Home Linguistics & Semiotics 18 Developing organizations
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

18 Developing organizations

  • Christian Schwägerl and Susanne Knorre
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Handbook of Management Communication
This chapter is in the book Handbook of Management Communication

Abstract

This chapter reviews organizational development (OD) as networked managerial practices and investigates the role these practices play in contemporary strategic management and in management communication. Our analytical overview of studies finds that the literature lacks empirical evidence on the linguistic properties of OD’s practices as these properties have not been researched in OD but in settings where change is solely approached as a planned process. To fill this gap, we propose a research framework to inquire into OD’s verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal practices. After a tour d’horizon of OD’s and change management’s ontological and epistemological paradigms, we outline the implications of the practice perspective of OD for strategic management, then narrow our focus to empirical studies’ prominent outcomes on discursive practices in change processes, and conclude with a framework for future research.

Abstract

This chapter reviews organizational development (OD) as networked managerial practices and investigates the role these practices play in contemporary strategic management and in management communication. Our analytical overview of studies finds that the literature lacks empirical evidence on the linguistic properties of OD’s practices as these properties have not been researched in OD but in settings where change is solely approached as a planned process. To fill this gap, we propose a research framework to inquire into OD’s verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal practices. After a tour d’horizon of OD’s and change management’s ontological and epistemological paradigms, we outline the implications of the practice perspective of OD for strategic management, then narrow our focus to empirical studies’ prominent outcomes on discursive practices in change processes, and conclude with a framework for future research.

Downloaded on 28.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501508059-018/html
Scroll to top button