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"Playing the Bullshit Game: How Empty and Misleading Communication Takes Over Organizations"

The Bread Guy

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The paper's summary
Why is bullshit so common in some organizations? Existing explanations focus on the characteristics of bullshitters, the nature of the audience, and social structural factors which encourage bullshitting. In this paper, I offer an alternative explanation: bullshitting is a social practice that organizational members engage with to become part of a speech community, to get things done in that community, and to reinforce their identity. When the practice of bullshitting works, it can gradually expand from a small group to take over an entire organization and industry. When bullshitting backfires, previously sacred concepts can become seen as empty and misleading talk.
Full paper also attached if link doesn't work for you.
 

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Well organizations nowadays like to Greenwash, Wokewash, #Whateveristrendingwash in hopes of gaining customers and social credit. Plus the all important bragging rights in the cocktail circuit.
 
The paper's summary

Full paper also attached if link doesn't work for you.

BLUF - I liked this piece ;)

A second concept which is relatively close to
bullshit is jargon. Jargon is technical language
which is often tied to prestigious bodies of
knowledge such as science, the arts and religion.
It helps the speaker to be precise and communicate
ideas quickly with other initiates, but
it also hampers communication with the noninitiated
(Vilhena et al., 2014). Fluent use of
jargon can be a marker of community membership,
which creates identity but also entry barriers
(Sokal & Bricmont, 1998). It can also create
a sense of secrecy around the community, making
discussions understandable only to the initiated
(Halliday, 1976). While jargon might seem
nonsensical to the outsider, it is highly meaningful
and sensible to insiders. It is also loaded
with its own logic, empirical references and it is
at least potentially decipherable. Finally, jargon
is not typically used to mislead members of the
community. Rather, it is used to communicate
things which are meaningful within that community.
It is worth noting that jargon can be
used to mislead or confuse people who are not
initiates in the community originating the jargon
(Feldman, 2008).
 
". . . bullshitting is a social practice that organizational members engage with to become part of a speech community, to get things done in that community, and to reinforce their identity . . ."

e.g., Army.ca
 
This is why I have tagline I have (and on my work emails as well) ...
“The risk of insult is the price of clarity.” -- Roy H. Williams
 
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