Marketing communication: principles and practice

participation in decision-making, and the enhancement of the autonomy
of personnel are goods if they are strategic means to technical–instrumental
control. There is no genuine concern for others’ rights.
• The formal organization is its favoured site of reproduction. Authority 
and subordination are the preferred ways to represent the functional
relations in corporations because this hierarchical basis assures managerial
superiority.
• Managerialism is legitimated by all the members of the corporation, who
accept it as natural and necessary without questioning its practice.
Deetz (1992) argued that in managerialism lay the ground for the systematic
distortion of communication within organizations. This is because, from a
participative perspective, communication problems arise as a consequence
of value discussion and conflict preclusion. Systems of domination usually
preclude genuine conversation. In managerialistic performance, consensus
is reached only through authority and relations of power. 
Genuine conversation entails for all the participants:
1 Symmetrical distribution of the opportunities to express one’s ideas and
opinions, and to choose what to say. Access to meaningful forums and
channels of communication; equal access to communication technologies
and distribution of training opportunities, etc.
2 Freedom from privileged preconceptions concerning the understanding
and representation of the external world, i.e. from ideologies that would
privilege one form of discourse, disqualify certain possible participants,
and universalize any particular sectional interest.
3 The opportunity to establish legitimate social relations and norms for
conduct and interaction. Rights and responsibilities are negotiated through
interaction. Authority legitimation is earned with trust and natural
leadership.
4 Freedom from coercive and hegemonic processes, to allow participants
to express their own authentic interests, needs, and feelings.
Furthermore, a participatory communication practice requires an ongoing
production of mutual understanding through the common formation of
meaning and normative values. Conversely, the mechanistic, one-sided,