Organizational rhetoric and the practice of criticism

Abstract

Contemporary life is so unavoidably affected by the organizations to which we belong that it has become necessary to rethink our traditional understanding of both individual and collective rhetoric. This essay lays the groundwork for considering organizational rhetoric as an area of theoretical and practical investigation within communication studies. The authors (1) explain the nature of organizational rhetoric; (2) examine ways in which organizational rhetoric may be analyzed; and (3) locate the study of organizational rhetoric vis‐a‐vis organizational communication and rhetorical studies. The authors urge both critic and practitioner to apprehend the many and varied ways in which contemporary persuasion is organizationally shaped and constrained.