Administrative Science Quarterly · 1983 · 169 citations · 4 references
Social SciencesCommunicationOrganization StudiesCommunication TheoryOrganizational CommunicationStrategic PlanningCorporate CommunicationInterpersonal Communication In Organizations
Autocommunication—communication to oneself—is a second mode of communication that, unlike traditional sender‑receiver exchanges, enhances the ego rather than adding information and is evident in artistic, religious, and corporate texts. The study argues that autocommunicational planning, though often dismissed as unimplemented, serves to focus the mind, pursue goals, and generate enthusiasm. The authors identify two cultural communication modes: traditional sender‑receiver and autocommunication, noting that the latter functions as a mantra that enhances the ego and that strategic plans often act as such mantras. © 1983 Cornell University.
?a) 1983 by Cornell University. 0001 -8392/83/2803-0482/$00.75 Two modes of communication are defined that distinguish between cultural groups: The first mode is communication in the traditional sender-receiver sense; it adds quantitatively to the receiver's knowledge. The second mode is autocommunication, communication to oneself. Autocommunication is typical of artistic and religious texts, but any text can become autocommunicational. An autocommunicational text (e.g., a novel) may be read many times over; its function, however, is not to add information in the quantitative sense, but to enhance the ego. When texts are read in an autocommunicational way, they act like mantras, they enhance. Evidence of autocommunicational texts may also be found in corporate cultures. Strategic plans, it is argued, become in many cases such mantras. Unlike previous authors, who have considered as failures plans that were not implemented, we claim that such mythical, autocommunicational planning also has its purpose: focusing of mind, goal seeking, and generating enthusiasm.
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