Organizational rhetoric and the public sphere

Abstract

Both Weick's view of organizing and traditional rhetorical theory straddle the public and private spheres of human activity. In the essay, these two bodies of theory are used to explore how private organizations need public space within them, how organizations affect the public sphere and are affected by that sense of public, and how organizational and rhetorical theorists might join in understanding the “privatizing” of the public sphere by managerial rhetors.