Techniques and Forces and the Communicative Constitution of Organization: A Deleuzian Approach to Organizational (In)Stability and Power

Authors

Jennifer J. Mease (also PeeksMease), James Madison UniversityFollow

ORCID IDs

Jennifer J. Mease https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6509-2458

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2021

Citation

Published in Management Communication Quarterly 35:2 (2021), pp. 226–255.

DOI: 10.1177/0893318920969969

Comments

Copyright © 2021 Jennifer J. Mease. Published by SAGE Publications. Used by permission.

Abstract

This article introduces five principles of Deleuzian ontology and the conceptual framework of techniques and forces into emerging CCO scholarship addressing (dis)organization and power. By introducing Deleuzian concepts of (1) the virtual, (2) mutual (in)stability of meaning and materiality, (3) forces (and techniques), (4) communication, and (5) power, this essay builds a relational ontology that centers communication, speaks across existing theories of CCO, and offers a more detailed emphasis on power. In doing so, it enhances the explanatory power of CCO in general, as a set of theories useful for describing how organizational constitution and power play out in an increasingly (dis)organized world where the prevalence of bounded stable organizations can no longer be taken for granted.