The misleading nature of flow charts and diagrams in organizational communication: The case of performance management of preschools in Sweden

Per Ledin; David Machin

doi:10.1515/sem-2020-0032

Article

The misleading nature of flow charts and diagrams in organizational communication: The case of performance management of preschools in Sweden

Per Ledin and David Machin

Published/Copyright: October 12, 2020

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From the journal Semiotica Volume 2020 Issue 236-237

Abstract

It has become common to find diagrams and flow-charts used in our organizations to illustrate the nature of processes, what is involved and how it happens, or to show how parts of the organization interrelate to each other and work together. Such diagrams are used as they are thought to help visualization and simplify things in order to represent the essence of a particular situation, the core features. In this paper, using a social semiotic approach, we show that we need to develop a much more critical sense of how these diagrams and flowcharts can easily abstract, conceal and substitute actual causalities, work roles and relationships. We demonstrate this using the example of a series of interrelated flows-charts used to implement a new system of target-based learning in preschool/kindergartens in Sweden – a system which works highly in favor of a rapidly privatizing education sector. Here, the flow charts shape how school processes and learning are presented to devalue the former system and value the new.

Keywords: flow charts and diagrams; organizational communication; performance management; preschool; Sweden; social semiotic

Corresponding author: David Machin, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, E-mail: portvale100@gmail.com

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Published Online: 2020-10-12

Published in Print: 2020-12-16

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https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2020-0032

Keywords for this article

flow charts and diagrams; organizational communication; performance management; preschool; Sweden; social semiotic