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OUT OF THE HEART SPRINGS THE COMMUNICATION OF LEADERSHIP
__________________________________
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty in Communication and Leadership Studies
School of Professional Studies
Gonzaga University
__________________________________
Under the Supervision of Dr. Alexa Dare
Under the Mentorship of Dr. Heather Crandall
__________________________________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership Studies
__________________________________
By
Jodi A. Kohut
May 2012
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Abstract
This study is based on the philosophical and biblical notions that words are a sacred gift from
God and should be used with care. This study is concerned with how a leader uses these words
in the organizational context. Edification is presented as a performative speech act by connecting
its intention, “to build” to the rhetorical functions of the locutionary, illocutionary, and
perlocutionary acts. Using Sullivan’s (1988) foundation for extending these language functions
to the organizational context, the author proposes that edifying language has functions across
three dimensions: 1.) Perlocutionary, subordinate building properties 2.) Illocutionary,
relationship building properties and 3.) Locutionary, culture building properties. The researcher
used qualitative inquiry to capture the essence of edification from a sales representatives’
viewpoint. By presenting edification as an intention and a speech act, this study bridges theory
and practice and future research may inform both leadership and communication studies.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY .................................................................... 6
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................................ 6
Importance of the Study ................................................................................................................... 6
Definitions of Terms Used ............................................................................................................... 7
Organization of Remaining Chapters .......................................................................................... 8
Chapter 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ........................................................................ 9
Philosophical Assumptions and Theoretical Basis ................................................................ 9
Philosophical Assumptions ....................................................................................................................... 9
Theoretical Basis ......................................................................................................................................... 10
The Literature ................................................................................................................................... 11
Edification ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Speech Acts .................................................................................................................................................... 13
Team Climate ................................................................................................................................................ 20
Organizational Commitment .................................................................................................................. 21
Rationale ............................................................................................................................................. 24
Research Questions ........................................................................................................................ 24
Chapter 3: SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 25
The Scope of the Study ................................................................................................................... 25
Study Population ......................................................................................................................................... 25
Methodology of the Study ............................................................................................................. 26
Research Design ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Interviews ...................................................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter 4: THE STUDY .......................................................................................................... 30
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Description of the Study ................................................................................................................ 30
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................................. 30
Results of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 31
Definition ........................................................................................................................................................ 31
Discussion .......................................................................................................................................... 35
Speech Acts and the Study ....................................................................................................................... 35
Team Climate and the Study ................................................................................................................... 38
Organizational Commitment and the Study ..................................................................................... 40
Chapter 5: SUMMARIES AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................. 41
Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................................ 41
Further Study Recommendations .............................................................................................. 42
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 42
References .......................................................................................................................................... 44
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 50
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE ............................................................................................... 50
APPENDIX C- SELECTIVE CODING RELATIONSHIP BUILDING THEME .......................... 52
APPENDIX D- SELECTIVE CODING CLIMATE BUILDING THEME ...................................... 54
APPENDIX E- CODING (OPPOSITE OF EDIFICATION) .......................................................... 55
APPENDIX F-INDIRECT NATURE OF SPEECH ACT ................................................................ 56
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Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Statement of the Problem
Leaders and managers spend most of their time communicating to subordinates
(Mintzberg, 1973). Companies and subordinates rely on leaders to provide structure and
meaning on a day-to-day basis. The primary means that a leader has to convey this structure and
meaning is through his or her words. In a sales environment, sales managers have direct
influence over decisions that can facilitate or impede the success of their salespeople. They often
have frequent interaction with their customer facing sales representatives in order to provide the
assistance needed to deliver the solution to the customer. These situations can be time sensitive
and fraught with stress. Too often, not enough care is put into the words that are conveyed to the
sales representatives, who are by nature, approval seeking. Leaders need practical ways to help
moderate their own emotions in stressful situations as the one presented. By holding an intention
to “build” a salesperson, it may help sales managers to more effectively produce communications
that are consistent and strategic for their sales forces.
Importance of the Study
Salespeople are boundary-spanning employees who must successfully navigate their
internal and external environments in order to produce revenue for the corporations they
represent (Singh, 1993). Most salespeople’s income is largely based on their ability to produce
this revenue. Perhaps due to this fact, much of the research literature is based on expectancy
theory. Exceptions in the literature acknowledge that money alone does not fully explain critical
sales force outcomes. Organizational perceptions and influences have an important role in a
salesperson’s attitudes and behaviors (Kraft, 1999). The research suggests that none of these
may be more influential than the salesperson-sales manager dyad (Chonko, 1986, Singh, 1993,
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Tyagi, 1995, Walker, Churchill & Ford, 1977). This is no surprise to researchers into the
psychological climate of an organization who state that between 53-72% of how employees
perceive their organizational climate is based on the actions of the leader (Kelner, O’Rivers &
O’Connell, 1996). Individual perceptions of organizational climate are important in the sales
environment. Salespeople are more likely to positively represent an organization when they feel
good about being a member of the organization.
Definitions of Terms Used
There are a number of terms used throughout this study that are defined as follows:
Edification- The act of “uplifting” another or “to build” someone up.
Speech Act- This study uses Griffin’s (2009) base definition of, “any verbal or non verbal
message as part of an interaction; the basic building block of the social universe that people
create” (p.76). The following types of speech acts are identified and used throughout the study.
Performative speech act- Based on Austin’s (1962) notion, this is a speech act that does
something as well as says something.
Locutionary speech act- the act of stating something (Austin, 1962, Searle, 1970)
Illocutionary speech act- Illocutionary speech acts are thought to convey the intent of a
speaker (Austin, 1962, Campbell, 1973, Searle, 1969, Vendler, 1972).
Perlocutionary speech act- a perlocutionary speech act is one that has an effect upon the
feelings, thoughts, or actions of the hearer (Austin, 1962, Campbell, 1973).
Climate is used to describe the prevailing emotional conditions of an organization. The
organizational literature references psychological climate and the communication literature
references communication climate to describe this perceptual phenomenon.
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Psychological Climate- Defined by Koys and Decotiis (1991, p. 266), as “an experiential
based, multidimensional, and enduring perceptual phenomenon, which is widely shared by
members of a given organizational unit.”
Communication climate- as a sub dimension of group climate, Rothwell (2009) described
this as the emotional atmospheres created by the way people communicate in groups.
Organizational Commitment is defined as, “a strong belief in and acceptance of an organization’s
goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a
strong desire to maintain membership in the organization (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979, p.
226).
Organization of Remaining Chapters
The remaining chapters in this study examine the construct, edification, and how it might
inform the organizational and communication literature. Chapter Two provides the framework
for the study by describing the theoretical and philosophical foundations upon which the study is
based and a review of the relevant research. This chapter concludes with the underpinning
rationale of the study and the research questions that the study addresses. Chapter Three
describes the scope, methodology, and design of the study. The results of the study are presented
in Chapter Four, and this chapter includes a discussion of the findings. Chapter Five concludes
the work by describing the limitations and conclusions of the study, along with future research
recommendations.
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Chapter 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Philosophical Assumptions and Theoretical Basis
Philosophical Assumptions
Aristotle was in favor of finding and using all means of persuasion available to a
speaker in order to arrive at and articulate the truth to an audience. In additional to providing a
logical argument (logos), a speaker must also prove his or her credibility (ethos), and draw
feeling out of the audience (pathos), in order to convince an audience of truth. Aristotle was an
advocate of tailoring a message to the audience, but he would not champion the idea of
sacrificing truth in order to do so to make the message more acceptable. An ethical speaker in
Aristotle’s view naturally gravitates toward the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, and practical
wisdom, and his or her speech is moderated by temperance. Temperate speech is characterized
by careful deliberation. Aristotle believed this was important when speaking, and it was a display
of character. The Bible informs that, “Thou seest a man who is hasty in his words, there is more
hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 29:20, KJV).
Aristotle believed the condition of the soul governs whether a person’s thoughts,
words, and actions have an orientation toward virtue of vice. The practice of temperance would
mean that a speaker would reach the golden mean. Griffin (2009, p. 286) gives an apt example
of what this means to the practice of communication as follows:
Extreme Golden Mean Extreme
Lies Truthful Statements Brutal Honesty
Secrecy Self-disclosure Soul-baring
Cowardice Courage Recklessness
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According to this philosophy, an ethical speaker gravitates toward truthful statements,
self-disclosure and courage when speaking. By practicing this temperance, a leader may be able
to positively impact his or her followers and organization.
An organizational leader with a title and the requisite authority that it represents stands
in formal relationship with his or her subordinates and the organization that he or she serves. It
could be said that the most important tool that the leader possesses is the influence that is both
bestowed upon him or her and maintained as part of the formal relationship with the organization
and its constituents (Frese, et al, 2003; Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996; Riggio, et al), This formal
relationship is built and maintained largely via communication. Rhetoric involves the ethical and
intentional use of communication to persuade rather than coerce constituents to take action. This
study assumes that leadership is its communication.
Theoretical Basis
Research indicates that an organization’s environment, or communication climate,
significantly impacts the job attitudes and outcomes of salespeople (Singh, 1993, Rothwell,
2009). The speech acts of a leader might be thought of as contributing significantly to
psychological climate of the organization. Cognitive social learning theory informs us that an
organization’s psychological climate is based on employee perception, which remains stable over
time. Attempts to change these perceptions must be made with significant effort over time
(Campbell Dunnette, Lawler, and Weick, 1970). In a sales organization, the sales manager is the
one who would have to exert this continuous effort to shape and mold the group climate. This
is consistent with the idea that leadership is not an end state, and that its form must emerge rather
than to be imposed (Morgan, 2009). This study is built upon the supposition that a leader does
not only provide leadership, he or she enacts leadership through the speech act. The speech acts
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that a leader produces can change the organizationally materially and psychologically because of
the formal authority granted to him or her.
This study introduces the concept of edification as an intention and as a performative
speech act. Edification has not previously been presented as a performative speech act, but truly
the origin of the word “to build” implies language that does something as well as says
something. Language that is used to “tear down” has been well documented in the literature
about toxic leaders and the debilitating effect that they have on individuals and organizations
(Frost, 2004). The aim of this exploration is to determine whether edification as a performative
speech act can be defined in order to contribute to current communication and leadership studies.
Edification conveys the idea of both constructing and strengthening, which is the real work of
communicating and leading.
The Literature
Edification
According to the Oxford English Dictionary Online (2011), the earliest use of the term
edification was the Wycliffe Bible in 1382 from Romans 14:19, which proclaims, “Let us
therefore follow after the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify
another” (King James Version, Bible Study Tools Online, n.d.). The etymology of this word
points to the Greek okiodome (Strong’s G3619), which is literally, “building up. The biblical
definition is, “one who promotes another’s growth in (Christian) wisdom, piety, happiness, or
holiness” (Blue Letter Bible Online, 2010). Thayer’s Lexicon describes those that, “by action,
instruction, exhortation or comfort, promote the (Christian) wisdom of others and help them live
a correspondent life”. Dictionary.com (n.d.) states it as to “uplift.” Ephesians 4:29 warns, “Let
no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such is that is good for building up, as fits
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the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Extended Standard Version, Bible Study
Tools Online, n.d.).
Kierkegaard (1847/1956, p. 144) believed that communication should edify, and in
order to do so that it must demand something of the listener. When Herman (2008) wrote about
Kierkegaard’s approach to communication he observed that, “Edification is not merely empathy,
but a profound respect for another’s privacy, otherness, and mystery” (p. 74). This term might
be consistent with what leadership research refers to as individualized consideration or in
communication terms, being person-centered.
Leadership research recognizes individualized consideration as an important construct
with positive outcomes, including improving employee’s self-efficacy and self-esteem (Bass,
1990). Professor Scholl of the University of Rhode Island (n.d.) describes self-esteem as the
function of the distance between the perceived self and the ideal self. One component of his
definition of self-esteem is that which is socially influenced self-esteem, a “function of the
expectations of others and results from communication or feedback from reference group
members or society as a whole, concerning the value of an identity and the individual's ability to
meet the expectations of the reference group and/or society as a whole” (University of Rhode
Island Website, n.d, paragraph 6).
Salespeople take their cues from the feedback they receive from the results of their efforts
(task feedback), and the words and behavior of others (social feedback). Scholl (n.d.) informs
that affirming behavior reinforces a person’s perceptions of his or her traits, values, and
competencies. The use of affirmations (verbal cues) is one way in which this reinforcement can
occur. Sales research informs that supervisory feedback is likely to affect a salesperson’s
learning and performance orientations (Bogiano and Barrett, 1985: Carver and Scheir, 1981).
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Feedback is primarily communicated via the speech act. The speech act is what distinguishes
human communication from the ability to produce unintelligible sounds. For this reason, ancient
rhetorical theory held that speech is a sacred gift from God (Peters, 1999).
Speech Acts
Communication scholars define the speech act as “any verbal or nonverbal message as
part of an interaction; the basic building block of the social universe people create” (Griffin,
2009, p. 76). Speech act theory has its origins in the philosophy of language. Searle (1969)
stated that the performance of a speech act was more than just the production of sound. To speak
a language is to perform a speech act, because language—as opposed to sound--- delivers
meaning. While a speaker may not be able to control the receiver’s interpretation of meaning
completely, it is often thought to be the responsibility of a good communicator to ensure that the
hearer understands what the speaker is saying. According to Searle (1969) the reason to study
speech acts is that,
All linguistic communication is not, as has been generally supposed, the word, the
symbol, word or sentence, but rather the production and the issuance of the
symbol or word or sentence in the performance of the speech act… when I take a
noise or a mark on a piece of paper to be an instance of linguistic communication,
as a message, one of the things I must assume is that the noise or mark was
produced by a being or beings more or less like myself and produced with certain
kinds of intentions. (p. 16)
Proverbs 4:23 offers, “Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life”
(King James Version). ‘Issues’ in this verse, according to the etymology (Strong’s H8444) is
from the root yatsa, “to go out, flow out.” Matthew 15:18 (ESV) puts it this way, “what comes
out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person.” These two verses inform
that the only escape for what is in the heart is through the mouth. Bible expositor John Gill
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purports, “…if the heart is right, so will the actions of men be; they are regulated and
denominated by it; they will then spring from right principles, and be directed to right ends, and
performed with right views; great care therefore should be taken of the heart, since so much
depends upon it, and it is so well known to God the searcher of it” (Bible Study Tools, 2011).
Bible scholar J. Vernon McGee (1998) puts it this way, “the well of the heart comes up through
the bucket of the mouth.” An extensive body of academic research also suggests that there are
strong reciprocal effects between expressed and felt emotions (Staw, Sutton, & Pelled, 1994).
For example, these researchers cite Ekman’s (1982) study on lying that demonstrated when
people try to show false emotions, their inner feelings leak out in unintended ways. This
suggests if feeling is not consistent with speech, the character of the speaker will be questioned,
as will what the speaker says.
Ancient rhetorical theory posited that in order for credible and persuasive, speech must
reflect not only what you say, but also what you do and who you are. Communication is more
than just words; it involves logos (words, concepts), ethos (behavior, character), and pathos
(passion, empathy). Rhetoric held that speech could reach the human being as a union of logos
and pathos only if it appeals to both of these aspects through the lips of an ethical speaker.
Speech act theory holds that we are speaking from the intention to do so.
Drought (n.d.) says that the real genius of speech act theory is that it’s not just about the
communication of ideas; it is about changing the world with words. Speech act theory bridges
the gap between theory and praxis from a communication studies standpoint. The concept of
using language to edify, or “uplift” helps provide an ethical intention and framework to influence
the common ground. The author believes this might be the real power of what was once known
as the performative speech act.
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Performative speech acts. JL Austin is an Oxford language philosopher who introduced
the theory of a performative speech act through a series of 11 lectures at Harvard in 1955.
Austin’s lecture transcripts (1962) stated that “It was far too long the assumption of philosophers
that the business of a ‘statement’ can only be used to describe some state of affairs, or to ‘state
some fact,’ which it must do either truly or falsely” (p. 1). He asserted that breaking free from
the notion that utterances exist only to present a statement of fact provided the right
philosophical atmosphere for, “the greatest and most salutary (revolution) in philosophy’s
history” (p. 4). Austin started this revolution by isolating the performative speech act.
Austin stated that this word, performative, was derived from two words “perform”
and “action” because a performative does both, rather than just saying something. It also does
something. Austin presented performative speech acts as the first person singular indicative
actives that meet two conditions:
“A.) They do not ‘describe’ or ‘report’ or constate anything at all, are not
‘true or false’:
And
B.) the uttering of the sentence is, or is a part of, the doing of an action
which again would not normally be described as, or as ‘just’ saying something”
(p. 6).
Winterowd (1976, p. 66) provides a list of performatives that include: advise, answer,
appoint, ask, authorize, beg, bequeath, beseech, caution, code, claim, close, command, condemn,
counsel, dare, declare, demand, empower, enquire, entreat, excommunicate, grant, implore,
inform, instruct, offer, order, pledge, pronounce, request, require, say, sentence, vow, warn, and
write. He further states that if you put any of these in declarative, positive, and first person
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sentence, you have performative sentence. Austin did state this, along with other “rules” for
using performatives, some of which confused his topic more than promoted it.
Performatives have caused a great deal of debate and confusion among scholars
Interestingly these scholars were not in favor of scrapping the idea of a performative in its
entirety, rather they seemed eager to help explain what Austin (1962) might have meant by the
notion of the performative. Arguments by Searle (1969, 1989) focused on the linguistic and
grammatical criticisms elements of what was wrong with the concept of a performative. Other
scholars such as Benjamin (1990), Sesonske (1965), and Beale (1978) recognized that the
important function of a performative might be related to how it conveys meaning between people
who stand in relationship to one another. For example, Sesonske (1965) suggested three ways in
which humans can be related:
Two persons are said to be psychologically related to each other when one has
knowledge of the other or when one has some feeling, emotion, or attitude toward
the other…two persons are generatively related to each other when the action of
one brings about some action or state in the other; two persons are formally
related when the range of appropriate or permissible interaction between them is
defined or determined by implicit or explicit conventions or rules accepted within
a group, community, or culture. (p. 462)
Based on these classifications of relationships, Sesonske (1965) states, “I propose then
this definition of a performative; a performative is an utterance whose point is to alter formal
relations” (p. 467).
A leader has the power to change the physical and logical world of an organization and
his or her colleagues through his or her words. Once certain words have been uttered in an
organizational setting such as “You’re fired,” certain things about the organization will never be
the same. This is an example of a speech act that “does” as well as “says” something.
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Performatives as a Rhetorical Construct. Benjamin (1990) argued that performatives
met the definition of a rhetorical act using Bryant’s (1972) definition of a rhetorical act. He
stated that:
Because performatives describe communicative relationships among speaker,
audience, occasion, and message constructed for practical purposes involving the
full (humanity) of the persons involved, and because performatives are not aimed
at any specific subject, there are reasons for accepting performatives as rhetorical
acts. (p. 86)
Benjamin (1990) also established that performatives resemble other rhetorical acts by
framing them against the backdrop of Blitzer’s (1972) seminal work.
He (Blitzer) indicated that all rhetorical situations involve an exigence (i.e.
“an imperfection marked by urgency” which is “capable of positive modification
through discourse”), an audience (i.e. those persons are capable of being
mediators of change”), and constraints (i.e., “persons, events, objects and relations
which are parts of the situation because they have the power to modify the
exigence (p. 86).
There are three types of speech acts that have since been commonly accepted into the
Rhetorical Tradition within Communication Theory (Drought, n.d.). These are the locutionary,
illocutionary and perlocutionary act.
Locutionary acts. A locutionary act is simply the act of saying something, Austin
(1962) described a locutionary act as, “roughly equivalent to uttering a certain sentence with a
certain sense and reference, which again is roughly equivalent to ‘meaning’ in the traditional
sense” (p. 98).
Illocutionary acts. Campbell (1973) describes an illocutionary act as, “the performance
of an act in saying something” (p. 285). That is, the act has a certain, “force indicating the way
the utterance is meant to be taken or understood” (Austin, 1962, p. 101). This illocutionary force
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is dependent upon the speaker’s intent (Vendler, 1972, Searle, 1969). The same words may have
different illocutionary forces in different contexts (Stiles, 1981). If the leader in the previous
example declared “You’re fired” in an environment where he or she did not have the proper
authority, the act would have no illocutionary force, so it would be rendered meaningless.
Austin did believe that the illocutionary act required uptake from the audience in order
have for it to be successful. Stiles (1981) asserted that every illocutionary act has an
intersubjective component, that it “connects two centers of experience in a particular way” (p.
227). The speaker is able to transmit emotion as well as words through the illocutionary act.
While there are some instances where it is important to transmit honest emotion through the
speech act, there may also be times a leader may want to understand the impact that unchecked
emotions such as anger or frustration can have on subordinates.
Perlocutionary Acts. A perlocution is saying something that “will often, or even
normally, produce certain consequential effects upon the feelings, thoughts or actions of the
audience or of the speaker, or of other persons” (Austin, 1962, p. 101). Campbell (1973) argues
that, “all speech acts produce some effect upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of those
involved in such acts, and, therefore, all speech acts are perlocutions” (p. 290). All speech acts
do produce some effect on others. In the organizational context, when spoken from a leaders
mouth, these effects may be understood to be greater than in other contexts because of the
influence that a leader wields.
Speech Acts in the Organizational Context (Motivating Language). Sullivan (1988)
proposed that all managerial communication could be categorized by three functions: a.)
Communication that is designed to reduce uncertainty or increase knowledge b.) Communication
that reaffirms self-worth and c.) Communication that informs an employee’s cognitive schema so
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that he or she can make sense of organization reality. Sullivan was able to map these back to
Austin’s (1955) speech act theory. Sullivan (1988) suggested that in the organizational context,
locutionary acts are “meaning making” and explain the structure, rules, and values of the
organization’s culture. Inclusive of metaphorical stories, rumors, and narratives, this type of
communication helps an employee to incorporate cultural norms into their own meaning-making
schema. While this is a part of organizational socialization, when a leader communicates this
type of message it may convey more valence based on his or her authority.
The illocutionary act is empathetic, an expression of humanity (Sullivan 1988), which
reaffirms bonds and self-worth. This type of communication can be used to praise an employee
for a job well done or to commiserate with a subordinate about their personal frustrations as well.
(Mayfield & Mayfield, 2009).
In Sullivan’s (1988) application to the study of leader motivating language, he
suggested that the perlocutionary speech act gives direction and reduces uncertainty. This could
be by providing clarity around a particular issue. This type of language is also concerned with
goal setting, management by objectives (MBO), and performance feedback (Mayfield &
Mayfield, 2009).
Researchers built and tested a motivating language scale (MLT) based on Sullivan’s
conceptualization to determine the strategic role language plays in transmitting leader behavior
(Mayfield, Mayfield, and Kopf, 1998). Motivating Language has been positively correlated
with performance and job satisfaction (Mayfield, Mayfield, and Kopf, 1998), and employee
absenteeism (2009). Sharbrough et al. (2006) have also tested subordinate communication
satisfaction and perceived leader communication competence utilizing MLT. When examining
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edification in the organizational context, it is proposed that edification can perform all three
functions- direction giving, meaning making, and empathetic.
Team Climate
Koys and Decotiis (1991, p. 266) defined psychological climate as, “an experiential
based, multidimensional, and enduring perceptual phenomenon, which is widely shared by
members of a given organizational unit. Its primary function is to cue and shape individual
behavior toward the modes of behavior dictated by the organizational demands.” Their further
research into this construct helped hone in on the dimensions of psychological climate and
develop scales to test the construct. The sub dimensions are: support, recognition, fairness,
innovation, autonomy, trust, cohesiveness, and pressure. Note that these dimensions of
psychological climate cannot be produced without the use of communication from someone in a
formal role of authority.
Research has demonstrated that an organization’s environment significantly impacts the
job attitudes and outcomes of salespeople (Singh, 1993). Krafft (1999) found that organizational
perceptions and influences figure prominently in the development of employee attitudes and
behaviors. Psychological climate is distinguished from organizational climate in that,
psychological climate is an individual’s perception of the organizational unit, and organizational
climate is the team’s collective perceptions about their organization as it relates to the
dimensions identified in the psychological climate literature (Koys and DeCotiis, 1991).
Joyce, Slocum, and Abelson (1977) found that psychological climate is directly related to
leadership styles. Climate is situational and subject to being manipulated by individuals in power
(Denison, 1996). This suggests that the leader of an organization or workgroup has the most
influence to shape the group climate. According to Rothwell (2009), the group climate is, “the
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emotional atmosphere, the enveloping tone that is created by the way we communicate in
groups” (p. 118). He further states that a communication climate “permeates all groups and
affects every aspect of a groups social and task dimensions” (p.118). The connection points in
these areas of research demonstrate that the sales manager would be the biggest predictor of the
group climate in a sales department. If a sales manager states, “We are facing some challenges,
but I am proud to be working with the best sales team in the industry,” it will have a much
different impact on the climate then the sales manager who proclaims, “what is wrong with you
people? Our numbers are down and you all have to get them up.” The first statement builds
upon the positive core of the team, and focuses the team’s attention on continuing to be the best
sales team in the industry. The second puts pressure on the sales force, which has been
associated with negative affects on salespeople (Chonko, 1986, Martin & Bush, 2006).
This study suggests that the words of a sales manager have locutionary, illocutionary, and
perlocutionary force because of his formal relationship to the organization and the employee.
Research has already shown that the strategic use of these three types of speech acts have
positive effects on subordinate performance and satisfaction (Mayfield, Mayfield, and Kopf,
1998). Job performance and satisfaction are both consequences of high levels of organizational
commitment, a construct that is thought to be one of the strongest predictors of organizational
effectiveness.
Organizational Commitment
Expectancy theory has a long tradition of being utilized in the sales literature to
explain variations in the performance and behavior of sales representatives. Chonko (1986) was
the first to introduce the idea that Organizational commitment could provide some distinct
explanations about these differences in behavior. Organizational commitment (hereinafter OC
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and referring to attitudinal OC) can be defined as “a strong belief in and acceptance of an
organization’s goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the
organization, and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization” (Mowday, Steers,
& Porter, 1979, p. 226). This type of OC has been found to foster loyalty and involvement, and
an inclination of the employee to stay on with the organization (Mowday et al, 1982). Chonko
(1986) believed that supervisor behavior could enhance organizational commitment. In their
later work on Saleperson OC, Sager and Johnston (1989) found that the “performer maintains a
close relationship with the sales manager, entailing both feedback and guidance” (p. 36). Both
feedback and guidance would be consistent with the idea of edification, communication that
helps to build the performance of another by orienting them to the right course of action.
This is consistent with the findings of Mathieu and Zajac (1990), who performed a
literature review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlate and consequences of
organizational commitment. The two antecedents of OC that had the strongest correlation were
an employee’s perception of his or her personal competence and leader communication. This
suggests that the edification of an individual through verbal affirmation might have the potential
to boost an employee’s perceptions about his or her personal competence. Research by Jaworski
& Kohli (1991) found that positive feedback about a salesperson’s output or behavior can be one
of the best ways to enhance a salesperson’s performance. In addition to providing an
informational function about what behavior is valued by a superior, they found that positive
feedback also improved motivation.
Leader communication. Riggio et al. (2003) state that a difficulty in studying the
communication skills of emergent and established leaders has been the ability to operationalize
communication skills or competence. They designed a comprehensive approach to measuring
23
communication competence across situations by designing a social skills inventory (SSI) self-
report instrument that allowed them to measure six basic communication skills: emotional
expressivity, emotional sensitivity, emotional control, social expressivity, social sensitivity, and
social control. They state, “total score on the SSI has been theoretically and empirically linked to
variables such as empathy, self-esteem, and social insight. These variables themselves have been
associated with leadership (Bass, 1990).
Leader consideration. Bass (1985) identified the construct, individualized consideration, as a
dimension of transformational leadership. This construct seems to come closest in the literature
to embodying many of the same aspects of what edification might do. Bass (1985) identified
several behaviors that a leader could display including: career counseling, careful observation of
staff, recording follower’s progress, and encouraging followers to attend courses that were
components of individualized consideration. Rafferty and Griffin (2006) proposed that
individualized attention allows leaders to become familiar with followers, enhances
communication and improves information exchange. While the latter has direct impact on the
edification as performative speech act might accomplish, the former speaks to the intention of
edification.
House (1981) defined a supportive leader as one who provides emotional, Informational,
instrumental and appraisal support to followers. Rafferty and Griffin (2006) stated that the most
intuitive meaning of social support is emotional support, which involves the provision of
sympathy, evidence of liking, caring and listening. Recent research found that Employees who
score the highest on providing social support in the workplace are 40% more likely to receive a
promotion in the following year (Achor, 2011). This suggests that those elevated to the
management seat may have been among the most supportive of their peers.
24
Rationale
Proverbs 18:21 cautions that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
Leadership is enacted through communication, presented in this work as a speech act. Speech
acts convey intention, whether it is purposeful or not. Speech acts have power, and when
wielded by a leader also convey authority. These aspects make many speech acts performative.
This work suggests that the ethical use of edification as a leadership intention and performative
speech act might have a positive impact upon employee’s perception of leadership and
organizational climate. The author also believes that it may have a positive impact upon
organizational commitment.
Research Questions
The research questions explored by this study are:
RQ1) What would the performative speech act, edification sound like in a sales
organization?
RQ2) Do salespeople believe that it would improve their organizational commitment to
have a leader who edifies them communicatively?
25
Chapter 3: SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
The Scope of the Study
The scope of this research study is narrow. The attention of this study is directed
toward the definition of edification in order to determine whether it is a construct that is useful to
the communication and leadership literature. Edification has been conceptualized as a
performative speech act, language that incites feelings within a hearer that might produce
feelings attitudes, and behaviors that lead to positive personal and organizational outcomes.
Specifically, the research attempts to determine whether language that edifies increases
commitment to an organization. This research focuses on understanding meaning and the rules
of meaning making; therefore qualitative research is an appropriate research methodology.
Study Population
The research design was based on the purposive sampling (Hoyle, Harris, & Judd
1991) of salespeople to uncover the nomonological net of variables that might comprise the
construct of edification. The population consisted of sales representatives that are currently
employed in the technology industry selling to commercial and government customers. The
criterion was that these representatives had at least three years of industry experience, with 10
years of sales experience. This population was selected based on the researcher’s familiarity with
the industry. The salespeople in this industry face significant challenges as the market shifts from
a commodity based marketplace to a services based marketplace. Customers historically
purchased commodity products to build, run, and maintain their internal IT Operations. This
resulted in high volume transactions throughout the year for products and services. Based on
recent technology advances and increasing pressure for customers to do more with less money,
these customers are looking towards having computing delivered entirely as a service at a
26
monthly fee. In addition to this significantly decreasing their annual revenue potential with the
same clients, it also means that they have to adapt to an entirely new way of selling solutions.
Many of their employers are reluctant to reduce their quotas or adapt on an organizational level.
Sales representatives are boundary-spanning employees who have responsibility to
stakeholders both inside and outside of the organization (Singh, 1993). The sales person can
often be caught in the conflict between the varying needs of the organization they represent and
their customers needs. Their incentives are often affected if this conflict cannot be resolved. In
addition, sales people are expected to progressively achieve greater revenues, while keeping pace
with rapidly changing products and markets. Their roles require a high degree of complexity,
collaboration and accountability (Ingram et al, 2002). As such, edification may provide a means
to keep sales representative focused on the things that he or she is doing that are contributing to
the achievement of their goals during this time of disruptive change.
Methodology of the Study
Baxter and Babbie (2003) note that qualitative research is particularly useful when a
researcher wants to, “understand in a richly detailed manner what an interviewee thinks and feels
about some phenomenon” (p. 326). This type of phenomenological research, “describes the
meaning of the lived experience for several individuals about a concept or the phenomenon”
(Creswell, 1998, p. 51). This approach is being selected because edification has not been
included into organizational or communication research to date, and it is important to define the
construct at the onset of this research. Affirmation might be one way to define the concept of
edification as a performative speech act—language that strengthens and builds someone up in
order to equip him or her to be effective. While the effects of self-affirmation have been well
27
studied, the effects of being verbally affirmed by others have only been loosely incorporated into
other leadership styles and are lacking altogether in the communication research.
The methodology of this study is informed by Sullivan’s (1988) conceptualizing of
the Motivating Language Model which suggests that there are three roles of language in the
organizational context- uncertainty reducing (perlocutionary), meaning-making (locutionary),
and human bonding acts (illocutionary). The design is based on semi-structured in person
interviews, allowing for structure and consistency but allowing for the flexibility to explore what
emerges in the discussion. Many of the structured questions will be based on the previously
developed and tested Motivating Language Scale, with emphasis on the dimensions of meaning
making and empathetic language.
Research Design
Qualitative research’s trustworthiness is judged by its dependability, confirmability,
credibility, and transferability (Baxter and Babbie, 2002, p. 325). Bearing this in mind, the
research was based on Kvale’s (1996) systematic framework for qualitative research.
While dependability cannot be fully ensured because no two-qualitative interviews are
exactly the same using these steps offers more consistency. The seven steps are: (1) Thematizing,
(2) Designing, (3) Interviewing, (4) Transcribing, (5) Analyzing, (6) Verifying, and (7)
Reporting. The research design was the use of pre-determined semi-structured questions and is
located in Appendix A. While this allowed the interviewer to probe more deeply into some
aspects, it assured that the same questions were asked across interviews. This method
contributes to future confirmation of the results. To further ensure confirmability, the interviews
have been recorded and transcribed to maximize repeatability.
28
To establish credibility, the design of the research questions was based on previous
studies conducted by Sullivan (1988) while confirming that the dimensions of motivating
language also serve to edify. The research has also been designed to determine whether
organizational commitment is an antecedent of verbally edifying someone. As such questions
about organizational commitment follow previously tested questions. To address transferability,
a purposive design was used where the sales representatives under study were not all from the
same organization, but were from the same industry.
Interviews
Five interviews were conducted. Each interview lasted approximately one hour. Each
interview was tape recorded and transcribed word for word. This approach made the
interviews suitable for narrative analysis in order to capture the richness of the data. The
approach was to use the content analysis to uncover patterns, or themes in the data in
order to begin to cast the nomonological net of variables that might define and
operationalize what edification might look or sound like within the organizational
context.
Following Kvale (1996), an emphasis was put on the thematizing and design of the semi-
structured interview questions that were asked to each of the participants. The first assumption
of the research design was that because edification is not well documented in the literature, and
not something that is commonly used in language, a preliminary definition must be provided at
the onset of the interview in order to provide some way for interviewees to think of the concept
for further discussion. The researcher chose the literal interpretation of the Greek word,
oikodome, “to build up.” From this baseline, the research questions were designed to find out
29
whether this “building up” could be done verbally vis’ a vis’ a performative, and if so, what that
performative might sound like in the organizational context.
Baxter and Babbie (2002) offer guidance on types of qualitative questions that are
particularly useful when trying to sharpen the definition of an abstract concept. The research
questions were designed along these lines, offering dyadic contrast questions, example questions,
included term and phenomenological questions. This format provided a way to touch on specific
issues while allowing flexibility to meander the territory to draw parallels among the research
constructs that the researcher suspects might have shared touch points with the concept of
edification. The interview guide is in Appendix A.
30
Chapter 4: THE STUDY
Description of the Study
This study was examined how edification might be conveyed within the organizational
context. The semi-structured interview design directed questions around three lines of inquiry:
a.) the definition of edification b.) The perceived importance of it as a speech act and an
intention and c.) The possible consequences of using strategic types of speech act in a sales
organization to improve organizational outcomes. Five individual interviews were conducted
with sales professionals in March 2010. This chapter reviews the results of this qualitative
inquiry and articulates the findings in order to draw parallels to research that might be informed
by this study.
Data Analysis
The interviews were transcribed word for word in order to produce 24 pages of
unstructured data for analysis. The scope of this study was narrow. The intent was to determine
how to identify spoken words that edify and to characterize and assess salespeople’s perceptions
of edification. This amount of unstructured data provided what Miles (1979) describes as an
“attractive nuisance” for the researcher, providing much rich content for analysis, but also a
difficult terrain for finding analytic paths that contribute to the social sciences in a meaningful
way. In order to fully explore the richness of this amount of unstructured data, the study was
limited to five interviews. This allowed analysis to be conducted utilizing an eclectic approach
(Kvale, 1996) that,
Allows the interviewer to read the interviews through and get an overall
impression, then go back to specific passages, perhaps make some quantifications
like counting statements indicating different attitudes to a phenomenon, make
deeper interpretations of specific statements, cast parts of the narrative into an
narrative, work out metaphors to capture the material, attempt a visualization of
the findings in flow diagrams, and so on (p. 204).
31
Results of the Study
The interviews produced data along three thematic domains: 1.) The definition of edification
2.) The perceived importance of edification and 3.) The perceived consequences of using
edification in a leader subordinate relationship.
Definition
To explore the definition of edification, open coding was used to identify the attributes of
edification. This initial analysis produced keywords and phrases that were used to describe
edification. The themes that emerged were compatible with the work of Sullivan (1988), who
posited different functions of illocutionary, perlocutionary, and locutionary acts. The data was
grouped into themes according to which type of act the interviewee spoke of when describing
what edification might sound like. The researcher was able to conceptualize three new themes:
subordinate building, relationship building, and team building. Table 1.1 represents the
mapping of Sullivan’s work to the themes identified by the researcher.
Type of Speech Act
(Searle, 1969)
Function
(Sullivan (1988)
Attributes (Chapter
Two)
Philosophy Theme
Perlocutionary-
saying something
produces effects on
the feelings,
thoughts or actions
of another.
Direction Giving Clarifies tasks,
roles and goals,
reduces uncertainty
Logos (words &
concepts)
Subordinate
Building
Illocutionary-the
performance of an
act in saying
something
(Campbell, 1973)
Empathic Consideration,
praising,
relationship
building, sharing
feelings
Pathos (Passion
& Humanity)
Relationship
Building
Locutionary-The act
of saying something
(Austin, 1962)
Meaning-Making The transmission of
structure, rules,
values
Ethos (Behavior
& Character)
Climate
Building
32
Subordinate Building. The perlocutionary act is based on what the speaker hopes to
accomplish. The findings of this study suggest that a leader who is speaking in an edifying
manner does so to build confidence in a worker’s ability to reach a desired end state. This could
be by providing guidance, encouragement, teaching, as well as constructive criticism or
performance feedback. Comments from the participants of the study confirmed that they
believed a good leader does concentrate on strengthening their subordinates as evidenced by the
coding in Appendix B. In addition to these selected comments, Interviewee #2, who now is a
very successful sales executive, brought this point home the best when he told a story about his
beginnings in the technology business. He stated that,
When I started with Company X, I sort of downgraded myself by applying for this
position, but I did it for the comfort of my family virtues and I took a job in the
mailroom. It was a huge, close to $30,000-$40,000 a year pay cut, but I just did
it. Something was telling me. My wife was telling me, “you can do better than
this,” So I started in the mailroom felt really degraded pushing mail carts around
1st and 3
rd floor. People were looking at me like ‘look at this big guy, he’s
probably just a dumb big jock…probably thrown out of college and can’t make it
anywhere else’. But I ran into the company president a couple of times. He had
seen something in me. He said, “I know you have better skills, I’ve seen the way
you handle yourself in front of people. He said give me some time let me see if I
can try to help you get a position.
Interviewee #2 continues the story by telling about his promotion to customer service,
then to inside sales, and finally to outside sales, where he still enjoys success many years later.
Relationship Building. Sullivan (1988) stated that this type of language, “states nothing
meaningful about the world, nor is it instrumental” (p. 109). This type of language builds
relationships by a manager acting on behalf of his or her humanity, authentic and empathetic.
The results were coded according to these relationship-building properties and a sample of
interview comments is in Appendix C. During the interviews, some of the relationship building
33
characteristics that were cited were respect, caring, empathy, listening and emotional
intelligence. Interviewee # 4 described it this way,
There have always been these people who just make you feel better being around
them. And I think at some very base level these guys are just … well, you love
being around them. You know, you meet them for the first time and they make
you feel like a million bucks. So what exactly are they doing? They are probably
a.) attentive listening to everything your saying and empathetic.
Climate Building. Sullivan (1988, p. 109) classified locutionary language as meaning
making. That is, it allows a worker to understand his or herself in the context of the organization
as a whole. This type of language states in an informal, non- purposeful way, the way the world
might be. A manager can, for example, state that the organization places tremendous value on the
success of a particular product. This may indirectly influence or build a salesperson’s desire to
reach a desired end state, but there is no direct building of the individual’s feelings, thoughts, or
behaviors. Items coded in this category were those like team building, a leader’s communicating
an example of desired behavior, and area(s) that represented a salesperson’s relationship with the
business as a whole.
Several of the interviewees brought up during different junctures of the interview that
they thought edification could be an indirect act. This data was separately coded in Appendix F.
Based on the comments from Interviewee #3, there seems to be a connection to the culture
building aspects of language. When my manager says,
Hey stop by my office, I want to run something by you because you’ve done this
and I value your opinion. When leaders do things like this for employees, it tends
to make employees feel more a part of the business relationship within the
company, and it makes them feel sort of as trusted advisors which for an
employee is a place they want to be. They like to see leadership lean on them in a
positive way.
34
Opposite of Edification. Baxter and Babbie (2002) highlight the importance of a dyadic
contrast question, especially when trying to initially define a construct. As part of the semi-
structured interviews, respondents were asked what the opposite of edification would sound like.
The nomonological net of variables that was identified by asking for the opposite of edification
was cast as the following concepts: indifference, lack of acknowledgement, discouragement,
ignoring, dictatorial, condescending, and belittling. As the comments in Appendix E indicate,
respondents felt that any type of language or behavior that showed indifference or disrespect was
in fact, equivalent to the opposite of edification. These results demonstrate how important it is
for a sales manager to convey acceptance and regard for sales representatives.
Team Climate. The findings confirm that the salespeople interviewed think that edification is an
important tool for leaders. After exploring the concept of edification with sales representatives,
they were asked to predict what the results of edification might be. Themes that emerged from
the data suggest that salespeople feel that their leaders would inspire more trust and motivation,
as well as create community and build more cohesive teams. These consequences are in line
with the variables that are associated with positive psychological climates as expressed in the
literature review. As evidenced by the literature review, the leader is the most important
moderator of whether a climate is perceived as positive. Cohesion, support, and fairness are all
dimensions of psychological climate. Many of the salespeople spoke of the indirect nature of
edification. These results indicate that a leader’s language become part of the common ground,
or communication climate, that influences the psychological climate of an organization.
Organizational Commitment. When asked the question, “If a leader was intentional about
edifying his or her team, what might the results be?” the following comments were noted: “I
think they would find that people would run through brick walls for you because they like you
35
and they trust you,” and “I think a highly motivated work force (who) goes above and beyond
your job title, says your going to work extra hours, do extra things, go the extra mile” Each and
every response indicated a highly motivated team that would do more than what was asked or
expected of them. These answers run very close to the academic definition of Organizational
commitment as presented in the literature review. This is significant to the findings because
intuitively a correlation was expected and the respondents, unaware, provided answers that
naturally expressed the elements associated with Organizational Commitment.
During the last question of the study, participants were given the definition of
Organizational Commitment as presented in the Literature review and asked if the use of
edification would foster OC. As Interview # 1 summed it up,
Absolutely 100%. Because let me see that definition, willingness to exert
considerable effort. You’ve just created a team. You’ve edified every person on
that team to the other members and when other members see and witness
commitment and effort from a single person it encourages the other members to
want to do the same thing so you create an absolutely solid team by edifying
individuals not directly but you can also edify the entire group and identify
individuals
Discussion
The research provided insight into the construct of edification as a speech act and its
perceived consequences for a sales organization. The implications of the study may have
important findings for the leadership and communication literature, particularly as they relate to
speech acts, team climate, and organizational commitment.
Speech Acts and the Study
The analysis of the data provided insight into the definition of edification as language that
either affirms or validates an individual in the sales context. The findings suggest that those
speech acts that are edifying have attributes that would suggest that they are subordinate
building, relationship building, or team climate building. A single speech act might provide more
36
than one type of building. The seminal work of Walker et al. (1977) demonstrated that a sales
manager’s behaviors and activities have a pivotal role in the way that sales people act and
perform. Sullivan (1988) thought that future MLT development should incorporate leader
behavior into research design. He believed that in order to be taken seriously over time, speech
must match the behavior of a leader. The speech of a leader who intends to build would convey
the dimensions brought forth in the interviews, such as trust, sincerity and respect in order to
build both the individual and the organization.
Another implication of this research is that it lends some belated clarity to Austin’s
(1975) original conception of a performative speech act, language that says as well as does
something. Austin’s initial notion was that in order to make a performative do something,
someone must have the requisite authority to invoke a speech act. By virtue of his or her formal
authority and title, sales managers words automatically have a formal function. The same
affirmation given by a sales manager could have more valence than if it was delivered by a co-
worker or peer. This research suggests that edification serves a formal function across three
dimensions: Subordinate building, relationship building, and Culture building.
Subordinate Building. Path Goal theory includes the notion that effective leaders must
play particular roles to enable group members to achieve desired goals (see House, 1971; House
& Mitchell, 1974). There are several styles of leadership including developmental, supportive
and transformative that include a component, individualized consideration. This construct
“encompasses a developmental orientation towards followers and may be an important way that
leaders can help followers succeed in today’s business environment” (Rafferty & Griffith, 2006,
p. 37). Bass (1985) noted that when leaders adopt this developmental orientation they counsel
staff about their careers, track a subordinates progress toward goals, and encourage them to
37
attend training or take action that will advance their careers. Rafferty & Griffin (2004) proposed
that leaders who practice individualized consideration are more familiar with their followers,
leading to enhanced communication and information exchange.
The interviews conducted during this study confirm that salespeople believe that managers
have a responsibility to mentor, train, and to provide direction to those they lead. Three of the
five interviewees mentioned that they believed the idea of mentoring was compatible with
edification. In fact, many of the interviewees indicated that they expected their sales manager to
provide constructive criticism to them in order to help improve their performance. If a manager
holds the intention to edify his or her team, they would likely become familiar with each of their
unique needs, enabling them to provide the level of support that individualized consideration
implies.
Relationship Building. Much of the sales research focuses on the quality of the
relationship between a sales manager and his or her subordinate. For example, Leader member
exchange theory examines the role of trust between a sales person and his or her manager
(Dansereau, Graen, and Haga 1975). The literature suggests “Being a role model, leading by
example, being fair in performance evaluations, making calls with salespeople, and empowering
salespeople have all been found to be effective ways to build trust.” (Ingram, et al, p. 139). The
findings in this study suggest that sincere edification, as a speech act would be a way to
communicate that trust both for and to a sales representative. In each of the interviews, trust
came through as something that would characterize a leader who used edification. This may be
particularly true when the need arises to give negative performance feedback. When questioned
whether negative performance feedback could be given in an edifying manner, respondents felt
that it could, particularly when a good leader says something like Interview # 4 gave the example
38
of When you say it the way you did, “ I know you can do better,” I think it conveys that you trust
this person that while they missed the mark of excellence.
Climate Building. Culture has been shown by prior studies to provide a socializing force
for the sales functions of an organization (Dubinsky, 1986). Providing interpretations of events
for sales personnel is an important management function in leading the sales organization.
(Barnes, et al., 1996). The findings from the interviews confirm that salespeople believe that
edification has important team building implications, and that the responsibility of creating the
climate was that of the manager. Interview #2 summed this up well with the following
comment,” (You would get a) much stronger team, much better performance where the members
of the group put forth a greater effort. The opposite is you discourage. And Salespeople will
abandon you abandon the company if they lose hope. And that is one of the worst things a
manager can do is allow their people to lose hope. Then they are finished. The subordinates are
finished and the manger is finished. You get into the revolving door.”
Team Climate and the Study
The research literature classifies salespeople as boundary spanning employees who need
to interact with several internal and external stakeholders to accomplish their goals. For these
employees, a professional and amicable work environment creates less stressful and more
enjoyable work places (Singh, Verbeke, and Rhoads 1996). In fact, several of the sub dimensions
of psychological climate (support, recognition, fairness, innovation, autonomy, trust,
cohesiveness, and pressure) are consistent with those characteristics that salespeople expected to
hear from a leader who edifies. Goleman (2002) contends that a leader’s actions and behaviors
are key drivers for psychological climate, and these actions are directly influenced by their
emotional states. As referenced in the literature review, parity in feeling and expression are
39
important to conveying sincerity in the speech act. Psychological climate is something that is
believed to be very durable and must be changed with considerable effort over time. Leaders can
instill a positive communication climate through the consistent use of words, symbols, and
language. This study has shown that edification has individual and team building properties that
if communicated could contribute to the continuous building of a positive climate.
The findings confirmed that sales managers who edify their salespersons would inspire a
strong sense of Organizational Commitment in their team members. Organization Commitment
research has already established positive relationships between supervisor relationships, sales
organization characteristics, and anticipatory socialization behavior are antecedents of
organizational commitment
This study also identified a distinct and strong connection to the idea that edification can
be communicated indirectly to the employee. This suggests an organization to individual
communication, which necessarily must be transmitted by the sales managers speech acts.
Consistent with exchange theory research, this suggests a personified organization (Whitener,
2001) that is able to transmit its commitment to the salesperson through speech acts like
edification. The OC literature demonstrates that when this commitment is perceived by the
salesperson, the salesperson becomes more committed to the organization. Similarly, when the
intention of edification is communicated, the perceived benefits include increased desire to build
the organization through extra effort.
Overall, this study confirms that a leader’s speech acts when edifying, can produce
positive outcomes for the individual and the organization. These positive outcomes include the
construction of a positive psychological climate, and enhanced organizational commitment.
40
Both of these constructs have been positively associated with improved salesperson performance
and organizational effectiveness.
Organizational Commitment and the Study
This study confirms that salespeople believe that if edified, both they and their colleagues
would have higher levels of organizational commitment. Chonko (1986) observed that loyalty
was an important characteristic of commitment for salespeople. Specifically that loyalty to the
organization was an important sustaining factor when expectancy rewards were not met. During
challenging economic times, it is important for sales managers to be able to find more than
economic rewards to retain sales talent. Salespeople are often personally financially impacted
when customer-buying trends are on a decline, until the organization adjusts expectations. The
sales manager does not want to lose talent to competitors who are vying for the limited dollars
available. By recognizing that edification can have these types of impacts, managers might be
more likely to pay more attention to the language that they use.
The two strongest predictors of organizational commitment as evidenced in the literature
review were 1.) A salesperson’s perception about his or her own competence and 2.) leader
communication. These antecedents of commitment could be tied specifically to edifying speech
act. The results also indicate that by affirming someone’s competence in front of others, the
speech act could possibly serve to “build” more of the behaviors that are validated within the
team. This also reinforces the idea that communication is under appreciated for its ability to
construct lasting and durable effects upon people and therefore the organization.
41
Chapter 5: SUMMARIES AND CONCLUSIONS
Limitations of the Study
One of the more significant limitations of this study was the sample size of 5
participants. This sample size allowed the researcher to deeply explore the concepts related to
edification as a preliminary investigation. There is reason to believe that this research represents
the point of theoretical saturation where nothing new can be revealed about the data (Bryman,
2012). There was enough common data to begin to develop and categorize the dimensions of the
construct edification. The dimensions uncovered in this study might be used for further
quantitative analysis suited to operationalize the variables associated with edification.
Another limitation is the very specific demographic of the study. The purposive design
allowed for the research to understand the contextual elements within the industry of the sales
representatives. These sales representatives face some of the same challenges from the external
competitive environment and industry pressures, such as the rapidly changing pace of technology
that they must sell. While these salespeople might think of edification as a helpful behavior for
their managers to adopt, there might not be applicability to other sales representatives in different
industries or during different economic or business conditions.
Due to the limited resources of the researcher, the results of the interview coding could
not be triangulated or processed by another researcher. The researcher did produce verbatim
transcripts of the interviews, and also performed multiple coding of the transcripts to mitigate the
risk of researcher bias. The rich data produced allowed the researcher to approach the content in
a number of ways. In order to limit these risks further, the researcher coded the data according to
the function of language (perlocutionary, illocutionary, and locutionary) to give the concepts a
strong theoretical foundation for future research to be conducted upon.
42
Further Study Recommendations
This study presented some initial conceptions of what edification might sound like as a
performative speech act, and was able to connect it to three functions based upon the literature
review: subordinate building, relationship building, and climate (culture) building. As these
functions are aligned with Sullivan’s (1988) Motivating Language Theory, they are well suited
for future scale development and testing. Researchers might be able to confirm that the use of
edification as an intentional and strategic speech act has important individual and/or
organizational outcomes.
Edification has been conceptualized as an intention that produces speech acts that are
consistent with the intention of building someone else up. When thought of in this way, the
concept conveys individualized consideration and leader support; it may serve to inform the
leadership research, particularly those disciplines such as transformational, developmental or
charismatic leadership. As such, researchers might be able to find leaders who have the intent to
edify others to examine how their speech acts might differ from their counterparts who do not
lean toward edification.
Edification also promotes personal improvement. Research has shown that sales
representatives that have a learning orientation can be more effective (Sujan, et al., 1994). This
might have wider organizational implications for those organizations wishing to pursue overall
Organization Development initiatives. For example, managers might be trained or incentivized
to help develop their employees. By presenting edification as a organizational initiative,
companies might be able to align their incentive plans and organizational structures to edify.
Conclusions
43
The philosophical basis of this study assumed that deliberate, intentional speech by a
sales manager had the ability to physically and logically change an organization because
leadership is enacted through communication. Edification was presented as an intent, that when
present, would provide the ability for a leader to “build” a subordinate when he or she speaks.
This construct, edification, was examined through the interviews present here, as well as through
literature that appeared to have common touch points. This study has drawn some interesting
parallels that future researchers may do well to build on.
Through this research, it has been determined that salespeople believe that edification is
something that they would desire to receive from their manager, whether it be from verbal
affirmation, constructive criticism, instructing, or just asking questions. In fact, this study was
able to show that edification has locutionary, perlocutionary, and illocutionary forces when used
in a sales environment. This means that edification can be used to build the subordinate, the
leader-subordinate relationship and the climate of an organization. While the premise of the
research seems very intuitive, sales representatives were not able to report many examples of
experiencing it. The few instances that were reported were transformational in nature.
Through this research, it is clear how many missed opportunities there are to strengthen
another individual through the words we use. This “building” or strengthening can be likened to
water running over a stone. The initial impact is does not change the stones appearance, but over
time, a groove is worn into the rock because the rock has changed from the pressure. Edification
may provide the same type of force for those we are entrusted to lead. While we wish we could
change workplace behavior with the authority of one word, it is our influence over time that will,
in fact, change the individual.
44
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE
Edification – Definition and Context Have you heard of the term edification?
What does it mean?
Do you think you can communicate
edification?
What would it sound like?
Included term questions Is encouraging a component of edification?
Is affirming a part of edification?
Is empathizing with someone a component of
edification?
What are other components of edification?
Dyadic Contrast Can you tell me the difference between talking
to someone in an edifying way vs. some other
way?
Probing Do you think that it is important for someone
in a leadership position to edify those that they
lead?
Why or why not?
Should leaders be more intentional (careful)
about their communication?
If a leader was intentional about edifying his or
her team, what might the results be?
Is it possible to give someone negative
performance feedback in a way that edifies?
Example Can you give me an example of a conversation
that you had that was edifying?
51
What about in the Organizational Context?
Phenomenological How did the conversation make you feel?
Organizational Commitment Do you believe that language that edifies can
enhance organizational commitment?
Why or why Not?
52
APPENDIX B- SELECTIVE CODING SUBORDINATE BUILDING THEME
Interview 1 “An awareness, verbal compliment, or
acceptance of their abilities”
Interview 1 “Educating them on lessons learned,
sharing wisdom, and different levels of
trust from a management perspective”
Interview 1 “I edify you because of what I’ve witnessed
or experienced and guide you or help
encourage you to change in different ways
if it’s not in line with the business or the
ethics of the business or society you are
working in”
Interview 2 “Out of curiosity just to see where you can
find their happiness, their wisdom…”
Interview 2 “(Talking about) their work ethics, to get
them to reach their goals, not to stop there
to take it to another level that they were not
comfortable with.”
Interview 2 “Strengthen them in their weaknesses and
to show them the skill s and capabilities of
your leadership that they can take their
career path to the next level.”
Interview 2 “…in my mind’s eye I am seeing it almost
as validation. People like to be validated
and if they are validated as people by
authority figures it makes them feel
better…”
Interview 3 “Well, like they have confidence in you to
do whatever it is you’re going to do. They
brim it and it’s like not even a question.”
Interview 4 “my suspicion is that there are important
outcomes if you help salespeople by
building them up”
Interview 4 “Well before we talked about it I thought it
was more about gaining knowledge. ‘for
your edification,’ so I would have assumed
that it was kind of different”
Interview 5 “I work for you and edification is both
saying positive things and also challenging
them by bringing to their attention things
they could change within themselves before
a problem can manifest itself.”
APPENDIX C- SELECTIVE CODING RELATIONSHIP BUILDING THEME
53
Interview
1
“I think edification and respect go hand in hand”
Interview
1
“Yeah, you have to (edify) if you care. If you want to be a good leader, you have to
be trusted you have to be sincere. Because the first time someone sees you lied to
them, Guess what? You only get one chance…”
Interview
2
“Yes, it’s all about respect”
Interview
2`
“Yes, I saw this (edification) before and it is why I went back to work for the same
person more than once”
Interview
3
“I notice our manager when reps he really likes when they come into the office there
are different responses. His greeting and tone are different with the ones he really
likes. The way that you acknowledge people can promote positive edification.”
Interview
3
“…most good leaders have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of the people
that they lead. Really good leaders have emotional intelligence and it allows them to
pick up very quickly on what they are dealing with. It allows them to communicate
more effectively as they have more vision”
Interview
3
“I think you would find that people would run through brick walls for you because
they like you and they trust you…sometimes its not about giving a person a 20%
raise , often it’s those small things like edification that make them want to work for
you and run through brick walls”
Interview
4
“When you say, ‘I know you can do better,’ I think it conveys that you trust this
person that while they missed the mark of excellence you don’t make them feel
guilty… if they did how would you get them to want to run through a wall for you?
Interview
4
“There have always been these people who just make you feel better being around
them. And I think at some very base level these guys are just… you love being
around them.”
Interview
5
“(Edification) is selfless. To edify you help to build up that person and you don’t
want anything in return.”
54
APPENDIX D- SELECTIVE CODING CLIMATE BUILDING THEME
Interviewee 1 “You build up the person by proving
the successes of someone else”
(Interview 1)
Interview 2 “So, when my manager says, hey stop
by my office, I want to run something
by you because you’ve done this and I
value your opinion. When leaders do
things like this for employees it tends to
make employees feel more of a part of
the business relationship within a
company…”(Interview 2)
Interview 3 “it’s almost what do you call… it’s not
overt, it’s subliminal, because you are
doing it without anyone knowing about
it” (Interview 3).
Interview 4 “Yes, I think you’re doing it in a way
where they don’t really realize it’s
being done. I don’t know how you
could… you can’t just say I’m going to
build you up. You’ve got to coach…
Ra ra ra, next thing you know the guy
is running through walls.
Interview 5 “You don’t want that person to know
what you’re up to because it might turn
them off. You want to support that
person, encourage them and be positive
but you don’t want to make it obvious
because the person you’re edifying
might think, ‘I know what she is up to’”
55
APPENDIX E- CODING (OPPOSITE OF EDIFICATION)
Interview 1 By definition, face-to-face
discouragement, but intentional. If its
unintentional it’s ignorance.
Interview 2 Again I see it as validation. The
opposite would be no acknowledgement at
all.
Interview 3 I think it would be ignoring them or
being dictatorial and not acknowledging
what the person brought to the table.
Interview 4 Yeah, you are condescending,
belittling
Interview 4 Yeah absolutely so it would be the
opposite of attentive. Indifference is worse
than hate. Love and hate is close together
but once you get to indifference your done.
Interview 5 Damn , this (sales) pipeline is
terrible. I mean CMON fix it and walk
away vs. Marty look a there are some
things we need to fix. It’s a start but its not
where it needs to be.
56
APPENDIX F-INDIRECT NATURE OF SPEECH ACT
I think you can be edifying to someone
without them being aware of it. Treating
them with mutual respect, assuming that they
are delivering on what they committed to do.
I think you can edify them by giving them
more responsibility. Educating them on
lessons learned sharing wisdom and different
levels of trust from a management
standpoint.
Well there are different forms of
communication. It could be just an
acknowledgement of someone. I notice our
manager when reps he really likes when they
come into the office there are different
responses. His greeting and tone are different
with the ones he really likes. The way that
you acknowledge people can promote
positive edification
Yes. I think your doing it in a way where
they don’t really realize that it is being done.
I don’t know how you could…you can’t just
say I’m going to build you up…Ready set go.
You got a coach, Ra Ra Ra, next thing you
know the guy is running through walls.
That’s a classic example, locker room
speeches, Like, “win one for the Gipper…”
Not directly, no. Indirectly. I work for you and edification is both saying
positive things and also challenging a person
its both supporting them and also challenging
them bringing to their attention things they
could change in themselves before a problem
can manifest themselves. And its
multifaceted. You might edify your son in a
much different way than someone who
reports to you. You may edify your son
because you want him to be a good person. In
a work environment you don’t drill down that
deep because you are not related to that