The Communicational Basis of the Organizational Text as Macroactor: A Case Study of Multilevel Marketing Discourse

Abstract

This article offers an analytic methodology consistent with an equivalency approach to the discourse-organizing relationship theorized by James Taylor and colleagues. Four aspects were highlighted to capture the flavor of the conversational-text relationship and how macroactors are constituted: 1) the communicative features that make discourse recognizable as a distinct kind of text or conversational interaction; 2) the issue of authorship and its authorizing function; 3) the presuppositions that are necessary for the text to ‘‘make sense’’ to its audiences; and 4) how the text is constructed to orient to these presuppositions in order to accomplish a range of social actions. An analysis of an organizational text is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.

Keywords:

• Discourse analysis
• Organizational communication
• Discourse-organizing equivalency approach
• Actor-network theory
• Multilevel marketing discourse

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

This paper was based on the author's dissertation research at the University of Iowa and Loughborough University. A version of this manuscript was presented at the Organizational Communication Division's Pre-Conference at the National Communication Association annual convention in New Orleans, LA (2002).

1. Independent Business Owner, IBO, is the new name for a person affiliated with Quixtar, while the older name for those associated with Amway was “distributor.” The label IBO suggests greater independence, entrepreneurialism, and less emphasis on selling or distributing (see Carl, 2001).