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Chapter 15: Structuration Theory
Chapter 15
Structuration Theory
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
• Members of an organization use rules to state expectations of behavior and communication
within the organization.
• The structure of an institution can be changed by adapting rules or creating new ones.
• Sociologist Anthony Giddens believes that social institutions are produced, reproduced,
and transformed through the use of rules.
o David Seibold and Karen Kroman Myers (2006) contend that social institutions are
“organized around members’ interactional processes and practices: disseminating
information, allocating resources, accomplishing tasks, making choices, managing
disagreements, and the like” (p. 143).
o The structure of these institutions is the focus of Structuration Theory.
• In Structuration Theory, rules in a social institution go beyond telling employees what they
can and cannot do.
o In interactions among people, the rules guiding these conversations allow employees
to maintain or alter an organization.
• Giddens (1979, 1993) views social structures as a double-edged sword.
o The structures and the rules that people create restrict their behavior.
o Rules also enable people to understand and interact with others.
o Rules may be either explicitly stated or implicitly learned.
• Groups and organizations are coordinated around various social interactions—for example,
socializing new members through new employee receptions, arriving at decisions during
conference calls, conducting meetings in person or via videoconference, or teaching new
skills in employee-training sessions.
o Giddens (1984; 2003) points out that the key to making sense of the communication
that occurs in these groups and organizations is to examine the structures that serve
as their foundation.
o Giddens makes a distinction between the concepts of system and structure.
▪ The term system, in this sense, refers to the group or organization itself and the
behaviors and practices that the group engages in to pursue its goals.
▪ The term structure refers to the rules and resources members use to create and
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West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
sustain the system, as well as to guide individual behaviors related to such
behaviors/practices.
o Marshall Scott Poole (1990) and his colleagues David Seibold and Robert McPhee
(McPhee, 2015; McPhee, Poole, & Iverson, 2013; Poole & DeSanctis, 1990; Poole &
McPhee, 2005; Poole, Seibold, & McPhee, 1986; 1996; Seibold & Myers, 2007)
have studied the application of structuration principles to the communication field.
o Their theoretical approach has been called Adaptive Structuration Theory to explain
how task groups use and strategically adapt information technology, rules, and
resources to accomplish organizational/ group goals (Poole and McPhee, 2005).
• Structuration is described as “the process by which systems are produced and reproduced
through members’ use of rules and resources” (Poole, Seibold, and McPhee, 1996, p. 117).
o For structuration theorists, organizational structures are produced and replicated by
people who interact on a daily basis, trying to accomplish personal and company
goals (Modaff, Butler, and DeWine, 2017).
o Structuration allows people to understand their patterns of behavior—the structures
of their social system.
o With respect to small groups, Poole and colleagues conclude that the key to
understanding groups is through an analysis of the structures that underlie them.
o Structuration is communicative: “Talk is action. If structure is truly produced through
interaction, then communication is more than just a precursor to action; it is action”
(Modaff et al., 2017, p. 121).
II. Assumptions of Structuration Theory
• Structuration Theory is rather complex because it deals with people, resources, behavior,
tasks, norms, and organizational life (Wiggins and Bowers, 2014).
• Therefore, to assist in unraveling this complexity, consider the following basic assumptions
that guide the theory:
o Groups and organizations are produced and reproduced through actions and
behaviors.
o Communication rules serve as both the medium for, and an outcome of, interactions.
o Power structures are present in organizations and guide the decision-making process.
• Underscoring the first assumption, Giddens proposes that every action or behavior results
in the production of something new—a fresh act.
o Each of the actions or behaviors in which a group or organization engages is
influenced and affected by the past.
o This history serves as a reference for understanding what rules and resources are
required to operate within the system.
o It is important to remember that every time people communicate with someone, they
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West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
are establishing a new beginning by doing the following:
▪ Creating a new rule or expectation
▪ Altering an existing rule
▪ Reaffirming rules that have been used in the past
• The second assumption of Structuration Theory is the notion that rules simultaneously
provide a guideline for individual behavior as well as serve as possible constraints on
individual behavior.
enacted. That is, if a rule worked well in the past, it’s likely to be retained; if not, it’s
likely to be modified or abandoned.
• The third assumption guiding Structuration Theory posits that power is an influential force
in arriving at decisions in organizations.
o In this theory, power is perceived as the ability to achieve results—it enables people
to accomplish their goals.
o Giddens believes that power is a two-way street; any time two people are engaged in
communication with each other, both sources have a certain level of power that they
bring to the interaction.
▪ All group members have some sort of power, but some have more than others.
▪ Based on the history of an organization, typically rules have been established to
grant some members a particular form of power over other members.
III. Central Concepts of Structuration Theory
o Agency is defined as the specific behaviors or activities that humans engage in,
guided by the rules and contexts in which interactions take place.
▪ Agency is normally undertaken by individuals, groups, or organizations
themselves (Haslett, 2016).
o Agent refers to the person who engages in these behaviors.
• Reflexivity refers to the actors’ ability to monitor their actions and behaviors.
o An important element in agency and reflexivity is the ability of an individual to
articulate the reasons for his or her choices of behavior.
o The agent has a level of consciousness about his or her behavior and can explain
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Chapter 15: Structuration Theory
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
why a particular behavior was chosen over another.
• In employing agency and reflexivity, organizations reflect on the structures and systems
that are in place, and members have the ability to explain the reasons for the behaviors
as well as the ability to identify their goals.
o Discursive consciousness refers to the ability of a person to state his or her
thoughts in a language that can be shared with other members of the organization.
o Practical consciousness refers to those actions or feelings that cannot be put into
words.
B. Duality of Structure
• According to the principle of duality of structure, members of an organization depend
• In Structuration Theory, rather than viewing rules as strictly guidelines for why
something must be done, it is more useful to view them as an instruction manual for
how a goal may be accomplished.
o These rules may be explicitly stated or implicitly learned.
o Allocative resources refer to the material assistance generated by an organization
to help the group in accomplishing its goal.
o Authoritative resources pertain to the interpersonal characteristics that are
employed during communication interactions.
▪ Authoritative resources allow a person to execute power in an organization.
▪ One key point about power in this theory is how agents can employ power
to get what they want in a social system (Poole and McPhee, 2005).
• Reward power is based on a person’s perception that another has the ability to provide
positive reinforcements.
• Coercive power is based on the expectation that an individual has the ability to exact
punishment.
• Referent power is the ability of an individual to engage compliance based on the fact
that personal relationships have been established between the two interactants.
• The influence a person exerts on the basis of his or her position or title is called
legitimate power.
• Expert power refers to one’s ability to exert influence over others based on the
knowledge or expertise that one possesses.
o If power is to be viewed as a resource in Structuration Theory, duality of structure
could be applied to explain how power was used in generating action in the group
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West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
as well as in determining if power was altered or changed as a result of the action
that was taken.
C. Social Integration
• Social integration refers to the reciprocity of communication behaviors among persons
in interactions.
• This is an ongoing process whereby members of an organization become acquainted
with one another and form expectations based on previous impressions or information
that is learned.
• If members are interacting with one another for the first time, their knowledge of one
another will be quite limited, and the process of social integration will be much more
IV. Application of Time and Space
• Structuration theorists believe that all social interaction in an organization is composed of
temporal (time) and spatial (space) dimensions.
o The actual communication or interaction that takes place in the organization can be
examined as existing in real time and as taking place in real locations (space).
o People hear a message as it occurs in a context.
o Space is viewed as a contextual element that has meaning for the various members of
a group or organization.
V. Integration, Critique, and Closing
• It is estimated that in an organization, employees spend almost 90 percent of their time in
group or team meetings.
• In fact, 54 percent of employees spend up to 30 percent of their day in team settings and as
much as 50 percent of their time working in a team setting
(kenblanchard.com/img/pub/pdf_critical_role_teams.pdf).
A. Scope
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Chapter 15: Structuration Theory
• Structuration Theory can be applied to numerous social settings involving teams and
small groups (McPhee, et al., 2013; Poole, 2013) and scores of communication
interactions.
B. Parsimony
• Many organizational communication and management theorists have argued the theory
is laden with terminology that is challenging to understand.
• Stephen Banks and Patricia Riley (1993) point out that Structuration Theory is difficult
to understand: “Structuration lacks certain characteristics that communication
researchers and other social science scientists often find appealing: It is not quickly
read, immediately intuitive, or parsimonious” (p. 178).
Classroom Activities
1. Case Study Analysis: Tim Nash and Bayside City Tire
Objective: The objective is to provide students with the opportunity to critically analyze
the roles, resources, and rules that guide interactions among members of a group or
organization.
Materials: The “Tim Nash and Bayside City Tire Company” case study
Directions:
a. Have the students reread the case of “Tim Nash and Bayside City Tire Company.”
b. Individually, have the students answer the following questions:
• What communication rules were in place at Bayside City Tire?
• How did these rules impact communication among members of the
organization?
• Who was/were the agent(s) in this case?
• How did the production division managers employ reflexivity in arriving at a
decision?
• What allocative resources were available to Angela and the team for arriving at
a decision? What authoritative resources were available?
• What types of power did the various group members hold?
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
2. The Role of Power
Objective: The objective is to have students identify the pros and cons of various types of
power present in groups and organizations.
Materials: None
Directions:
a. Instruct the students to list the five types of power in social systems (reward,
coercive, referent, legitimate, and expert).
c. As a class, discuss the benefits and pitfalls of each type of power. Ask the students to
identify people in their own lives or in the media who possess the various types of
power discussed.
3. “Jingle Bells”
Objective: The objective is to demonstrate the importance of establishing rules and power
when accomplishing group goals.
Materials: None
Directions:
a. Have the members of the class form a circle. Provide them with the following
directions:
“As a group, your task is to sing the song ‘Jingle Bells.’ As you go around the circle,
each person should sing one word in the song. If one member of the group
incorrectly sings his or her portion of the song, the entire process must start over. It is
up to you as a group to decide how to best organize yourselves to accomplish this
task.”
Note: You may want some members of the class to sit back and merely observe the
process.
b. As the group progresses through the task, perhaps offer suggestions to make it easier
to accomplish the goal. Such suggestions might include writing the words to the song
on the blackboard, having each student stand while he or she sings a word, or
designating a leader to point to students when it is their turn to sing.
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Chapter 15: Structuration Theory
c. After the group has accomplished the task, discuss the steps that were taken to do so,
focusing on the following questions:
• Did power play a role in the accomplishment of the goal?
• What were the rules that were established?
