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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Workplace Democracy And The Problem Of Equality, Jared Sterling Colton, Avery C. Edenfield, Steve Holmes
Workplace Democracy And The Problem Of Equality, Jared Sterling Colton, Avery C. Edenfield, Steve Holmes
English Faculty Publications
Purpose: Professional communicators are becoming more invested in unique configurations of power in organizations, including non-hierarchical and democratic workplaces. While organizations dedicated to democratic processes may enact power differently than conventional organizations, they may fall short of practicing equality. This article explains the differences in non-hierarchical workplaces, considers businesses where democracy is a goal, and argues for considering equality as a habitual practice, particularly when writing regulatory documents.
Method: We conduct a review of the literature on non-hierarchical workplaces and organizational democracy, applying Jacques Rancière’s concept of equality to two examples (one using primary data collection and one using secondary …
The Burden Of Ambiguity: Writing At A Cooperative, Avery C. Edenfield
The Burden Of Ambiguity: Writing At A Cooperative, Avery C. Edenfield
English Faculty Publications
Purpose: While many organizations use ambiguity to strategically build a "unified diversity" around an organization's mission, democratically managed organizations need to tread a narrow path between necessary ambiguity (which allows flexibility) and dysfunctional ambiguity (which causes disarray). To illustrate, I report a subset of findings regarding occasions when ambiguous documents had a significant impact on a democratically managed organization.
Methods: I conducted a three-phase study of a democratic cooperative. Using a mixed-methods approach, I sought to uncover the ways technical and professional communication (TPC) concerns like ambiguity and clarity function in a democratic business. In my analysis, I looked for …