Wrestling With Proteus: Tales of Communication Managers in a Changing Economy

Stevens Amidon Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne ; Stuart Blythe Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne

Abstract

Because communication specialists often lack the power and prestige of other knowledge workers, such as engineers and product designers, managers who direct the work of communication specialists face unique challenges. This study, based on interviews with 11 communication managers, found that their agency and identity were determined both by the structure of the organizations in which they worked and by their use of genres, technologies, and regulatory techniques. With their work undergoing transition because of globalization, outsourcing, and rapid technological change, the stories that these managers tell demonstrate the importance of studying management as it specifically applies to communication specialists.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2008-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651907307698
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (19)

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Computers and Composition
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 19 →
  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. College Composition and Communication
  3. Communication Design Quarterly
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  9. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  10. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  11. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  12. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  13. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric

References (58) · 3 in this index

  1. Publications management: Essays for professional communicators
  2. 10.2190/PMEC6
  3. The coming of post-industrial society: A venture in social forecasting
  4. Blythe, S. (2006). Agencies, ecologies, and the mundane artifacts in our midst. In P. Takayoshi & P. Sullivan…
  5. Storytelling in organizations: Why storytelling is transforming 21st century organization…
Show all 58 →
  1. 10.1177/13505084030103010
  2. 10.4135/9781446221686.n9
  3. Writing genres
  4. Management principles and practices for technical communicators
  5. The age of discontinuity: Guidelines to our changing society
  6. Post-capitalist society
  7. 10.2307/41165987
  8. Information management: The organizational dimension
  9. Critical theory of technology
  10. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.)
  11. Foucault, M. (1997). Technologies of the self. In P. Rabinow (Ed.) & R. Hurley (Trans.), Ethics, subjectivity…
  12. The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century
  13. Analyzing streams of language: Twelve steps to the systematic coding of text, talk, and o…
  14. 10.1007/978-1-349-16161-4
  15. Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age
  16. Doing grounded theory: Issues and discussions
  17. 10.1177/1080569905276556
  18. Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy
  19. Managing your documentation projects
  20. Writing workplace cultures: An archaeology of professional writing
  21. Shifting agency: Agency, kairos, and the possibilities of social action
  22. 10.1177/002194360103800404
  23. 10.2307/j.ctt46nrtw
  24. Technical Communication Quarterly
  25. E-business: Roadmap for success
  26. Kirsch, G. (1992). Methodological pluralism. In G. Kirsch & P. A. Sullivan (Eds.), Methods and methodology in…
  27. 10.1177/1080569905277130
  28. Spurious coin: A history of science, management, and technical writing
  29. 2006 Management SIG Survey
  30. Managing knowledge work
  31. 10.1177/0021943605276803
  32. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  33. 10.2190/PMEC4
  34. The work of nations: Preparing ourselves for 21st century capitalism
  35. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methodology
  36. Multiliteracies for a digital age
  37. The myth of the paperless office
  38. The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization
  39. Education
  40. 10.2190/PMEC12
  41. Spinuzzi, C. (2006, November). What do we need to teach about knowledge work? Computer Writing and Research L…
  42. American Scholar
  43. Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques
  44. The principles of scientific management
  45. Powershift: Knowledge, wealth and violence at the edge of the 21st century
  46. JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory
  47. 10.1080/0268396031000077440
  48. Tales of the field: On writing ethnography
  49. 10.1177/108056990106400109
  50. Weber, B. (1994). Project management: The art of managing deadlines . In O. J. Allen & L. H. Deming (Eds.), P…
  51. Technical Communication Quarterly
  52. 10.2190/CPI
  53. The support economy: Why corporations are failing individuals and the next episode of cap…