ABSTRACT
The power of communication to create and maintain meaning that is shared by members of an organization is a theme that has permeated this text. In the introductory chapter, we established that communication functions as the lifeblood, and sometimes the embalming fluid, for all or ganizations. "Communication is a requisite to organizational function ing" for the individual, team, or larger group (Petrelle, Slaughter, & Jor gensen, 1988, p. 294). This chapter places in context the most human part of organizations-symbolic behavior that results in various degrees of shared meaning and values between organizational members.
