Space and place in the communicative constitution of organizations: A theory of communication, organizing, and organizational space

Elizabeth Dorothea Wilhoit, Purdue University

Abstract

The rise of innovative and whimsical workspaces like Google’s offices (Myerson & Ross, 2003; Schmidt & Rosenberg, 2014) and increasing numbers of teleworkers (Fonner & Roloff, 2010) reflect major changes in how and where work is done in the 21st century. Scholars in many disciplines have studied these and other issues about workspaces. However, very little of this scholarship has considered how both material and discursive aspects of organizational space are constitutive elements of organizations, that is, how space becomes an agent that actively makes a difference in the nature or being of organizations. In this dissertation, I draw on human geography (e.g., Lefebvre, 1991; Massey, 2005; Tuan, 1979), the communication constitutes organizations (CCO) approach (e.g., Cooren, 2010; Taylor & Van Every, 2000), and existing literature on organizational space to explore what organizational space and place are, how they act and communicate, and how they are constitutive of and constituted by organizations. Data were collected through two methods. First, I used photo-elicitation interviews (PEI) in which participants were instructed to take at least five pictures of their workspace, however they defined “workspace.” The pictures then became the basis for an interview about the participant’s workspace. Participants (n = 42) were workers in a variety of occupations, types of organizations, and types of workspaces. Second, I conducted an ethnography at a food bank. I observed work at the food bank for over 300 hours during a seven-month timespan. I conducted semi-structured interviews with food bank employees and ethnographic interviews with various stakeholders including volunteers, staff, clients, and representatives of partner agencies. From these data I developed a theory of organizational space and place that draws from a constitutive understanding of organizational communication. First, organizational place can be understood as presence, taking space to be anywhere that work is done or an organization is made materially present. Second, organizational place can be understood as phenomenologically different from space using Heidegger’s (1962) distinction between ready-to-hand and present-at-hand. Additionally, placemaking happens in three ways in organizations: personalization, meaning-making, and ownership and territoriality. Third, space and place can act or have agency in interaction and communication, organizational culture, and work itself. Fourth, space and place can communicate through ventriloquism (the process of humans mobilizing space to speak through it) and presence. Fifth, bringing these elements together, I created a model of how organizational space and place are constitutive of organizations. This research contributes to the broader literature on organizational space by integrating material and discursive space. In terms of organizational literature, I showed that material and discursive space and place are both important and act together, demonstrated that experience or phenomenology of space and place are central in organizations, introduced the place/space distinction to organizational studies, and explained how space and place are both internally and externally constitutive of organizations. Additionally, I contributed to CCO literature by demonstrating that space is a subject and object, defining space through presence, showing how communication takes place through presence, considering place as constitutive, and looking at the relationship between power, materiality, and constitutive communication. Practically, I suggest ways that management can encourage participation in the design of organizational space. I also show that although there is not one best workspace for all workers or organizations, there are patterns of which features workers prefer in their workspace.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Buzzanell, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Communication|Organization Theory

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