The Three Little P's

Reading this short snippet about Organizational Communication theories as historical narratives (p. 62-64) brought the biggest smile to my face. Not because of what was written in the text, but moreso because of the timing that I had read it. Eisenberg talks about the three P's of historical writing, alluding that historical "writing is partial, partisan, and problematic--providing an important perspective on communication and revealing the limitations of any account" (pp. 62-63).

• Theories are Partial - partiality: accounts that are only part of the story
• Theories are Partisan - partisanship: the story we choose to tell tends to be the one we favor
• Theories are Problematic - an account asks more questions it can answer, and answers provided are ones that are known rather on all that could be known

In the text, these P's are used in the context of historical accounts or storytelling, i.e. story of Native Americans and white settlers, however, I think these P's can relate to any account, not just historical ones. By accounts, I mean personal accounts involving interaction among two or more people--leading to the reason why I laughed upon reading this: I had just gotten into an argument with a 'significant other' and the whole thing is about whether we truly understand where the other person is coming from. He is constantly trying to share (in my opinion, his sharing is more like shoving) his theories with me... while I'm trying to explain my thoughts and feelings. So I can't help but think his theories are partial, partisan, and problematic! But not only that... I realize when I share the accounts of our disagreements with my friends (leading them to believe what a jerk he could be [such a girl thing, I know]), I know that my theories are partial, partisan and problematic! So..... really-- all personal interactions contain the three P's. And the best way to sum it up is what Eisenberg says about partisanship: it's "not so much about identifying facts as it is about interpreting their meanings" (p. 63). So I'm learning... that rather than picking a part what I believe to be facts (which usually ends up more of an assumption or generalization than actual facts), I should try to interpret their meaning... from the other side of the story.