ABSTRACT

This book explores the dynamics and challenges that underlie the ability of organizations to speak with one voice. Contributions by experienced and emerging scholars shed light on the nature and regulation of the communication processes whereby the many and diverse voices of a collective can unite, act, and speak as a distinct entity, thus contributing to its organizing.

By focusing on communicational events, whether in the context of for-profit and non-profit organizations, political protests or social movements, chapters guide the reader through the diverse manifestations and concrete ways of dealing with the imperative for organizations of all kinds to speak with one voice. In doing so, the book creates bridges between different perspectives with regard to the notion of voice and its significance for the study of organizing; between fields of study; and between theory and empirical research aimed at investigating organizing beyond the boundaries of the formal organization.

Offering a thorough and comprehensive investigation of the dynamics between multivocality and univocality in the organizing of various collectives, this book will be an important resource for scholars and students of organizational communication, management studies, media studies and rhetorical studies.

chapter 1|18 pages

Voice

A Metaphor and Its Significance for Organizational Communication

chapter 2|22 pages

Authority-in-Action

How Voices are Negotiated through Idiomatic Formulations during Organizational Downsizing

chapter 3|24 pages

“I'm Just Saying”

Multivocal Organizing in a Community Health Initiative

chapter 4|23 pages

Finding the Voice of a Protest

Negotiating Authority among the Multiplicity of Voices in a Pro-Refugee Demonstration

chapter 5|19 pages

Amplifying Voices

Hip-Hop as a Mode of Engagement for Community Organizing in the Context of the Black Lives Matter Movement

chapter 6|20 pages

Taking a Relational Approach to Rhetoric and Discourse

(Re)Considering the Voices of Recycling and Sustainability

chapter 7|26 pages

Tensional Dynamics in Discussions of Social Responsibility

Voice Mobilization, Concern Negotiation, and Organizational Boundaries Co-creation

chapter 8|25 pages

“Centering [Voices From] the Margins”

Negotiating Intersectionality as a Consultative Framework

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion

Speaking with One Voice Is a Specific Form of Multivocality