000			01518pab a2200157 454500
008			180718b2004 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aCooren, Francois
245			_aTextual agency: how texts do things in organizational settings
260			_c2004
300			_ap.373-93.
362			_aMay
520			_aResearch on organizational discourse typically reduces it to what members do when producing and using texts in organizational contexts, but fails to recognize that texts, on their own, also seem to make a difference. This essay shows that one way to approach discourse is to analyze the active contribution of texts (especially , but not only, documents) to organizational processes, that is, to what extent texts such as reports, contracts, memos, signs, or work orders can be said to be performing something. After reviewing what other scholars have been saying on the question of textual agency, I show how it is possible to ascribe to texts the capacity of doing something without falling into some modern form of animism. Having done that, I explore systematically the different types of action that texts can be said to be performing by taking up Searle's well-known classification of speech acts. This review then leads me to address questions related to the constitution of organizations, that is, to what extent this reflection on textual agency enables us to redefine the mode of being of organizational forms. - Reproduced.
650			_aOrganizations
773			_aOrganization
909			_a60611
999			_c60611 _d60611