Talking structure: the shaping of organizational reality in consulting conversations

In organization theory, bridging the gap between "micro" and "macro" has become one of the major theoretical endeavours since the late 1980s. Conversation
analysis, sociopragmatics and related approaches in linguistics claim to make contributions to the explanation of social order right from their beginning by investigating how social (e.g. organizational) structure is (re-)established through the
members' everyday activities. But since interaction is either conceptualized as
autonomous systems (machinery, apparatus) or as human action (members' methods) there is a terminological shortcoming due to the unsolved problem of action
and structure as well. – As we will argue in this paper, based on empirical data
from a study on systemic consultation, a combination of recent developments in
organization theory, namely refering to the works of Anthony Giddens, with suitable linguistic approaches provides a basis for linking aspects of "micro" and
"macro" analysis in organization studies.