COORDINATED MANAGEMENT OF MEANING THEORY

RGUINGAB
 • Every single person has their own interpretation of other’s actions and reactions
while interacting with them.

This construction of meaning during the conversation is

composed of interpersonal system that explains actions
and reactions
DEVELOPED BY W. BARNETT PEARCE AND VERNON
CRONEN IN 1980
Four main tenets that describe the Coordinated Management of Meaning.

1.The experience of people in conversation is considered the main social process of their lives.
• This means that communication is not just the way we describe our experiences, but rather literally shapes our
experiences.

2. The manner in which people communicate is considered more crucial than the content of what is said.
• The way in which communicators speak and their mood and mannerisms often has more of an impact than the words
spoken.
FOUR TENETS, CONTINUED

3. The behavior of people communicating are reproduced reflexively as the conversation

continues.
• Reflexivity refers to the process of our words being bounced, or reflected back and in turn
affecting us.

4. Researchers of CMM view themselves as curious participants in a pluralistic world.

• This refers to curiosity in the changing conditions of life, being an active part of their
research, and understanding that people make their own truths
• In the Coordinated Management of Meaning, the meaning-making process is considered a
hierarchy, with primary concerns at the top and less relevant concerns below.

• This hierarchy of meaning may affect the meaning-making process negatively if the
different conversational partners’ hierarchies do not match up.
CMM can be interpreted through these frames:
• 1) Episode: A sequence of speech acts with a beginning and an end that are held
together by a story.
• Episodes can have different interpretations based on the relational and content
dimensions.
• 2) Culture: Networks of shared meaning and values that provide specific
interpretations of communication.
• 3.) Stories lived and stories told: Stories lived are our unique life experiences,
and we interpret and make sense of them through stories told, or how we talk
about what we have experienced.
4) Frame: The lens through which you perceive a specific communication
encounter, such as a cultural frame. CMM can be applied in all communication
interactions that occur in our daily lives.