The Application of Rhetorical Theory in Managerial Research

Abstract

Recent management research imports rhetorical scholarship into the study of organizations. Although this cross-disciplinarity is heuristically promising, it presents significant challenges. This article interrogates management's use of rhetoric, contrasting it with communication studies. Five themes from management research identify how rhetoric is used as an organizational hermeneutic: The article demonstrates that management research conceptualizes rhetoric as a theory and as an action; as the substance that maintains and/or challenges organizational order; as being constitutive of individual and organizational identity; as a managerial strategy for persuading followers; and as a framework for narrative and rational organizational discourses. The authors argue that organizational researchers who study rhetoric characterize persuasive strategies as managers' most important actions.

Astroturfing Global Warming: It Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence

“…Similarly, rhetorical language can be used to increase uncertainty and decrease trust by making people question the legitimacy of the underlying logics. Hartelius and Browning (2008) also describe how skilled and persuasive rhetors use a type of indirect communication called an enthymeme as an effective method of persuasion. An enthymeme is a syllogism that contains a nonexplicit assumption (Walton 2001) supplied by the audience.…”

“…They argue that rhetorical strategies are used to manipulate institutional meaning systems using vocabularies to dampen or ''amplify contradictions of meaning inherent in institutional logics in efforts to displace or affirm the dominant logic'' (p. 60). Hartelius and Browning (2008) argue that rhetoric is used to sustain or challenge institutional order and the broader discourse supporting this order. Rhetoric supports and shapes the institutional logics in these institutional meaning systems.…”

“…In particular, we seek to determine whether people actually trust astroturf organizations in terms of their existence and their messages regarding this specific issue and more importantly, whether these messages affect or change their beliefs about the causes of global warming (human vs. nature). Accordingly, in this study, we draw upon theory about rhetoric (Green et al 2008;Hartelius and Browning 2008) as it applies to the language of legitimacy (Suddaby and Greenwood 2005) to conduct an experiment to determine whether information provided by astroturf organizations appears to impact the level of certainty and beliefs concerning the causes of global warming. We argue that such an impact is possible if astroturf organizations themselves are effective, which could constitute grounds for ethical and societal concerns.…”

Governing Social Orders, Unfolding Rationality, and Jesuit Accounting Practices

“…This emphasis on the rhetorical power of accounting is proper, especially in the context of studying rationality, for to "be rational is to make persuasive sense" (Green, 2004: 655). Within this frame (see also Zbaraki, 1998;Heracleous and Barrett, 2001;Hartelious and Browning, 2008), attention is given to certain "institutional vocabularies" that prompt change and to the emergence of new organizational forms (Suddaby and Greenwood, 2005; see also Covaleski et al, 1998) and their logic of action (Oakes, Townley, and Cooper, 1998). But beyond an exclusive focus on discourse, texts, and conveying given messages, studies in the field of medieval and early-modern literature (Yates, 1966;Carruthers, 1990Carruthers, , 1998Bolzoni, 1995) have illustrated how rhetoric in practice made substantial use of material and mental imageries, as well as spaces, paper, ink, scent, perfume, and other artifacts, to help intellectuals and orators organize, memorize, and invent new knowledge (Bolzoni, 1995: xvi-xvii) and also to help religious members organize their liturgies and produce beliefs (Carruthers, 1998).…”

Appeals to Ethos and Pathos in Post-Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Press Conferences Handling Tianjin Blasts

“…(Aristotle, 1954: On Rhetoric, translated by Roberts) In Aristotelian rhetorical framework, ethos is the first important persuasive appeals, which refers to the persona or character the speaker wishes to present in his speech. It includes the credibility and trustworthiness of the speaker (Hartelius & Browning, 2008), or the authority of the speaker as conferred by the audience (Green, 2004). As for Aristotle, ethos "may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion" (Aristotle, 1954).…”