During the writing of this essay, I learned about strategic-control perspective. I was required to provide a text example of strategic-control perspective and provide an explanation using my own words. Finally, I had to demonstrate strategic-control perspective using a situation from my workplace.
Strategic-Control Perspective
Introduction
There are times when it becomes necessary to recognize that creating greater clarity is not the main goal for an interaction. The strategic-control perspective exists for this reason. The purpose of this paper is to provide a text example of the concept, provide, in my own words, an explanation of the concept, and apply the concept to a specific situation in such a way as to demonstrate the concept from my personal work situations.
Defining the Strategic-Control Perspective
According to Eisenberg, Goodall Jr, and Trethewey (2010), “The strategic-control approach to communication recognizes that while people may have reasons for their behavior, they cannot be expected to communicate in ways that consistently maximize others’ understanding.”
Explanation of the Concept
Strategic-control perspective is a tool to control the environment around a person or a group of people. There may be many reasons to not be completely clear when dealing with personal, relational, or political issues. The main concept of strategic-control perspective that I found was, knowing when to communicate something and when not to communicate something. It’s not always in the best interest of the group to be completely forthcoming with information. Telling the group just enough to allow them to accomplish their goal in a satisfactory manner can generally suffice. According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), “Strategic ambiguity is an important concept that describes the ways in which people may communicate unclearly but still accomplish their goals.” It can be just as useful to be ambiguous regarding something, while the end result remains unaffected. Strategic ambiguity provides the user with the ability to speak to all on the same level instead of having to have multiple discussions with multiple people. For example, take a movie that some may look at as a simple adventure film, however to someone else, the film has layers upon layers of symbolism and depth. Among the reasons for this connection are: situational parallels to real life events, symbolism that evokes their religious choice, or an actual subtext created by the original film maker that must be examined to be appreciated. By staying ambiguous it allows people to fill in the blanks according to their own needs with their inherent confirming belief. In addition, strategic ambiguity also provides the user with plausible deniability. Someone may take a negative approach to what was said, but by being ambiguous it allows for deniability by changing the “intended” meaning.
Application of the Concept
I work for a regional telecommunications company. There have been situations at my work place where it is necessary to give people just enough information to get them by. For example, last year, there was a big change in the price plan structure coming down from the president of the company. This information was on a need to know basis, however, many associates were made aware that there was a big change coming, months ahead of the “official release” of this information. We were to let the associates know just enough to get by. As I mentioned, they were told there would be a change, but the extent of the change was left ambiguous so as to keep the associates selling in the mean time. In the past, when a change was coming and full disclosure was given to the associates, the associates would “leak” the information and sales would grind to a halt until the promotion, or change, were to kick in. This caused a ripple effect in that the supply couldn’t meet the demand of the surge in business due to the leaked information. When it came time for the re-structuring of the price plans, the minimalist approach was taken to ensure that no loss of revenue would precede the change. Also, all associates signed non-disclosure agreements to maintain that what little information they were given ahead of time would not be given out to the general public or to a rival company.
On a more personal note, I have a friend who does not deal in absolutes. He will never flat out say yes or no to a question under any circumstances. I feel this is his way of utilizing the strategic-control perspective. He is extremely secretive regarding himself, however this is not meant to imply that he is vindictive or deceptive, but rather ambiguous. If he plans anything there is never a definitive time involved. Where “eightish” to me would imply fifteen minutes before to fifteen minutes after, to him it simply means he will arrive any time after that point, up to and including hours after the arranged time. This has caused many volatile situations to arise in the early years of our friendship, but has since become a non-issue as I’ve begun to not plan anything that hinges on his punctuality or support, while still welcoming his presence in the event that he should choose to attend.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay provided a text example of the concept, provided, in my own words, an explanation of the concept, and applied the concept to a specific situation in such a way as to demonstrate the concept from my personal work situations. However, the strategic-control perspective is not without its issues. It causes people to behave less than ethically by not being completely upfront with each other. It seems to exist mostly to allow people not to tie their hands into a situation that they may not wish to be in. With this approach it can appear that they cannot fail in any situation. If their main goal was accomplished, they take the credit, if it wasn’t it allows them to escape blame. If I were to use this in an every day setting, I may or may not find myself accomplishing my goals.
References
Eisenberg, E. M., Goodall Jr, H. L., & Trethewey, A. (2010) Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint Bedford/St. Martin’s, 30-32.
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