1. CCTP-752 Communication Theory and Frameworks Meng Li
Structuration Theory
CCTP-752
Communication Theory and Frameworks
Meng Li

2. Background Developed by Anthony Giddens
Originated outside the field of Communication
Adopted by Organizational Communication scholars
Applied into understandings of Organizational Communication

3. Core Concepts The Duality of Structure Dialectic of Control
Actions produce/reproduce social structure
Social structure enable/constrain actions
Social structures eventually become social systems and institutions
Dialectic of Control
Reflexive agents always have the power to change the social structure

4. Metatheoretical Commitments
Ontology
Social Constructionist
“Reciprocal and ongoing relationships with each other”
Epistemology
Subjectivist
“If structures are not mobilized in practice, they’ll no longer exist.”
Axiology
Value-Supportive
“Theorists work as change agents to support the value.”

5. Key Concepts Agency and Reflexivity Structures and systems
Social world is generated through active agency.
Agents rely on but are not dictated by resources.
Agents are able to apply past experiences into current situations (Reflexivity).
Structures and systems
Structure refers to non-physical rules& resources.
Rules: How to get things done routinely
Resources: Things agents rely on to get things done
Allocative resources: material objects
Authoritative resources: non-material factors

6. Applications in Organizational Communication
Organization Structure/Climate
Genres of Communication
Identification and Control within Organization

7. Example The movie trailer---The Box (2009)
The interactions between actions and social structures

8. Further Readings
Peters, Gassenheimer, and Wesley J. Johnston, “Marketing and the Structuration of Organizational Learning”
Christian Fuchs, “Structuration Theory and Self-Organization”