Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2002

Theorizing Structure and Agency in Workplace Writing

Barbara Schneider University of Calgary

Abstract

This article proposes ethnomethodology as a theoretical approach for resolving the structure-agency binary and for treating the activities of writers in organizations as simultaneously embedded in and constitutive of organizational context. Structure is defined as those elements of social circumstances that writers orient to as relevant to their immediate writing task. In orienting to these elements, writers reproduce them as external and constraining social facts. The value of ethnomethodology is illustrated with data from a study examining the social practices that surrounded the writing of an evaluation report by two managers in an educational institution.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2002-04-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651902016002002
Open Access
Closed
Topics
professional writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Weber (2013)
    Constrained Agency in Corporate Social Media Policy
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Valdez (2011)
    Book Review: Book Review
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Cotugno et al. (2011)
    Seeking a Direct Pipeline to Practice: Four Guidelines for Researchers and Prac…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Schryer et al. (2005)
    Genre Theory, Health-Care Discourse, and Professional Identity Formation
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Salvo (2004)
    Rhetorical Action in Professional Space
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (3)

  1. BRANDT (1992)
    The Cognitive as the Social
    Written Communication
  2. Cross (1990)
    A Bakhtinian Exploration of Factors Affecting the Collaborative Writing of an E…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. DOHENY-FARINA (1986)
    Writing in an Emerging Organization
    Written Communication
Also cites 11 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.2307/358196
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  2. 10.2307/376723
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  3. 10.2307/357716
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  4. 10.1111/j.1475-682X.1976.tb00755.x
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  5. 10.2307/2095746
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  6. 10.4135/9781849208758.n6
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  7. 10.1177/089124194023003002
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  8. 10.1177/0893318901152003
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  9. 10.1177/0021886300362003
     ↗
  10. 10.2307/357883
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  11. 10.5465/amr.1992.4279545
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network →

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