ABSTRACT

Winner of the 2018 Outstanding Edited Book Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association

The Agency of Organizing explains why the notion of agency is central to understanding what organizations are, how they come into existence, continue to exist, or fade away, and how they function. Written by leading organizational communication scholars, the chapters in this edited volume present seven different theoretical perspectives on agency in the dynamics of organizing. Authors discuss how they conceptualize agency from their own perspective and how they propose to investigate agency empirically in processes of organizing by using specific methods. Through insightful case studies, they demonstrate the value of these perspectives for organizational research and practice.

chapter |27 pages

Introduction

Perspectives on the Agency of Organizing 1

chapter |15 pages

The Distribution of Decision Rights at ICANN

A Luhmannian Perspective on Agency 1

chapter |23 pages

Being Able to Act Otherwise

The Role of Agency in the Four Flows at 2-1-1 and Beyond 1

chapter |32 pages

Agency in Structurational Divergence and Convergence

Insights from Nursing 1

chapter |25 pages

Targeting Alex

Brand as Agent in Communicative Capitalism

chapter |19 pages

Releasing/Translating Agency

A Postcolonial Disruption of the Master’s Voice among Liberian Market Women 1

chapter |28 pages

Acting For, With, and Through

A Relational Perspective on Agency in MSF’s Organizing 1

chapter |24 pages

Agential Encounters

Performativity and Affect Meet Communication in the Bathroom

chapter |31 pages

Conclusion

Further Theoretical and Practical Reflections on Agency