Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Communication Theory |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 70-90 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISSN | 1050-3293 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Cite this
}
Peering into Transparency : Challenging Ideals, Proxies, and Organizational Practices. / Christensen, Lars Thøger; Cheney, George.
In: Communication Theory, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2015, p. 70-90.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Peering into Transparency
T2 - Challenging Ideals, Proxies, and Organizational Practices
AU - Christensen, Lars Thøger
AU - Cheney, George
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The current emphasis on organizational transparency signifies a growing demand for insight, clarity, accountability, and participation. Holding the promise of improved access to valid and trustworthy knowledge about organizations, the transparency pursuit has great potential for enhanced organizational effectiveness and widened democratic practice. Yet, with its most common operationalization, as information, transparency reinstalls a 'purified' notion of communication devoid of mystery, inaccuracy, and (mis)representation. We apply transparency to itself by unpacking its implicit model of communication and critiquing its obliviousness to the representative nature of transparency-related messages and the attendant complexities of motivation. This critique interrogates the ambiguities and ambivalence of the transparency pursuit and demonstrates how the goals of organizational transparency are counteracted by new types of opacity.
AB - The current emphasis on organizational transparency signifies a growing demand for insight, clarity, accountability, and participation. Holding the promise of improved access to valid and trustworthy knowledge about organizations, the transparency pursuit has great potential for enhanced organizational effectiveness and widened democratic practice. Yet, with its most common operationalization, as information, transparency reinstalls a 'purified' notion of communication devoid of mystery, inaccuracy, and (mis)representation. We apply transparency to itself by unpacking its implicit model of communication and critiquing its obliviousness to the representative nature of transparency-related messages and the attendant complexities of motivation. This critique interrogates the ambiguities and ambivalence of the transparency pursuit and demonstrates how the goals of organizational transparency are counteracted by new types of opacity.
KW - Communication
KW - Democracy
KW - Organization
KW - Representation
KW - Transparency
UR - http://sfx-45cbs.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/45cbs?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/sfxit.com:azlist&sfx.ignore_date_threshold=1&rft.object_id=954925593466&rft.object_portfolio_id=&svc.holdings=yes&svc.fulltext=yes
U2 - 10.1111/comt.12052
DO - 10.1111/comt.12052
M3 - Journal article
VL - 25
SP - 70
EP - 90
JO - Communication Theory
JF - Communication Theory
SN - 1050-3293
IS - 1
ER -