Abstract
This paper argues for an enlargement of our conception of rationality to include forms of reasoning, intelligence and cognition that are communicatively, rather than discursively, based. To defend the thesis that understanding emerges in the collective interactive processes of practically situated conversation, as well as in individual thought, the paper examines the theoretical literature devoted to self-organizing systems, and the empirical literature which describes how distributed intelligence is developed by groups in materially embedded contexts of work. It then explores the phenomenon of emergence of organization as an actor, capable of expressing an intention, and participating in a dialogue involving other organizations. It explains this phenomenon of the emerging organizational self as a logical implication of the theory of self-organizing which predicates selfness as an effect of the coupling of an autopoietic system to an observer. While this has tended to be interpreted in inter-subjective contexts of communication it can also be applied to organizational communication. Implications of such a revision of perspective are briefly considered, including a critique of current interpretations of dialogics.
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Taylor, J.R. (2002). The “rational” organization reconsidered — An exploration of some of the organizational implications of selforganizing. In: Kahle, E. (eds) Organisatorische Veränderung und Corporate Governance. Entscheidungs- und Organisationstheorie. Deutscher Universitätsverlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-81058-8_1
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