The CMMi Working Papers is a new publishing venture that is part of the broader CMMi Press initiative. Our press was established with the broad aims of encouraging and publicising developments with a CMM focus. Our mission statement was inspired by an impassioned statement from Barnett Pearce (W.B. Pearce, 2002, A brief Introduction to “the coordinated management of meaning”, unpublished paper) and, with some slight modifications, is as follows:

The passion that drives the development of CMM is a commitment to making better social worlds. We’re bored with, as well as frightened by, repetitions of the same old ways of dominating others through force, of resolving conflicts confrontationally, of distributing wealth unequally, of exploiting the resources of our world without assessing the effects; and of doing politics through lies and secrecy. There is enough of a track record to know that better ways of being a person and of moving forward together are possible, and we believe that one important element in achieving this is an enhanced attention to the quality of the patterns of communication in which we participate. In one sense, we are most interested in the “secret life” of CMM as a set of tools for practitioners and we invite anyone to use any or all of these tools to make better social worlds.  

We want to encourage publications that share that vision with us and have initiated the Working Papers series as a means of fostering the development of new ideas, applications, and ideas-in-progress. We have no constraints on the content of ideas discussed or the contexts they cover with the proviso that they are premised on a CMM ethos and, in particular, a communication perspective.

There is no specific word length set, although 5,000 to 15,000 words can be used as a rough guide. The format and approach to writing would be a function of the ideas being canvassed and references are expected. The APA style guide should be used throughout the paper.

As a further guide to style and topics, look at the two CMMi Working Papers already published https://cmminstitute.org/cmmi-press/

If you have an idea or topic you’d like to explore with us, please email our general editor, Robyn Penman (robynpenman1@gmail.com) with the following

• the working title
• synopsis of the idea development, including some indication of the literature you anticipate drawing from
• if possible, a likely date of submission
• who, out of our Stewards or broader community, would be a good reader(s)/collaborator(s) to help you develop your paper

Our approach to all our publishing endeavours is collaborative and the editor and other people nominated by you and/or us, will work with you to develop your ideas and foster discussion. Final selection for publication will rely on the approval of the editor and nominated people and where needed, other members of the CMMi Press Editorial Collective.