Week 1 Post #2- Strategic Ambiguity

There were many interesting concepts in this chapter, but I kept coming back to the idea of communication including strategic ambiguity. It is easy for me to believe communication deals with the transferring of information, as well as senders and receivers engaging in a type of communicative transaction. It also makes sense that communication can control the environment, whether not in a direct way. But strategic ambiguity interests me because it illustrates communication working when there are mishaps or lack of information.

Strategic ambiguity "describes the ways in which people may communicate unclearly but still accomplish their goals" (Eisenberg 32). I enjoyed the text's example that illustrates how people come to see their favorite speakers or musicians perform, and if the performer makes a mistake, it may be less noticeable because the audience enjoys the person. I really agree with this. In the example, the sender's message is still coming through due to the receiver's preconceived values and beliefs. The audience is rooting for the speaker so there is more room for ambiguity and seemingly similar effectiveness. Strategic ambiguity relies on shared meaning because many of us interpret words or actions in different ways.

One aspect of strategic ambiguity that I found interesting was that it "facilitates organizational change by allowing people the interpretive room to change their activities while appearing to keep those activities consistent" (Eisenberg 33). The other example given was that of airline companies being more likely to succeed if their businesses were defined more broadly. This makes sense because there might be more to fault if a company has a narrow definition (that might be able to be proved wrong). I think businesses use this tactic when they have new ideas lined up but still use older and reliable mottos and traits to keep their target consumers before they make a shift in their company.

Whether we like it or not, communication always occurs. It's not always direct or verbal, but there are many factors that influence it happening. Communication will always been interpreted in different ways.


Have a great day! :)