Communication Theory by W. Barnett Pearce - CMM (Coordinated Management of Meaning)

1. cmmCoordinated
Management
of Meaning

2. intro
theorist
background
philosophy

3. Barnett is both a scholar and practitioner. He has written seven
books and over one hundred articles and chapters. He was a
Senior Visiting Fellow at Linacre College, Oxford University, in
1989, and a Fulbright Fellow in Argentina in 1997. Before retiring
from Fielding Graduate University in 2008, he was a member of
the faculty at the University of North Dakota, University of
Kentucky, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Loyola
University Chicago, serving as Chair of the Departments of
Communication at Massachusetts and Loyola. He has a Ph.D.
from Ohio University.
As a practitioner, he works as consultant, coach, facilitator and
trainer. He follows the maxim that if we get the pattern of
communication right, the best possible things will happen. He
strives to create the preconditions for dialogic communication,
working in communities, business and nonprofit organizations,
and educational institutions. His work has taken him to North
and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.
We create the world
we live in and that
world creates us.
W. Barnett Pearce

4. Cybernetic.
Socio-Cultural.
Phenomonological.
Interpretive.
Critical.
Practical.meta

5. The single most powerful tool
ever invented for the
construction of social worlds.
W. Barnett Pearce
Language

7. Notions
Suppositions
core claims
applications

8. Our communication
creates our social
worlds.
-
1

9. Persons-in-conversation co-
construct their own social
realities and are simultaneously
shaped by the worlds they
create.
-

11. The stories we tell
differ from the
stories we live.
-
2

12. Stories lived are the co-
constructed actions that we
perform with others.
Stories told are the narratives
that we tell internally.
The stories we tell and the stories
we live are always tangled
together, yet forever in tension.
Of Facts
& Fiction

14. Storied Lived
Untold, Unknown
Unheard, Untellable
Stories Told

15. Intentional meshing of stories lived
doesn’t require people to reach
agreement on the meaning of their joint
action. They can decide to coordinate
their behavior without sharing a
common interpretation of the event.
Coordination
-

16. The stories that we tell that
make our lives meaningful.
These stories are the primary
elements of meaning-making.
Coherence
-

17. The manner in which we
acknowledge mystery exerts a
profound effect on our
communications - from repressive
inquisitions to beautiful visions.
Mystery
-

18. LUUUT Model
-

19. Serpentine &
Heirarchical
-

22. Strange Loop Model
-

24. We get what
we make.
-3

25. We imagine how others
see us.
We imagine the judgment
of that appearance.
We react based on these
perceived judgments.
Through the
Looking Glass
-

26. Impossible to fully articulate the
meaning of any one action.
Tomorrow’s social reality is the
afterlife of today’s interactions
and communication.
Ad Infinitum
-

27. Getting the
pattern right
creates better
outcomes.
-
4

29. They are participant observers willing to
step back and look for places in the
conversational flow where they can say
or do something that will make the
situation better for everyone involved.
Mindfulness
-

30. Coordination + Coherence + Mindfulness
Better Social Worlds
-

32. Of Clarity
Confusion

33. Provides new understanding of people.
Allows clarication of values.
There is community of agreement.
Enables reform of society.
Not spawned new theoretical developments.
Lack of aesthetic appeal & parsimony.
Universality gets in the way of structure.

34. Griffin, Em (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory.New York, New York: McGraw-
Hill Companies, Inc., 363.
Craig, Robert. (1998). CMM TheoryCoordinated Managementof Meaning W. B. Pearce & V. E.
Cronen.
Littlejohn, StephenW. and Domenici, Kathy. (2007) Communication, Conflict and the
Managementof Difference.Long Grove, IL.
Pearce Associates. (1999) "Using CMM, "The Coordinated Managementof Meaning".January
7, 2004. [9] (accessed April 18, 2008). San Mateo, Ca.: Pearce Associates.
Pearce Associates. (2001). Spano, Shawn. Public dialogue and participatory democracy: The
Cupertino Community Project.Hampton Press.
Pearce, Barnett.(2205). "The Coordinated Managementof Meaning (CMM)". In Theorizing
About Intercultural Communication, edited by William B. Gudykunst, 35–54. Thousand
Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications.
Pearce, Kim A. . 2002)Making better social worlds: Engaging in and facilitating dialogic
communication. Redwood City,.
Pearce, W. B. and K. Pearce.(2000). "Extending the Theoryof the Coordinated Management
of Meaning ("CMM") Through a Community Dialogue Process". Communication Theory, Vol.
10.
Readings
References

35. dada veloso-beltran
dadaspeaks.com
dadaspeaks@gmail.com