A Rhetoric-in-Context Approach to Building Commitment to Multiple Strategic Goals

Abstract

There are still few explanations of the micro detail through which top managers influence employee commitment to multiple strategic goals. This paper argues that through their language, top managers can construct a context for commitment to multiple strategic goals. We therefore propose a rhetoric-in-context approach to illuminate some of the micro practices through which top managers influence employee commitment. Based upon an empirical study of the rhetorical practices through which top managers attempt to influence academic commitment to multiple strategic goals in university contexts, we demonstrate relationships between rhetoric and context. Specifically, we show that rhetorical attempts to shape commitment to multiple goals are associated with the degree of organizational change, the established nature of multiple goals, and the internal consistency of the rhetorical practices used by top managers.AIM Working