The Coordinated Management Of Meaning Theory Claims

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The Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory Claims
The Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) Theory by Barnet Pearce and Vernon Cronen shows that communication is an essential tool for any person. It also explains that people involved in a conversation can recreate their realities and also be shaped at the same time by the new world they are creating in that conversation. Furthermore, the theory has one central assumption that any communication will continue to impact the people who were involved in it even after it is over. This is because our conversation can affect our social lives (Pearce and Cronen 68). Although this theory is based on constructivism, it mainly focuses on the communication perspective rather than the drivers that are responsible for creating our social realities.
The CMM theory contains four claims or tenets that describes it. The first claim is that “our communication creates our social world.” In essence, the principle means that it is the experience of the people who are involved in any conversation that is considered as the main or essential process in the conversation. So, communication in itself is not only the way people get to share their experiences, but it is the means by which we get to shape them. Furthermore, this theory suggests through this claim that people’s exchanges are the basic building blocks of their social worlds or situations. This belief of people co-creating their social world is termed as social constructionism.

It is about what is being made by the conversation rather than what it means it.
The second claim suggests that “the stories we tell differ from the stories we live.” This means that the way or manner by which people communicate should be more important than what is said in any conversation (Pearce and Cronen 68). In essence, a person’s mannerisms, mood and how he or she speaks will have more impact than they say. It also means that communication is two-way traffic with one side having stories lived, and the other one with the story told. The stories told are used to help people to be able to make sense of the world while the stories lived are as a result of a pattern of the human interaction. The meaning of this claim is that conversations should not be concerned merely with trying to find the correct or right story but must be interested in creating an awareness of how complicated the social worlds are.
The third claim of CMM is that “we get what we make.” This means that the behaviors of the individuals in any conversation will always be reproduced unknowingly as the conversation proceeds. This shows that our words will bounce back to us as soon as we say them. This can have a negative or positive effect on us. Thus, people can control the process of conversation through understanding the interpersonal and personal meaning. The personal purpose of any communication according to the third claim is defined as the result achieved during the process of personal interaction where they bring out their experiences. On the other hand, the interpersonal meaning can be made through or when the individuals in the conversation agree with each other’s interpretation. Which means the conversation goal was reached without the individuals putting too much thought into it. However, if no meaning is achieved, then, the communication was not sufficient.
In conclusion, the Coordination Management of Meaning Theory portrays communication as having an important role in our lives and that it can be applied to all types of interactions that involve communication.
Works Cited
W. Barnett Pearce. and Cronen, Vernon E. “Coordinated management of meaning: A critical theory.” Theories in intercultural communication (1988): 66-98.
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