Visual and Multimodal Research in Organization and Management Studies

This volume brings together two hitherto disparate domains of scholarly inquiry: organization and management studies on the one hand, and the study of visual and multimodal communication on the other. Within organization and management studies it has been recognized that organizational reality and communication are becoming increasingly visual, and, more generally, multimodal, whether in digital form or otherwise. Within multimodality studies it has been noted that many forms of contemporary communication are deeply influenced by organizational and managerial communication, as formerly formal and bureaucratic types of communication increasingly adopt promotional language and multimodal document presentation. Visual and Multimodal Research in Organization and Management Studies integrates these two domains of research in a way that will benefit both. In particular, it conceptually and empirically connects recent insights from visual and multimodality studies to ongoing discussions in organization and management theory. Throughout, the book shows how a visual/multimodal lens enriches and extends what we already know about organization, organizations, and practices of organizing, but also how concepts from organization and management studies can be highly productive in further developing insights on visual and multimodal communication. Due to its essentially interdisciplinary objectives, the book will prove inspiring for academics and scholars of management, the sociology of organizations as well as related disciplines such as applied linguistics and visual studies.

Markus A. Höllerer is Professor of Public Management and Governance at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and Professor of Organization Theory at UNSW Business School, Australia. Theo van Leeuwen is Professor at the Department of Language and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark. Dennis Jancsary is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Organization Studies at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. Renate E. Meyer is Professor of Organization Studies at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and part-time Professor of Institutional Theory at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Thomas Hestbæk Andersen is Associate Professor at the Department of Language and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark Eero Vaara is Professor of Organization and Management in the Department of Management Studies at Aalto University School of Business, Finland. He is a permanent Visiting Professor at EMLYON Business School, France, and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Lancaster University, UK.

Part I: Introduction 1 Purpose of this volume 2 A social semiotic approach to multimodality Part II: Strategies for multimodal scholarly inquiry 3 Approaches, methods, and research agenda: An overview 4 The archaeological approach 5 The practice approach 6 The strategic approach 7 The dialogical approach 8 The documenting approach 9 Summary: Towards multi-approach studies in multimodal organization research Part III: Application 10 Introduction to four case studies 11 The power of diagrams 12 The use of logos in post-merger identity construction at Aalto University 13 Multimodal meaning-making in online shopping 14 Multimodal legitimation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) Part IV: Discussion 15 The way ahead: Discussion and conclusion