ABSTRACT
Languageis,withoutanydoubt,themostcomplicatedmeansofcommunication betweenorganisms,and,ingeneral,peoplearewelladvisedtosaynothing. However,therearesituationsinwhichtheavoidanceofcommunicationcancause evenmoredamagetolifethanspeakingwould.Workingasamemberofa professionalteaminahighriskenvironmentcaneasilysupplyapersonwithboth sortsofwisdom.Thischapterdealswiththeinterrelationofcommunicationwith othertypesofworkplaceactivities.Workplacesdifferinmanyrespects.Thiswas pointedoutintheintroductionwithreferencetothesampleworkplaces:cockpit, operatingroom,intensivecareunitandNPPcontrolroom.Therearedifferencesin manyfeatures,includingshape,functionandteamstructure,andonewouldexpect thatthesedifferencescreatedifferentneedsforcommunicativebehaviour.Those featuresofaworkplacethatarerelevanttotheform,frequency,contentor strategiesofcommunicationareconceptualizedastheformativecharacteristicsof aworkplace.Atthebeginningofthischapter,someobservationswillbereferredto thatseemtoimplyconflictinganswerstothequestionofwhetherornotoneshould speak.Thefollowingparagraphsaremeanttodisentanglethecomplicated determinantsoftheinvolvedclassesofcommunicativeactivities.Theultimategoal istoexplicatesomebasicprinciplesabouttheinteractionofcommunicationand othercognitiveactivities.
