Rhetorical Criticism as a Method for Examining Cultural/Discursive Pressures on Organizational Form

• In Event: Tell Us What to Believe: Organizational Rhetoric

Abstract

That rhetoric is an important form of organizational discourse has recently gained interest among institutional theorists; they recognize that rhetoric plays an important role in creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutional orders. This paper adds to this research agenda by suggesting that organizational isomorphism can be partly understood as a rhetorical phenomenon. Using popular television programming about crime scene investigations, a method of rhetorical analysis of media and its efficacy for institutional research is explicated.

Author

• Craig Engstrom, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale