Coordinated Management of Meaning

Examples and Applications


by Natalie Wright

The Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory derived by W. Barnett Pearce and Vernon Cronen is based on what many consider to be the "most comprehensive statement of social construction crafted by communication scholars."(Griffin 1997) This theory suggests that persons-in-conversation co-construct social realities of their own. Meaning that the language and information exchanged in our conversations with others creates our own social environments, which we interpret as reality.

The three main components of the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory that I wish to discuss and provide examples of to further explain the concepts of this theory are coherence, coordination and mystery. Briefly defined, coherence is how persons-in-conversation attempt to achieve meaning in life. Coordination is how we try to associate our lives with others. And finally, mystery is the unpredictable events and conclusions we will reach in life from the conversations we hold in our social environments.

The example I wish to use to provide a clearer explanation of this theory is the movie Meet Joe Black(please click the movie title if you wish to visit its website). There are many clear examples of these three components of the Coordinated Management of Meaning throughout the entire film. However, to keep this simple and to the point I will be pinpointing specific scenes and events from the movie.

Coherence

The information we share with others can be interpreted many different ways, and the way our speech is interpreted depends on multiple contexts, such as the specific episode, our relationship, self-identity, and culture. In Meet Joe Black the character Joe Black - who is actually Death, comes to Earth to take Bill Parrish, esteemed businessman and father, back to heaven with him; but before Parrish and Black depart, Joe demands that Parrish show him the wonders of the world. Little does Joe know that the body he took over to indulge in his journey on earth is that of a man whom Parrish's daughter Susan met in a coffee shop and shared a compelling conversation with. As Joe's host body is once again reunited with Susan, Joe is unaware and confused about her coy remarks to him since she believes that he is the same man she spoke to in the coffee shop. Referring to the coherent messages they shared, she in turn makes Joe dumbfounded as he, himself, has never shared a conversation with this girl. Clearly in this scene the two characters are not sharing a cohesive message because they have never shared a conversation before, which makes the speech acts between Susan and Joe not make sense. For instance, lets say in reality that you have two friends named Erica and when you get home your sister says that Erica called and wants you to call her about going to see a movie tonight. So you pick up the phone and call your friend Erica, only to find out that she isn't the one who called you and knows nothing about going to see a movie tonight. Therefore it must be the other Erica that called you and would understand, or have coherence with, the questions you are asking about the movie. This proves that the episode and relationship you share with your friends, for example, depend on which messages make sense and are coherent to the both of you.

Another instance of noncoherence that happens in Meet Joe Black is during a board meeting at Parrish Communications. Bill's assistant Drew is speaking and refers to the coined phrase, "Nothing's certain but death and taxes." At this point Joe, Death, questions the phrase that Drew used. Joe is unfamiliar with this term and intrigued. Joe asks Drew what he means and continues questioning him about the phrase until Drew is completely annoyed and bewildered that Joe has never heard this phrase before. Certainly if Joe had been an actual human being he would have heard this phrase prior to when Drew stated it; however, since Joe is not an "ordinary" man he was not familiar with the phrase and therefore was not coherent to the message Drew was trying to send to the surrounding board members. In fact, things just like this happen all the time in reality. For example, a small group of friends might share an "inside" joke that only they understand the meaning behind. When someone outside of that group is around them and the group members are laughing about the inside joke, the outside person won't understand what is so funny because he or she does not understand the coherent message that all of the group members share.

Coordination

As the movie Meet Joe Black progresses, the characters Joe and Susan begin having intimate feelings toward one another. This begins to develop a sense of coordination between the two of them. Further defined, coordination is the, "process by which persons collaborate in an attempt to bring into being their vision of what is necessary, noble, and good and to preclude the enactment of what they fear, hate, or despise."(Griffin 1997) With Joe being unfamiliar and intrigued with the emotions he is feeling for Susan, he decides to extend his stay on Earth. This ultimately allows Susan and Joe to draw closer and closer to each other, enabling them to develop a serious relationship, while creating their own system of meanings and symbols. They use their relationship to connect to one another on a deep intimate level in their own social world and discuss their dreams and goals for the future.

In Meet Joe Black not only do Susan and Joe form coordination, so do Bill and Joe. Since these men spend practically every minute together Joe and Bill learn quite a lot from each other about what each considers to be valuable and priceless. In fact, Joe has such an impact on Bill regarding the priceless gift of life that Bill pleads with Joe to give him more time on Earth so he can spend more time enjoying the company of his family.

Lastly, coordination is also displayed in the movie by Bill Parrish and his daughter Susan. Sharing this intimate bond with his daughter, Bill expresses to Susan what he considers to be the key to a happy life - true love. Bill tells Susan that she won't live at all if she never falls deeply in love - its the pure essence of life. Upon this suggestion Susan remarks that she feels the same, as she too wishes to find her one and only true love. Bill ends the discussion by telling Susan to forget about what her head says and to listen to her heart because it will lead her down the path to true happiness. These examples of coordination are also relative in real life because many people who develop relationships with others share their dreams, goals and fears with each other to form a more intimate bond.

Mystery

The final context of the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory that I wish to discuss and explain is mystery. As stated before, mystery is the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds. The movie Meet Joe Black encompasses mystery at two different levels. First, during the entire movie the origin and true character of Joe Black is hidden. When asked repeatedly where Joe came from and how Bill Parrish is associated with him the answer is avoided at all costs. This causes major turmoil and confrontations between many of the characters, but it also enables Joe to spend more of his time on Earth learning how to fit in and create his own social environments. Even Susan questions the mysteriousness of Joe time and time again as their relationship develops but the mystery is never revealed. In fact, perhaps it is the mysteriousness of Joe that draws to Susan's attraction for him because in conversation she frequently asks him what his secrets are and where he sees their relationship heading, but he never reveals the mystery - yet Susan remains by his side.

The second aspect of mystery in Meet Joe Black is used by analyzing the movie as a whole. In our culture we are very intrigued by the concept of death. Introducing Joe Black as death itself put an interesting twist on the movie. The allusion of seeing Death in human form is kind of ironic. After all, as mortals we are compelled to know what really lies beyond the great unknown, just as Death is compelled to know more about our social world on Earth in Meet Joe Black. In our society book upon book and endless discussions are held regarding the theories to what happens to us after we die, but still the mystery remains. Which makes this situation ironic to think of Death wanting to know about our lives.

Hopefully these applications regarding the contexts of the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory have been helpful in developing a further understanding of the principles that lie behind it. In order to find out more information regarding this theory developed by Pearce and Cronen please visit the following links:

To return to our title page please click here.

To visit our research page done by Julia please click here.

To view our research page done by Tony please click here.
To view a critique of this theory please click here.

To see some interesting links related to the Coordinated Management of
Meaning Theory please click here.

Reference:

Griffin, E. (1997). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

This page last updated 3/11/00.