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
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (36)

  1. Martin et al. (2018)
    Stories They Tell: The Rhetoric of Recruiting Independent Consultants
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  2. Cundiff (2018)
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  3. Pflugfelder (2018)
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  4. Weber (2016)
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  5. Dave (2015)
    Categories as Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina
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  1. Ross (2015)
    Monkeywrenching Plain Language: Ecodefense, Ethics, and the Technical Communica…
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  2. Charney (2015)
    Getting to “How Do You Know?” Rather Than “So What?” From “What's New?”
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance: Participatory Translation of Safety Communication for Latino…
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  4. Williams (2012)
    Reimagining NASA: A Cultural and Visual Analysis of the U.S. Space Program
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  5. Riley et al. (2009)
    "Ethics in the Details": Communicating Engineering Ethics via Micro-Insertion
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Leydens (2008)
    Novice and Insider Perspectives on Academic and Workplace Writing: Toward a Con…
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  7. Dombrowski (2007)
    The Evolving Face of Ethics in Technical and Professional Communication: Challe…
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  8. Dombrowski (2006)
    The Two Shuttle Accident Reports: Context and Culture in Technical Communication
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  9. Luzon (2005)
    Genre Analysis in Technical Communication
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  10. Cochran (2004)
    “Cynical Politics” Versus “Scientific Truth:” Communication Crisis at Brookhave…
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  11. Dombrowski (2002)
    Language and Empiricism
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  12. SAUER (1998)
    Embodied Knowledge: The Textual Representation of Embodied Sensory Information …
    Written Communication
  13. Ding (1998)
    Marxism, Ideology, Power and Scientific and Technical Writing
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  14. Gross et al. (1997)
    The Challenger Disaster And The Revival Of Rhetoric In Organizational Life
    Argumentation
  15. Brown (1996)
    Persuasiveness and Audience Focus in a Nonacademic R&D Setting
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  16. THACKER et al. (1995)
    Transmuting Common Substances: The Cold Fusion Controversy and the Rhetoric of …
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  17. Orbell (1995)
    The DoD Tailhook Report: Unanswered Questions
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  18. Dombrowski (1995)
    Can ethics be technologized? Lessons from Challenger, philosophy, and rhetoric
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  19. Henry (1994)
    Toward Technical Authorship
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  20. Sauer (1994)
    The dynamics of disaster: A three‐dimensional view of documentation in a tightl…
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  21. Mirel (1994)
    Debating nuclear energy: Theories of risk and purposes of communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  22. Kynell (1994)
    Considering our Pedagogical past through Textbooks: A Conversation with John M.…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  23. Dombrowski (1994)
    Challengerthrough the Eyes of Feyerabend
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  24. Sauer (1993)
    Revisioning Sixteenth Century Solutions to Twentieth Century Problems in Herber…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  25. Sims (1993)
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  26. Charney et al. (1992)
    Reviews
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  27. Dombrowski (1992)
    Challengerand the social contingency of meaning: Two lessons for the technical …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  28. Ornatowski (1992)
    Between efficiency and politics rhetoric and ethics in technical writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  29. Sauer (1992)
    The engineer as rational man: the problem of imminent danger in a non-rational …
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  30. McCORD (1991)
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  31. Dombrowski (1991)
    The lessons of the Challenger investigations
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 50 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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