Abstract:
This thesis describes the collaborative writing practices among colleagues within the
same company who work in two geographically-dispersed offices. The author conducted
an ethnography of ERC, the education research division within a large research and
development organization, observing and interviewing staff in both the east and west
coast offices over a period of five months. The study examined the overall organizational
culture, the two distinct office cultures that emerged in part because of the distance, and
the individual writing team cultures, and how both the cultures and distance influenced
writing collaborations. It also addressed how collaborative writing shapes the various
cultures. Although a literature review suggested that being in two different places with
two different office cultures would hinder collaboration, this study found that ERC was
able to have successful writing collaborations because of the cultures of the overall
organization, the two separate offices, and the individual writing teams.
