Communication Privacy

Management (CPM)
Lesson 13
Introduction
 Petronio (2002) states that CPM is a practical theory designed
to explain the everyday issue of whether or not to tell someone
something.
 What to reveal and what to keep confidential is not a
straightforward decision, it is a continual balancing act.
 Both disclosure and privacy have potential risks and rewards.
 Petronio argues that “the balance between privacy and
disclosure…is vital to the way we manage our relationships”
(2002).
 CPM is recent, first published in 2002.
Assumptions of CPM

 CPM is rooted in assumptions about how individuals think

and communicate, as well as assumptions about the nature
of human beings.
 CPM makes three assumptions about human nature.
1. Humans are choice makers.
2. Humans are rule makers and rule followers.
3. Humans’ choices and rules are based on a
consideration for others as well as the self.
Assumption of CPM
 CPM is a dialectic theory, and thus the following two
assumptions similar to those of Relational Dialectics Theory
guide CPM.
1. Relational life is characterized by change
2. Contradiction is the fundamental fact of relational life
 These assumptions, taken together, represent an active
perception of human beings and a picture of humans as
engaged in relational life to the extent that self and other are
intertwined.
Basic suppositions of CPM
 CPM is concerned with explaining people’s disclosure of
private information
1. Private information – information that matter deeply to
an individual
2. Private disclosures (not self-disclosures) – process of
communicating private info (self disclosures have to do with
relationship development where as private disclosures have
to do with relationship maintenance)
 Emphasis is away from self-disclosure
Basic suppositions of CPM
 Private disclosures put more emphasis on personal content.
(CPM gives more credence to the substance of disclosure or
that which is considered private)
 People disclose through a rule-based system
 Disclosures are not only about the self (including self and
group)
Basic suppositions of CPM
5 basic suppositions:
 Private information – private information about things that
matter deeply to a person
Basic suppositions of CPM
5 basic suppositions:
 Private boundaries – demarcation of private info from public
info
Basic suppositions of CPM
5 basic suppositions:
 Control and ownership – the notion that people feel they
own private info about themselves
 Rule-based management system – framework for
understanding decisions people make about private info
 Management dialectics – tensions between revealing or
concealing private info
Basic suppositions of CPM
Privacy Rule Management Process

 Privacy rule characteristics

 Main features
 Rule development – describes how rules
come to be decided. 5 criteria: culture,
gender, motivation, context and risk benefit
ratio
 Rule attributes – describes how people
acquire rules and the properties of the rules
Privacy Rule Management Process
 Boundary coordination
 How we manage private information that is co-
owned
 Boundary linkage – connections that form
boundary alliances between people
 Boundary ownership – the rights and privileges
accruing to co-owners of private information
 Boundary permeability – how much info can
pass through the boundary (thick vs. thin
boundaries)
Privacy Rule Management Process
 Boundary turbulence
 Conflicts about boundary expectations and regulations
 Boundary regulation is not always smooth
 Unclear expectations about boundaries may result in conflict
 Why does it happen?
 A discloser may be rejected after an attempt to draw another into a
privacy boundary
 When expectations are violated, the person is hurt and experiences
boundary turbulence
Critique and closing
 CPM seems to be heuristic because it has been
used in a variety of situations and contexts.
 One criticism questions whether CPM is logically
consistent.
1. There may be a contradiction between CPM’s
claim to be a dialectical theory, and the dualistic
approach it seems to take.
 CPM is testable, and promises great utility.
Panama Papers
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2APYPjTWZ8