ABSTRACT
Collaborative writing, in its many forms, is an almost integral element of any organisation, and it has been the focus of considerable research interest over the last thirty years or so. This interest has come from a variety of disciplines, ranging from information systems to team management to business communication, to name but a few. Attempts at defining collaborative writing have ranged in their level of detail and specificity. Contextual collaboration is a helpful notion in that it accounts for the influence of the organisation on texts, in the shape of templates, practices, culture and so on. The possibility that collaborative writing can be less predictable and ordered than is implied by some definitions is linked to the fact that it takes place in specific workplace settings, each with its own constitution and dynamic. Collaboration is a far-reaching element of workplace writing and, as well as being instrumental in the production of texts.
