Little has been written about the organizational role of technical communica
tors. Using a systems approach to organizational theory, we argue that techni
cal communicators engage in tasks that permit them to function as "boundary
spanners. "As boundary spanners, technical communicators both disseminate
and make sense of information required for coordination between organiza
tional groups and for effective responses to the environment. We discuss the
implications of this position for managing and educating technical communi
cators.
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