Written Communication Oct 2023 Open Access

What Is a Workplace? Principles for Bounding Case Studies of Genres, Processes, Objects, and Organizations

Clay Spinuzzi The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

Many of our ideas about workplaces have been inherited from 20th-century corporations, in which the elements of the workplace have been packaged in a highly typified configuration: work is done by people belonging to an organization, for some clear reason, at a specific place and time, using specific processes. This configuration is increasingly at odds with work practice, and thus workplace writing researchers must reconsider what is meant by the “workplace.” This article argues for treating the workplace as a conceptual decision: a bounded case that researchers construct to enable systematic comparisons. After reviewing how cases are bounded in methodology and practice, the article ends with concrete principles and guidance for bounding such case studies.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2023-10-01
DOI
10.1177/07410883231185875
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Hybrid
Topics
genre theory professional writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (8)

  1. Tham (2026)
    Exploring the Rhetorical and Agentive Functions of Scholarly Biosketches in Aca…
    Rhetoric Review
  2. McCaughey (2026)
    Model as Missed Opportunity for Writing Transfer During Career Change
    Written Communication
  3. Cabrera et al. (2025)
    Tracing Disruptions: Activity Systems in a Digital Services Microfirm
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Pérez-Llantada et al. (2025)
    Women Scientists’ Digitally Mediated Activity, Genres and Digital Tools: A Cros…
    Written Communication
  5. Guadrón (2025)
    Reflections-on-Action: Using Critical Disability Studies to Reconceptualize the…
    Written Communication
Show all 8 →
  1. McDaniel (2025)
    Samirah X’s Sense of Audience: A Case Study on Black Teen Activism on Social Media
    Written Communication
  2. Wickman (2025)
    Emerging Perspectives in Medical Case Report Writing: How Guidelines Support In…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Hillen (2024)
    Exploring Artificial Intelligence Tool Use in a Nonprofit Workplace
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

References (137) · 60 in this index

  1. Adler P. S. (2007)
    The firm as a collaborative community: Reconstructing trust in the knowledge economy
  2. 10.1515/9783110220674.305
     ↗
  3. Angeli (2015)
    Three Types of Memory in Emergency Medical Services Communication
    Written Communication
  4. Artemeva (2005)
    A Time to Speak, a Time to Act: A Rhetorical Genre Analysis of a Novice Enginee…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Artemeva (2008)
    Toward a Unified Social Theory of Genre Learning
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 137 →
  1. Artemeva N., Freedman A. (Eds.). (2007). Rhetorical genre studies and beyond (p. 282). Inkshed Publications.
  2. Bakhtin M. M. (1981)
    The dialogic imagination: Four essays
  3. Balzhiser et al. (2019)
    Matters of Form: Questions of Race, Identity, Design, and the U.S. Census
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. 10.1287/orsc.12.1.76.10122
     ↗
  5. Batova (2018)
    Work Motivation in the Rhetoric of Component Content Management
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Bay et al. (2021)
    Researching Home-Based Technical and Professional Communication: Emerging Struc…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Bazerman C. (1988)
    Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of the experimental article in science
  8. Bazerman C. (2022)
    Literatura y Linguistica
  9. Bazerman et al. (2003)
    The Production of Information for Genred Activity Spaces: Informational Motives…
    Written Communication
  10. Belinsky et al. (2016)
    Throwing a Change-Up, Pitching a Strike: An Autoethnography of Frame Acquisitio…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  11. Bernard H. R. (2002)
    Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches
  12. Bødker S. (1991)
    Through the interface: A human activity approach to user interface design
  13. 10.1515/9781400827145
     ↗
  14. Bracewell et al. (2003)
    Tasks, Ensembles, and Activity: Linkages between Text Production and Situation …
    Written Communication
  15. Brandt (2005)
    Writing for a Living: Literacy and the Knowledge Economy
    Written Communication
  16. Carlson (2023)
    “Who Am I Fighting For? Who Am I Accountable To?”: Comradeship as a Frame for N…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  17. Carradini (2018)
    An Organizational Structure of Indie Rock Musicians as Displayed by Facebook Usage
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  18. Castells M. (2003)
    The internet galaxy: Reflections on the internet, business, and society
  19. Castells M. (2009)
    Communication power
  20. Creswell J. W. (2006)
    Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions
  21. Devitt A. J. (1991)
    Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in pr…
  22. 10.1177/0759106315582200
     ↗
  23. 10.1145/3328020.3353940
     ↗
  24. Edenfield (2017)
    Power and Communication in Worker Cooperatives: An Overview
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  25. Engeström Y. (1992)
    Interactive expertise: Studies in distributed working intelligence
  26. 10.1108/13665620410521477
     ↗
  27. Engeström Y. (2022)
    Writing as human activity: Implications of applications of work of Charles Bazerman
  28. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance: Participatory Translation of Safety Communication for Latino…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  29. Fraiberg (2013)
    Reassembling Technical Communication: A Framework for Studying Multilingual and…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  30. Fraiberg (2017)
    Pretty Bullets: Tracing Transmedia/Translingual Literacies of an Israeli Soldie…
    College Composition and Communication
  31. Fraiberg (2021)
    Unsettling Start-Up Ecosystems: Geographies, Mobilities, and Transnational Lite…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  32. Friess (2019)
    Scrum Language Use in a Software Engineering Firm: An Exploratory Study
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  33. Gallagher (2015)
    The Rhetorical Template
    Computers and Composition
  34. GEISLER (2001)
    Textual Objects: Accounting for the Role of Texts in the Everyday Life of Compl…
    Written Communication
  35. George A. L. (2005)
    Case studies and theory development in the social sciences
  36. Gillham B. (2003)
    Case study research methods
  37. 10.1177/0969776404041417
     ↗
  38. 10.1215/9781478002390
     ↗
  39. Guile D., Spinuzzi C. (n.d.). “Fractional” vocational working and learning in project teams: “Project assembl…
  40. Gygi et al. (2010)
    Productive Tensions and the Regulatory Work of Genres in the Development of an …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  41. Haas (1999)
    On the relationship between old and new technologies
    Computers and Composition
  42. Hart-Davidson W. (2013)
    Solving problems in technical communication
  43. 10.7551/mitpress/1881.001.0001
     ↗
  44. Jones (2016)
    Found Things: Genre, Narrative, and Identification in a Networked Activist Orga…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  45. Jones (2017)
    Rhetorical Narratives of Black Entrepreneurs: The Business of Race, Agency, and…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  46. Jones N. N. (2018)
    Technical Communication
  47. Karlsson (2009)
    Positioned by Reading and Writing: Literacy Practices, Roles, and Genres in Com…
    Written Communication
  48. Keller C. (1996)
    Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context
  49. 10.1287/orsc.1050.0157
     ↗
  50. Killoran (2009)
    Targeting an Audience of Robots: Search Engines and the Marketing of Technical …
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  51. Kleimann S. (1993)
    Writing in the workplace: New research perspectives
  52. Latour B. (1986)
    Knowledge and society: Studies in the sociology of culture past and present
  53. Latour B. (1992)
    Shaping technology-building society. Studies in sociotechnical change
  54. Latour B. (1996)
    Aramis, or the love of technology
  55. Latour B. (1999)
    Pandora’s hope: Essays on the reality of science studies
  56. 10.1177/0306312792022001002
     ↗
  57. Lauren et al. (2016)
    Networking in a Field of Introverts: The Egonets, Networking Practices, and Net…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  58. 10.4018/IJSKD.2015040104
     ↗
  59. Law J. (1986)
    Power, action and belief: A new sociology of knowledge?
  60. Law J (1994)
    Organizing modernity
  61. Leonard (2015)
    Writing Through Bureaucracy: Migrant Correspondence and Managed Mobility
    Written Communication
  62. Lewis (2016)
    Content Management Systems, Bittorrent Trackers, and Large-Scale Rhetorical Gen…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  63. Lillis et al. (2020)
    Time, the Written Record, and Professional Practice: The Case of Contemporary S…
    Written Communication
  64. Little (2017)
    Anticipating Delivery: A Case Study of Domestic Partner Benefit (DPB) Advocacy
    Written Communication
  65. Long K. J. (2004)
    The SAGE encyclopedia of social science research methods
  66. Long et al. (2013)
    Legitimizing and Elevating Telework: Chinese Constructions of a Nonstandard Wor…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  67. 10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523
     ↗
  68. Marotta (2021)
    Regulated and Nonregulated Writing: A Qualitative Study of University Custodian…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  69. 10.1177/1354067X07079887
     ↗
  70. McCarthy et al. (2011)
    Content Management in the Workplace: Community, Context, and a New Way to Organ…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  71. McCarthy L. P. (1991)
    Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in pr…
  72. McNely (2017)
    Moments and Metagenres: Coordinating Complex, Multigenre Narratives
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  73. 10.4018/978-1-4666-7409-7.ch007
     ↗
  74. 10.1016/0956-5221(95)00035-T
     ↗
  75. Miles M. B. (2014)
    Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook
  76. 10.1080/00335638409383686
     ↗
  77. Mintzberg H. (1979)
    The structuring of organizations
  78. Mirel B. (1996)
    Electronic literacies in the workplace: Technologies of writing
  79. 10.1145/1880071.1880098
     ↗
  80. Moulier Boutang Y (2011)
    Cognitive capitalism
  81. 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014595.001.0001
     ↗
  82. 10.1023/A:1008694621289
     ↗
  83. 10.1515/9783110220674.385
     ↗
  84. Odell L. (1985)
    Writing in nonacademic settings
  85. Opel D. S. (2018)
    Technical Communication
  86. Opel et al. (2019)
    The Primary Care Clinic as Writing Space
    Written Communication
  87. 10.1287/orsc.13.6.684.501
     ↗
  88. Paradis J. (1985)
    Writing in nonacademic settings
  89. Pellegrini (2022)
    Composing Like an Entrepreneur: The Pedagogical Implications of Design Thinking…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  90. Pigg (2014)
    Coordinating Constant Invention: Social Media's Role in Distributed Work
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  91. 10.37514/WRI-B.2020.1015
     ↗
  92. Pimentel et al. (2012)
    The Double Occupancy of Hispanics: Counting Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. Census
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  93. Popham (2005)
    Forms as Boundary Genres in Medicine, Science, and Business
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  94. 10.1075/z.194.10pri
     ↗
  95. Propen et al. (2010)
    Understanding Genre through the Lens of Advocacy: The Rhetorical Work of the Vi…
    Written Communication
  96. Read (2016)
    The Net Work Genre Function
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  97. Read et al. (2015)
    Visualizing and Tracing: Research Methodologies for the Study of Networked, Soc…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  98. Ruppel et al. (2013)
    Using Communication Choices as a Boundary-Management Strategy: How Choices of C…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  99. Russell (2022)
    From Methodology to Method in Genre-Based Ethnographies
    Written Communication
  100. RUSSELL (1997)
    Rethinking Genre in School and Society: An Activity Theory Analysis
    Written Communication
  101. 10.1017/CBO9780511809989.004
     ↗
  102. 10.1080/00461520903029030
     ↗
  103. SCHRYER (1993)
    Records as Genre
    Written Communication
  104. Schryer et al. (2009)
    The Trial of the Expert Witness: Negotiating Credibility in Child Abuse Corresp…
    Written Communication
  105. Schryer et al. (2005)
    Genre Theory, Health-Care Discourse, and Professional Identity Formation
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  106. Schuster M. L. (2011)
    Victim advocacy in the courtroom: Persuasive practices in domestic violence and child pro…
  107. 10.18291/njwls.123166
     ↗
  108. Smagorinsky (2008)
    The Method Section as Conceptual Epicenter in Constructing Social Science Resea…
    Written Communication
  109. Smart G. (2006)
    Writing the Economy: Activity, Genre, and Technology in the World of Banking
  110. 10.7551/mitpress/6875.001.0001
     ↗
  111. 10.1017/CBO9780511509605
     ↗
  112. Spinuzzi (2011)
    Losing by Expanding: Corralling the Runaway Object
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  113. 10.7208/chicago/9780226237015.001.0001
     ↗
  114. 10.1177/030631289019003001
     ↗
  115. 10.4018/ijskd.2013100103
     ↗
  116. 10.1093/oso/9780190845582.001.0001
     ↗
  117. Swarts (2016)
    Composing Networks: Writing Practices on Mobile Devices
    Written Communication
  118. Swarts (2019)
    Open-Source Software in the Sciences: The Challenge of User Support
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  119. Teston (2016)
    Rhetoric, Precarity, and mHealth Technologies
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  120. Teston (2009)
    A Grounded Investigation of Genred Guidelines in Cancer Care Deliberations
    Written Communication
  121. United States Census Bureau. (2022). The number of people primarily working from home tripled between 2019 an…
  122. U.S. Small Business Association Office of Advocacy. (2018). A look at nonemployer businesses. https://cdn.adv…
  123. Vygotsky L. S. (1997)
    The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, Volume 4: The history of the development of higher …
  124. Walton (2013)
    Stakeholder Flux: Participation in Technology-Based International Development P…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  125. Walton et al. (2015)
    Values and Validity: Navigating Messiness in a Community-Based Research Project…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  126. Williams et al. (2016)
    A Narrative Perspective on International Entrepreneurship: Comparing Stories Fr…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  127. WINSOR (2000)
    Ordering Work: Blue-Collar Literacy and the Political Nature of Genre
    Written Communication
  128. Witte et al. (2005)
    Research in Activity:An Analysis of Speed Bumps as Mediational Means
    Written Communication
  129. 10.56021/9780801837579
     ↗
  130. 10.1177/002194360203900102
     ↗
  131. Yin R. K. (2003)
    Case study research: Design and methods
  132. Zuboff S. (1988)
    In the age of the smart machine: The future of work and power
CrossRef global citation count: 11 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2026
    The National Security Strategy as an Object of Business Communication ↗
    Philip W. Hayek
    rhetorical criticism genre theory professional writing
  2. Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments Jan 2026
    A Murder Most Technical: Gamification, AI, and Rhetorical Genre Studies in the Technical Writing Classroom ↗
    Justin Cook
    genre theory writing pedagogy service learning teacher development argument collaborative writing technical communication professional writing
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  4. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Sep 2025
    Corporate Disclosure During COVID-19: A Close Reading and Discourse Analysis ↗
    Tolulola Lawal
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis assessment professional writing
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2025
    Tracing Disruptions: Activity Systems in a Digital Services Microfirm ↗
    Enzo Cabrera; Omar Sabaj; Germán Varas; Clay Spinuzzi
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis professional writing