“Bring the Newbie Into the Fold”: Politeness Strategies of Newcomers and Existing Group Members Within Workplace Meetings

Abstract

This study investigates politeness strategies within meetings of designers who met face-to-face and technical communicators who met via teleconference and, more specifically, politeness strategies of existing members toward group newcomers and vice versa. Based on the results of this study, I suggest that issues of power and social distance affect politeness strategies by both groups during their initial interactions and suggest that technical communication educators should better prepare students by teaching benefits, detriments, and realities of particular linguistic politeness choices.

Keywords:

• collaboration
• ethnography
• newcomers
• politeness theory
• workplace communication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by the University of North Texas's Research Initiation Grant and Junior Faculty Summer Research Fellowship. Many thanks go to Ryan Boettger and Jane Crews for their comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful critiques.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erin Friess

Erin Friess is an assistant professor of technical communication in the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication at the University of North Texas. Her research interests include workplace communication and usability assessment.