Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM)

W. Barnett Pearce Communication scholar from the Fielding Institute. Founding Member of the Public Dialogue Consortium. Co-creator of the theory of Coordinated Management of Meaning. Authored seven books and more than 100 articles.

Vernon Cronen Communication scholar from the University of Massachusetts. Co-creator of the theory of Coordinated Management of Meaning. Visiting professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

An Abstract of Coordinated Management of Meaning Developed in the mid-1970’s. Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create. Every conversation has an afterlife. How we interact today creates the social reality of tomorrow. Can achieve coherence through common interpretation of their stories told. Can achieve coordination by meshing their stories lived. Dialogic communication, which is learnable, teachable, and contagious, improves the quality of life for everyone. (Socio-cultural and phenomenological traditions.) Relies on three basic processes in interactions: Coherence (How meaning is achieved.) Coordination (Each person has their own set of rules that govern their behavior.) Mystery (Anything during a communication interaction that is unexplainable.)

Terms defined Strange Loop – An unwanted repetitive communication pattern—”Darn, we did it again.”

Terms defined Dialogic Communication – Conversation in which people speak in a manner that makes others want to listen, and listen in a way that makes other want to speak. Logical Force – The moral pressure or sense of obligation a person feels to respond in a given way to what someone else has just said or done—”I had no choice.” Coordination – The process by which persons collaborate in an attempt to bring into being their vision of what is necessary, noble, and good and to preclude the enactment of what they fear, hate, or despise. A metaphor of I-Thou living in the dialogic tension between ethical relativism and rigid absolutism; also standing your own ground while being profoundly open to the other.

Terms defined Social Constructionists – Language theorists who believe that persons-in-conversation co- construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create.

Terms defined Reflexivity – The process by which the effects of our words and actions on others bounce back and affect us. Hierarchy of Meaning – A rank order of the relative significance of contexts— episode, relationship, identity, and culture—that encompass a given story as an aid to interpretation. Speech act – Any verbal or nonverbal message as part of an interaction; the basic building block of the social universe people create; threats, promises, insults, compliments, etc. Episode – A “nounable” sequence of speech acts with a beginning and an end that are held together by story; and argument, interview, wedding, mediation, etc. Cosmopolitan Communication – Coordination with others who have different backgrounds, values, and beliefs without trying to change them.

Why is CMM important? Develop ethical competence. Understand interactional patterns. “Strange Loops” Public dialogue Moral conflicts occur when incommensurate social realities clash. Disputes about abortion, religion in politics and education, legal rights for homosexuals, and environmental politics are issues in which well-intentioned parties have created polarized and divisive patterns of communication… Such conflicts require us to find forms of communication to go beyond our normal ways of dealing with disagreement. -- Pearce and Littlejohn , Moral Conflict (1997)

Real Life Applications People can have different values and still have a successful interaction. (Cosmopolitan Communication) Dating. Meeting new people.

Critique of CMM By scientific standards, CMM is hopelessly vague. Hard to predict future events. Focuses on the “now”. Too many terms. Difficult to focus on what is important in the interaction. Complex, extremely broad theory. Does not have a testable hypothesis. By humanistic standards, it fares better: Fresh perspective. Value-based. Suggests new forms of communication. Good interpretive theory.

Conclusion CMM is value based (Axiological). Value curiosity and practical knowledge. Social world is made rather than found. (Afterlife of conversation.) CMM is Interpretive. (Not ironclad for everyone.) CMM is very confusing but is a useful theory when examining communication interactions.

Works Cited Pearce, W. Barnett (as cited in Griffin, Emory A. "Chapter 6: Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM)." A First Look at Communication Theory. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. 71. Print.) Griffin, Emory A. "Chapter 6: Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM)." A First Look at Communication Theory. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. 69-83. Print. Escher, M. C. (as cited in Griffin, Emory A. "Chapter 6: Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM)." A First Look at Communication Theory. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. 73. Print.) Griffin, Emory A. "A First Look at Communication Theory." A First Look at Communication Theory. N.p., 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. Craig, Robert T. "CMM Theory Coordinated Management of Meaning - W. B. Pearce & V. E. Cronen." CMM Theory Coordinated Management of Meaning. N.p., 7 Oct. 1998. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Works Cited "Pearce Associates." Pearce Associates. N.p., 2004. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. Orr, C. Jack. "W. Barnett Pearce: The Legacy of CMM." Dr. C. Jack Orr's Teaching and Communication Blog. N.p., 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. "Vernon E. Cronen, Ph.D." Vernon E. Cronen, Ph.D. The Taos Institute, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. Wheeler, Cadia. "Coordinated Management of Meaning." Coordinated Management of Meaning. N.p., Fall 1998. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta- discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Wheeler.htm>. Pearce, W. Barnett., and Stephen W. Littlejohn. Moral Conflict: When Social Worlds Collide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997. Print.