9 Beyond single authors: Organizational text production as collaborative writing

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss some of the unique concerns that arise when authors need to work together to produce documents. We begin by defining co-authorship and then discuss some of the unique properties and considerations of co-authored documents, including managing the division of labor, producing interim project management documents, and harnessing the productive potential of conflict. We end by discussing the ways that new technologies are creating opportunities for new forms of co-authorship and new pairings of potential co-authors, including international collaborations that require coauthors to negotiate multilingual text production. A narrative of failureIn her analysis of a student team's failure to produce a workable concept design for a major Research and Development company, Rebecca Burnett (1996) highlights many of the key issues in professional collaborative writing. Burnett studied a 13-member team of student engineers charged with developing a real technical design, but given little guidance on how to work collaboratively. Left to their own devices, the students developed a non-hierarchical team structure without clear definitions of roles and responsibilities, leaving team members with little understanding of how their individual work related to the overall, final group document. This confusion was exacerbated by the fact that team members never documented their weekly team meetings or other verbal interactions. Without shared written documentation, team members developed remarkably different understandings of the team's purpose. When a technical writer was eventually added to this team, her documentation of meetings and decisions helped team members address conflicts that had hitherto been invisible. So important were these interim, planning documents that the technical writer quickly became perceived as the project leader despite her lack of engineering background. However, this structure arrived too late into the project: the design and recommendations the students developed never achieved an audience beyond their immediate supervisor. Burnett's (1996) narrative of failure underscores many of the unique aspects of collaborative writing that we discuss in this chapter: the need for a clear structure to manage the collaboration; the importance of interim planning documents such as meeting minutes, schedules, and charters; the often productive role of conflict in the project; and the relationship between verbal and written communication. In the following sections, we discuss many of the key concepts and controversial issues in co-authored text productions.

Pienryhmän yhteiskirjoittamisen prosessin vaiheet ja vuorovaikutus viidennen luokan historian tunnilla

“…Toisaalta nimenomaan kirjoittamisen opettamisen lähestymistapana yhdessä kirjoittamisen ajatellaan tukevan oppimista ylipäänsä sekä sosiaalista oppimista erityisesti. Yhdessä kirjoittaminen on näin ajateltuna ennen muuta sosiaalinen prosessi, joka edellyttää yhteistyötä eri työvaiheissa ja yhteisten tavoitteiden saavuttamisessa (Ede & Lunsdorf, 1990, luku 4;Lowry, Curtis & Lowry, 2004;Schindler & Wolfe, 2014). Oppilaiden keskinäisessä kirjoittamisen tilanteessa on havaittu neuvoteltavan muun muassa prosessin etenemisestä, työnjaosta ja siitä, mitä tekstiin lopulta päätyy (mm.…”

The invisible supporters

“…In organizations, commenting on a colleague's writing serves as a form of quality control that is essential to creating a document that meets multiple organizational needs (Brand, 2005). Controversial issues often concern stylistic choices (Schindler & Wolfe, 2014). However, conflict over content and rhetorical issues seems to be highly productive.…”

Writing(s) at the Crossroads

“…i. Investigating individual or collaborative writing: Depending on the research object and underlying key concepts such as authorship (Schindler & Wolfe 2014), AL-informed writing research investigates the activity of subjects of varied complexities. They range from individuals to peer groups and entire organizations in complex contexts .…”