Understanding the Language of Chaos

From discussions with senior managers, project managers and site managers at a national contractor, it became clear that the labels they applied to things, the terms which they used to describe circumstances, had influence over their subsequent actions. In particular, the same situation on a construction project may be described as ‘chaos’, or as ‘disorder’. If ‘chaos’ is chosen, a sense of uncontrollability is conveyed, and the manager is less likely to act positively. If ‘disorder’ is applied, the manager will act positively to bring about order, to manage. The two terms could be applied to identical situations. This paper concerns exploratory research into the linguistics of the managers, and their shared understandings of the meanings conveyed by terms. The paper briefly introduces the notion of the constitutive nature of communication and discourse, and shows how this impacts upon the behaviour of managers. Ethnomethodology was adopted to develop a commonly accepted understanding of terminology for the researcher and the practitioners. Further, this paper provides an insight into one of the fundamental meanings of the term to ‘manage’, as expressed by active managers in construction.