Journal of Business and Technical Communication Sep 1990

The Construction of Knowledge in Organizations: Asking the Right Questions about the Challenger

Dorothy A. Winsor

Abstract

Previous research on the communication failures contributing to the Challenger's explosion tends to ask why it happened that various people in the organizations involved knew about the faulty O-rings but failed to pass on the information to decision makers. This is a faulty question, revealing assump tions many of us unconsciously share even when we consciously reject these as sumptions. This question implies a simplistic notion of knowledge and a conduit model of communication. Insights from the sociology of technology and the new rhetoricians can help us to form better questions about rhetoric in organizations.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1990-09-01
DOI
10.1177/105065199000400201
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (26)

  1. Martin et al. (2018)
    Stories They Tell
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Cundiff (2018)
    Risk Communication and Miscommunication: Case Studies in Science, Technology, E…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Pflugfelder (2018)
    Failure Matters: Conflicting Practices in a High-Tech Case
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Weber (2016)
    Stasis in Space! Viewing Definitional Conflicts Surrounding the James Webb Spac…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Dave (2015)
    Categories as Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 26 →
  1. Charney (2015)
    Getting to “How Do You Know?” Rather Than “So What?” From “What's New?”
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Williams (2012)
    Reimagining NASA
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Dombrowski (2006)
    The Two Shuttle Accident Reports: Context and Culture in Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Dombrowski (2002)
    Language and Empiricism
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. SAUER (1998)
    Embodied Knowledge
    Written Communication
  7. Ding (1998)
    Marxism, Ideology, Power and Scientific and Technical Writing
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. Brown (1996)
    Persuasiveness and Audience Focus in a Nonacademic R&D …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  9. THACKER et al. (1995)
    Transmuting Common Substances
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  10. Orbell (1995)
    The DoD Tailhook Report: Unanswered Questions
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  11. Henry (1994)
    Toward Technical Authorship
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. Sauer (1994)
    The dynamics of disaster: A three‐dimensional view of documentation in a tightl…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  13. Mirel (1994)
    Debating nuclear energy: Theories of risk and purposes of communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. Kynell (1994)
    Considering our Pedagogical past through Textbooks: A Conversation with John M.…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  15. Dombrowski (1994)
    <i>Challenger</i>through the Eyes of Feyerabend
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  16. Sauer (1993)
    Revisioning Sixteenth Century Solutions to Twentieth Century Problems in Herber…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  17. Sims (1993)
    Linking ethics and language in the technical communication classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  18. Charney et al. (1992)
    Reviews
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Dombrowski (1992)
    <i>Challenger</i>and the social contingency of meaning: Two lessons for the tec…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. Ornatowski (1992)
    Between efficiency and politics rhetoric and ethics in technical writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  21. McCORD (1991)
    The Business Writer, the Law, and Routine Business Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (1)

  1. LaROCHE et al. (1985)
    Rhetoric and Rational Enterprises
    Written Communication
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/108056998805100404
     ↗
  2. 10.1080/10510978609368217
     ↗
  3. 10.1525/9780520313316
     ↗
  4. 10.1002/ert.3910110107
     ↗
  5. 10.2307/375964
     ↗
  6. 10.1007/978-94-010-1713-8_8
     ↗
  7. 10.1080/10510978609368213
     ↗
  8. 10.1080/10510978609368214
     ↗
  9. 10.1109/47.7814
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 50 View in citation network →

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