1. Habermas and Organizations
Prof Dr Victor van Reijswoud
victor@virtualuni.ac.ug

2. Outline
1.Habermas Communicative Action and
Discourse
2.Business Transactions and Business
Processes
3.Business Transaction Process Model
4.Analyzing Business Transaction Processes
5.Optimizing Business Transaction Processes

3. Jürgen Habermas
● Born 18 June 1929 in
Düsseldorf
(Germany)
● Philosopher and
Sociologist

4. Communicative Acts
● Habermas builds on the pragmatic theories of
language (Austin & Searle) to explain structure
and coordination in society
● A Communicative Act is composed of
● Proposition (fact)
● Illocution (meaning)
– Validity claims

5. Validity Claims
Truth
the external world of the physical objects
Rightness
the social world of interpersonal relationships
Truthfulness
the internal or mental world of the speaker
Intelligibility of expression
the understandability of what is said/expressed
When a communicative act is successful, the participants
in the conversation agree on the validity claims

6. Discourse and Discussion
● When the validity claim are challenged the
communication moves to
● Discussion:
– The Intelligibility of Expression claim is challenged
– Validity claim directly related to proposition
– Speaker is requested to improve the clarity or specify of
the expression
● Discourse
– Participants challenge remaining validity claims
– Fundamental discussion about the claim and the use of
the claims in the communication / coordination process

7. Business Transaction Processes
● Winograd and Flores

8. Customer and Performer

9. Business Transaction Process
Model

10. Transaction Process model
● 3 Layers
● Success
● Discussion / failure
● Discourse

11. Diagnose Transaction Processes
● Success layer
● Clarity of expression
● Execution according to
promise
● Discussion
● Claims related to
proposition
● Discourse
● Fundamental discussion
on validity claims in
organization

12. Check
● Effectiveness
● ratio successful and failed transaction processes
● Efficiency
● number of communication steps
● time for completion (lead time)
● All communication forms
● oral / non verbal
● written (all documents, meeting minutes etc)
● electronic exchanges

13. Optimize Transaction Processes
● Incident-driven
● Eliminate observed inefficiencies and ineffectiveness
● Standardize work processes
● Reactive
● Structural
● Start discourse on the fundamental values in an
organization
● Off-site retreats (hei-dagen)
● Preventive