professional Communication ↗
    Josephine Walwema
    rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy teacher development argument professional writing qualitative research literacy studies
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 2014
    The Rhetoric of Reach: Preparing Students for Technical Communication in the Age of Social Media ↗
    Elise Verzosa Hurley; Amy C. Kimme Hea
    rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy teacher development argument writing program administration technical communication professional writing qualitative research multimodality social media editorial matter
  3. College Composition and Communication May 1994
    Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives ↗
    Rachel Spilka
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis writing pedagogy argument collaborative writing professional writing qualitative research
  4. Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2025
    Gratitude, Care, and Resilience: An Introductory Editorial ↗
    Timothy R. Amidon
    rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy argument professional writing
  5. The Peer Review Sep 2025
    The Impact of Working at a Writing Center in Brazil: Perspectives of Student Tutors ↗
    Ana Raquel Fialho Ferreira Campos; João Tiago Gaspar Cozechen; Elaine Pereira Lustosa; Marcos Angel De Carvalho Eing; Leonardo Schimiloski
    first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education argument writing centers professional writing qualitative research artificial intelligence multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing