Textualization and organizing: Illustrations from a public discussion process

In his theoretical work on organizing processes, Karl Weick proposes that the activity of organizing is to be found somewhere between the interaction moment and the construction of stable meaning structures, or ‘cause maps,’ which retrospectively make sense of interaction (Weick, 1979, 1995). Since 1969, Weick has provided us with many concepts in order to show how organizing occurs, from enactment to retention through the structuring of interaction cycles and rules. Following the work of Taylor and his colleagues, this paper adopts Weick's intuition regarding the links between action and meaning in organizing; however, it argues that a better understanding of the organizing processes can be reached by grounding intersubjectivity in discourse instead of behavior. More specifically, it examines one of the two basic organizing processes to be found in communication according to the work of Taylor, that of textualization, in which interactions are interpreted and translated collectively into a meaningful text. Using Greimasian semiotics, it suggests that a basic sensemaking process involved in the textualization of interaction is the construction of narratives. Empirical illustrations drawn from a corpus of public discourse are provided.