Communication to Self in Organizations and Cultures

Two modes of communication are defined that distinguish between cultural groups: The first mode is communication in the traditional sender-receiver sense; it adds quantitatively to the receiver's knowledge. The second mode is autocommunication, communication to oneself. Autocommunication is typical of artistic and religious texts, but any text can become autocommunicational. An autocommunicational text (e.g., a novel) may be read many times over; its function, however, is not to add information in the quantitative sense, but to enhance the ego. When texts are read in an autocommunicational way, they act like mantras, they enhance. Evidence of autocommunicational texts may also be found in corporate cultures. Strategic plans, it is argued, become in many cases such mantras. Unlike previous authors, who have considered as failures plans that were not implemented, we claim that such mythical, autocommunicational planning also has its purpose: focusing of mind, goal seeking, and generating enthusiasm.