Applying CMM* to the World Around Us
[*Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory]
Communication Studies 495300
(This course is in the process of being made a regular part of the curriculum.)
The course “Applying CMM To the World Around Us” is taught by one of the theory’s coauthors, Vernon Cronen. It provides a tool box for exploring and redressing communication problems.
The course proceeds by tacking back and forth between theory and practice. Practice will take the form
of using interviewing/observing skills and then analyzing that information using CMM ideas. Along the
way we will discuss the CMM perspective on such important social topics as identity, culture, meaning,
competence, and emotion. Students will find that the CMM class connects well with course work in
mediation, small group communication, consultation, communication ethics, Integrated Marketing
Communication, conflict resolution, organizational communication and many other aspects of the
department curriculum.
CMM is used and taught in many countries. The theory will be explained by examining cases
from diverse applications and students are encouraged to bring their own situations for exploration.
The employment of CMM ideas may lead to unexpected claims about communication such as these:
Confusion can sometimes be useful; A problem can hold a social system together; The weakest member
of a group can be central to its success.; Misunderstanding can be helpful and mutual understanding can
be no help at all. Of course, CMM does not treat misunderstandings or confusions as universally good
practices. It does claim that assessing the value of any action depends on understanding its place in a
communication system. CMM is designed to provide tools for understanding and managing situations
like these:
Two persons who care about each other produce spirals of argument and bad feelings that neither seems
able to stop. How does this work? Each blames the other. What could be done to sort this out?
An organization repeats phases of going into crisis, pulling together, loosing coordination, and returning
to crisis. What perpetuates this pattern? Are the consultants who come to help them part of the problem?
Two persons from very different backgrounds and interests become roommates. The have very conflicting
ideas and are sometimes confused about what the other means. They like living together and want to share an
apartment next year. How was this achieved?
The staff of an assisted living facility is having problems with an elderly resident who gives the staff a hard
time about taking medication and following other rules. She sneaks out for bicycle rides. The staff is concerned
about losing their jobs if she gets hurt. The resident is mentally unimpaired.
In all cases, CMM theory poses 4 questions about persons in communication: 1. What are they
making? (What organizations, relationships, ways of communicating, ways of thinking and feeling
emerge inside the process of communication?) 2. How are they making it? (How can we understand the
process of communication in which they engage?) 3. Who are they becoming? (What identities and
abilities are coming to be?) 4. What possible futures are opened and closed for themselves and for
others?
Applying CMM to the World Around Us
COM 495300
A sample of CMM- based questions about selecting a course to make the most of your major.
Suppose you choose a great course to make the most of your major, what story would you like to be
able to tell another major about the course?
What important learning do you hope will come from taking the course? What will you / your instructor
/ other members of the class need to do achieve this?
Who would be the first person to notice your new learning?
In what situation(s) would she/he notice this?
Think of a concrete situation in which you might use what you learn in the course you choose. How
would the episode go? Who would be participating in the conversation?
How will it feel to be using that new learning? What would you call that feeling? How will ___ respond
when he/she notices the way you feel? How important would it be to get that response?
How would that person respond to you differently?
As you use your new learning, how will your relationship with ______ be different than it is now? What
will be possible in the new relationship?
How might your story about who you are be different? What will be best about that?