Rousing and Redirecting a Sleeping Giant

Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT)—an explanation of the process and consequences of human symbolizing—has enjoyed popularity in communication studies but, in organizational communication, its appeal has declined, perhaps because of perceptions of its irrelevance to complex and contemporary concerns. To develop SCT’s appeal as well as its possible resurgence, this article rouses and redirects it. In rousing SCT, the article reviews its central statements, remembers its uses, and lays bare some weaknesses (i.e., explaining why humans narrate reality and share dramas, restrictive convergence assumptions, and restrictive assumptions about membership in rhetorical communities). In redirecting SCT, the article relaxes and complements its assumptions with ideas from organizational communication theories (i.e., sensemaking, power and politics, bona fide groups, and multiple identifications) and points a reinvigorated SCT toward exploring coalition action in response to leader behaviors at Harvard Business Review and the University of Colorado.