After retention occurs, organization members face a choice point. They mustdecide first whether to look again at the environment in a new way—to return toissues they chose not to focus on as they proceeded through the enactment-selection-retention process. Here, they address the question, “Should we (or I) attend tosome aspect of the environment th

The second requirement for coherence in thefield is a definition of theory. Rather than viewing a theory as an explanation of aprocess, it should be seen as a statement or argument in favor of a particularapproach. In other words, theories are a form of discourse.

rhetorical work can serve as equipment for living in avariety of ways. It can provide a vocabulary of thoughts, actions, emotions, andattitudes for understanding and interpreting a situation.

If you can find a useful metamodel, you will be able to make connectionsamong theories, and if you see communication theory as metadiscourse, you willbegin to understand the value of multiple perspectives in the field.

“Communication Theory as a Field,” Robert T. Craig

Frank Dance found three points of “critical conceptual differentiation” inattempts to define communication.

intentionality.

If the aim of science is to reducehuman differences in what is observed, the aim of the humanities is to understandindividual subjective responses.

The first stage is asking questions.