THEORIZING COMMUNICATION AND CONSTITUTION OF ORGANIZATIONS FROM A FOUR FLOWS (STRUCTURATIONAL) PERSPECTIVE

In this chapter, we explain the four flows model of the communicative constitution of organization describing how flows of communication—membership negotiation, self-structuring, activity coordination and institutional positioning—constitute organizations. According to structuration theory, embedded practices produce, sustain and transform social entities into organizations. More specifically, conlocutions describes the power transforming illocutions (communication) and perlocutions (actions) into organizationally constitutive outcomes. This process is evident even in the most short-lived and controversial organizations such as Trump University. To demonstrate the four flows model, we analyze the constitutive nature of the flows that were communicated in Trump University’s Playbook, the handbook used to develop and guide its operations.