QUESTIONS TO SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS

1		Weick's Act now, plan later advice seems to contradict Hirokawa and Gouran's functional perspective, which encourages rational deliberations (see Chapter 16). Can you think of a way that both theorists might be right?
2		Weick says that meetings make sense. Using Weick's concept of requisite variety, can you explain why Weick thinks most organizations need to have more meetings rather than fewer?
3		What organization do you know that is tightly coupled? How does it deal with equivocal messages from its environment? Does this method of information processing help or hinder its survival?
4		Does Weick's advocacy of retrospective sensemaking apply to your learning in this course? When would rules serve well? What opportunities do you have for double interacts?