Process and power: Building strategies for technical communicators to effect organizational change
D. Kate Agena
- School: Purdue University (0183)
- Degree: Ph.D.
- Date: 2006; pp: 143
- Advisor: Sullivan, Patricia
- Source: DAI-A 67/10, Apr 2007
- Subjects: Rhetoric, Composition, Organizational Behavior, Organization Theory
- ProQuest Document Number:1221727031
- ISBN: 9780542945526
- UMI Number: AAT 3239758
Abstract:
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This project extends work toward building strategies to improve the status of technical
communication by arguing that shifts in product development processes, such as the current
shift in software development from waterfall to iterative methods, open gaps for technical
communicators to take rhetorical action resulting in increased status. I explain the waterfall
to iterative shift and examine the ways in which the shift disrupts power relations between
managers, engineers, and technical communicators. I articulate a heuristic that outlines a
number of factors to consider while exploring how the process and power connection functions
in a particular workplace. Two workplace case studies apply the heuristic and provide
examples of how process and power function in real-world organizations, as well as provide
insight into the practical consequences of the shift. The cases also include examples of
organizational change brought about through intentional rhetorical action. I then summarize
the characteristics of organizational context and development processes that have been
identified as providing possible opportunities for rhetorical action in order to begin to
build strategies for effecting organizational change. I present practical and theoretical
implications on the theory, practice, and pedagogy of technical communication.
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