What’s Coordinated Management of Meaning?

[ad_1]

Coordinated management of meaning is a theory developed by Vernon Cronen and Barnett Pearce. The theory seeks to explain the types of interactions that occur between people during the social interaction process of communication. Specifically, the theory of coordinated management of meaning states that people derive or extract their understanding of a conversation in relation to the social reality they perceive. The main purpose of applying this concept is to help people understand the situation so that they understand how to respond.

This theory is based on the thought that those engaged in a social interaction will decide how to respond to a situation based on their perception of the meaning of their interaction. One of the perceptions associated with the coordinated management of meaning is data perceived through sight and sound. Two people in a social situation will first see each other and then evaluate each other. They will also hear the sound of each other’s voice and then process data from the two modalities of sensory input. Sensory input from vision might include the other person’s style of dress, ethnicity, height, and hair color. Audio sensory input might include things like accent, pitch, and tone associated with the other person’s voice.

The next step is to process what the other person is saying so that you understand what they are trying to communicate. This can be done in conjunction with the way of presentation or communication style of the speaker. For example, two people might say the same thing to different effects due to the way the speech is presented. One person might seem more confident and persuasive, while the other might seem insecure and shy. This can affect how the listener will perceive what the person is trying to say. A listener may be more likely to believe what a more confident speaker is saying than what a stuttering and shy speaker is saying.

The environment is also a part of social interaction that influences how people perceive each other’s communication. For example, an office conversation during a business meeting will have a different context than a husband and wife conversation held in their bedroom. As such, the perception behind any social interaction in either environment will have a different meaning to those involved.

Professionals such as mediators and arbitrators whose responsibility it is to seek to resolve disputes between parties can rely on the basic principles of coordinated management of meaning to help them resolve disputes more effectively. Such professionals know that factors such as the venue of the arbitration or mediation and sensory perception of sight or sound can influence the outcome of the dispute. For example, in mediating between an estranged couple seeking to resolve child custody issues, experienced mediators will try to get the husband to leave his mistress out of the mediation meetings as the visual perception of her will inflame the estranged wife and derail the process mediation.

[ad_2]