Beware of the Spirits that You Call! Inquiries into the (Dis)ordering Properties of Organizational Texts

This article proposes to study the constitution of organization by acknowledging the fundamentally intertwined nature of order and disorder. Adopting a dialectical lens, we explore the (dis)ordering properties of communication by focusing on both the symbolic and the material dimensions of language use in texts. Drawing on empirical material from three qualitative case studies on project organizing, we show that attempts to create order through texts (i.e. by closing and fixing meaning) simultaneously trigger disorder (i.e. open up the possibility of multiple
meanings). As we argue, this dynamic plays a key role in the development of projects (and more broadly organizations), keeping them in motion by calling forth continuous processes of meaning negotiation.