This article investigates the numeric construction, rhetorical moves, and metatheatre (defined as multiple stages for performing organization stories) pertaining to the widely publicized failure of Enron Corporation. The authors thus examine how statistics in financial reports and executive metatheatric presentations were used to persuade Wall Street experts to recommend Enron stock, when the writing was on the fourth wall. The authors' contribution to ethnostatistics is fourfold. First, they show that financial reports and discourse are a suitable and important topic for ethnostatistical analysis. Second, they extend ethnostatistics beyond how academic professionals tell stories with numbers, to how professional practitioners in organizations tell such stories. Third, they show the important role the rhetorical construction of financial performance measures played in the Enron failure. And fourth, they extend ethnostatistics by integrating ethnostatistics' third moment of rhetoric with theatrical theory to show the situated and staged nature of the rhetoric of quantification.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the need for integration of Wilber's all levels, all quadrants (AQAL) approach into the strategy of a corporation. Organizations have incorporated elements of his theory at various levels, but none has fully incorporated all four quadrants. We explore how each quadrant can be used in strategic change to aid organizations in their quest for sustainable competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachUsing Wilber's AQAL approach, we present suggestions on how corporations can use each quadrant in strategic change efforts.FindingsSeveral strategic planning methods which try to be all‐inclusive are discussed. Several companies are also discussed that have incorporated progressive approaches throughout the organization. However, no example yet exists of a company that has used a full integrally‐informed approach to strategic change and transformation.Originality/valueThe authors seek to present an example of how each quadrant can be used in strategic change to aid organizations in their quest for sustainable competitive advantage.

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We analyzed the earnings release of the Enron Corporation for the year ended December 31, 2000. By applying the methodology of ethnostatistics we were able to gain insight into the environment of earnings releases, the underlying meanings ascribed within the content and the resulting limitations on those third party users who rely upon the information provided. Moreover, with this understanding, we were better able to contrast the rhetoric employed by management in light of the reality of a deteriorating company. Our contribution provides for a comprehensive application of ethnostatistics in sensemaking of organizational disclosures and further extends the utility of the ethnostatistics methodology beyond academia.

STUDENTS AND NEW MANAGERS interested in the complexities of managing work relationships through electronically mediated communication will find this book an easy read. Its 109 pages blend theory, knowledge, and practice from three different disciplines (management, technical writing, and communication). Collins urges readers to confront directly how new technologies have changed where and how we work. Appropriate as a supplemental text for undergraduate courses in business writing, management, and communication, the book also provides practical tips for managers interested in selecting communication media, managing remote workers, and using e-mail effectively.In the opening chapter, "A Coming of Age," Collins notes that virtual organizations are collectivist, that is, they "recognize the value of collaboration and networking rather than relying on pure authority" or traditional bureaucracies (p. 7). This emphasis is important in two ways. First, it reminds us that the quintessentially human dynamic of our communication practices should remain our central focus, not the technology used to facilitate it. Second, it demonstrates the difficulties that may arise in the implementation of the ideal "new" organization. The new organization is idealized by Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen, and Westney (1999) as flat, flexible, networked, global, and diverse, that is, one that emphasizes greater flexibility, speed, and reliance on networked structures and de-emphasizes bureaucracy. Communication in a Virtual Organization seeks to describe how communication technologies have evolved and continue to shape the nature of communication, work arrangements, and organizational culture.