Exploring dissent in top-tier meetings as communication constitutive or organizational democracy

Abstract

This thesis reported the communicative constitution of organizational democracy through the use of dissent. Six board meetings that occurred over six months were coded and then analyzed to examine whether dissent was sufficient for the communicative constitution of organizational democracy and, if so, how dissent constituted organizational democracy. Markov chain and phasic analyses were used to characterize the communicative patterns that occurred during these meetings and predict the trajectory of those conversations. The results indicated that dissent was sufficient for the communicative constitution of organizational democracy. Specifically, the results of this thesis evidenced that dissent contributed to the organization of a dissent climate and the dissolution of a mimetic climate; that dissent is less a predictor organizational change than other members' willingness to engage with dissent; and that the dissent climate was characterized by behaviors such as relational integration, engagement, and participation in decision-making processes, each of which were indicative of organizational democracy.