ORGANIZATIONAL RHETORIC FROM THE OVAL OFFICE: A WEICKIAN ANALYSIS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION A Dissertation by JENNIFER WILLYARD Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2008 Major Subject: Communication ORGANIZATIONAL RHETORIC FROM THE OVAL OFFICE: A WEICKIAN ANALYSIS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION A Dissertation by JENNIFER WILLYARD Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Katherine I. Miller Committee Members, Charles R. Conrad Kurt Ritter Cary J. Nederman Head of Department, Richard L. Street August 2008 Major Subject: Communication iii ABSTRACT Organizational Rhetoric from the Oval Office: A Weickian Analysis of the Bush Administration. (August 2008) Jennifer Willyard, B.A., Concordia College; M.A., Wake Forest University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Katherine I. Miller This project attempts to bridge the gap between organizational theory and political rhetoric by approaching the study of the George W. Bush administration through the lens of Weick’s theory of organizing. I specifically argue for the Bush administration as a tightly coupled system, as demonstrated by the media and the members of the administration themselves. Second, I argue for the constraining nature of the enacted environment through an analysis of the administration’s position on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. I find that Bush’s decision to veto stem cell legislation in 2006 was a consequence of his identity as an Evangelical Christian and of his definition of what it means to be a leader. Finally, I argue for the importance of requisite variety in the administration’s rhetorical constructions of the problems facing Social Security and the proposed methods of program reform. The administration’s proposal demonstrates the necessity for a rhetorical “matching” between the construction of the problem and the construction of the solution. Finally, I turn to Crable and situate the findings within Crable’s model of organizational rhetoric. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a dissertation is always a daunting task, but I am extremely thankful to committee members Charlie Conrad, Kurt Ritter, Cary Nederman, and sub extraordinaire Leroy Dorsey for making the process (relatively) painless, for their patience and valuable insights into this project, and for reading this darn thing in its entirety. Special thanks go to Kathy Miller, ever the dissertation cheerleader, for encouragement and feedback. You handled everything I threw at you and helped me to develop a coherent and sustained line of argument. I am constantly amazed by your insights, your time management skills, and your unique balance between scholarship and life. Thank you! Thanks must also be given to friends and family. You were all on the receiving end of nearly continuous “procrastabitching,” but Mom was most often the recipient of my favorite past time. Somehow, however, you managed to get me to hang up the phone when it was time to get working. I love you and appreciate your patience, support, commiseration, and encouragement. Finally, thanks to Jill McMillan for introducing me to organizational rhetoric and the fourth system of rhetoric. The time spent in your den discussing theory and developing ideas about the important role of organizational rhetoric in today’s society proved invaluable to this project. Someday we’ll finish that Kyoto project... v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 1 Political Rhetoric in the Organizational System ............................ 2 II FILLING A RHETORICAL VOID ..................................................... 12 Traditional Models......................................................................... 12 New Models................................................................................... 20 Communication Critique................................................................ 33 Weick’s Theory of Organizing....................................................... 41 III A TIGHTLY COUPLED (WAR) CABINET...................................... 56 System Coupling............................................................................ 57 Method........................................................................................... 63 The Tightly Coupled Bush Administration.................................... 66 Conclusion...................................................................................... 111 IV STEM CELLS AND THE ENACTED ENVIRONMENT.................. 112 The Enacted Environment.............................................................. 112 Method........................................................................................... 117 Embryonic Stem Cell Research...................................................... 117 George W. Bush and Stem Cells.................................................... 120 vi CHAPTER Page Commitment, Social Information Processing, and the Religious Right............................................................ 128 Commitment, Social Information Processing, and Leadership...... 148 The Enacted Environment and Stem Cell Policy........................... 156 Conclusion...................................................................................... 157 V THE SIMPLE COMPLEXITY OF SOCIAL SECURITY .................. 159 Method........................................................................................... 161 Weick and Requisite Variety.......................................................... 164 George W. Bush and Social Security Reform................................ 166 Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................ 185 VI DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS................................................ 192 Crable and Tightly Coupled Systems............................................. 194 Crable and the Enacted Environment............................................. 200 Crable and Requisite Variety ......................................................... 204 Conclusion...................................................................................... 212 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 215 VITA ......................................................................................................................... 245 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Interaction of Personal and Organizational Variables....................... 22 Figure 2 Number of Workers Per Beneficiary in 1950, 2005, and in the Future................................................................................ 171 Figure 3 The White House Projects That in 2018 Social Security Will Begin to Pay More in Benefits than It Collects in Payroll Taxes ..... 174 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In 1990, Richard Crable introduced rhetoricians to the concept of the fourth great system of rhetoric. Drawing on the work of Douglas Ehninger, Crable argued that this modern, contemporary system of rhetoric was organizational in nature and proposed that rhetors function in society as spokespersons rather than by vocalizing their own individual viewpoints or beliefs. As examples of speakers under the constraints of the fourth system, Crable pointed to the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan U.S. presidential administrations. He essentially argued that Carter did not understand that he was to act as a spokesperson and placed too much emphasis on his own ideas. Reagan, however, was able to quickly learn that his skills as an actor in the Hollywood sense would serve him better in his presidency than his skills as a Burkean actor. He quickly adapted his former occupation to his new office and achieved historical success for his communicative abilities. Crable also outlined a set of constructs that effectively described the characteristics of organizational rhetoric in the fourth system (of the type he identifies in the Carter and Reagan administrations), but what he did not clearly do was provide scholars with ways of making arguments about how rhetoric functions within the system of organizational rhetoric. Political scientists have adopted concepts of organizational communication to gain insight into presidential administrations with a similar end: they This dissertation follows the style of Management Communication Quarterly 2 can describe organizational characteristics but have very little to say about political or organizational rhetoric. To help fill this void in the literature, this study examines several rhetorical events of the George W. Bush administration and analyzes them using Weick’s theory of organizational sensemaking. I argue that this theory is appropriate as it focuses on the communicative nature of organizations and moves away from the managerial bias that is present in much of the political