Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 029
The diagnosis already chooses an intervention
Craig’s seven traditions let executive teams challenge the hidden definition of communication embedded in every diagnosis
Premise
When leaders call something a “communication problem,” they may mean information loss, weak persuasion, failed dialogue, contested symbols, cultural norms, or unequal power. Robert T. Craig’s 1999 metamodel turns those differences into structured diagnostic leverage rather than searching for one theory that eliminates the others.
The field gains coherence through a dialogical-dialectical conversation among practical conceptions of communication. For executives, this means no diagnosis is neutral. “Cascade the message,” “create alignment,” “give people voice,” and “control the narrative” each contain a theory of what communication is and therefore preselect what evidence and intervention will count.
What the model is: Communication Theory as a Field — Constitutive Metamodel in Knowledge →
Continue in the series
- The essential model
- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
- Executive takeaway
- Key questions
- Selected sources
The full brief is in its volume, with the other works of the series.
Or start with a sample brief →
New works are announced in The Debrief. Subscribe →
- FamilyModel
- CategoryParadigms, Traditions & Metatheories
- DomainEvidence & Evaluation
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Paradigms, Traditions & Metatheories
Provides a broad intellectual perspective within which multiple concepts, theories or investigations are developed. Traditions carry histories and commitments; metatheories examine how theories themselves are organized or related.