ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we provide a glimpse into one complex workplace setting in order to demonstrate the difficulty that newcomers face as they attempt to make the transition into writing on the job. By describing the position of writers and texts within the complicated dynamics of human work, we wish to demonstrate the highly situated, contingent, and ideological nature of writing. The chapter relies primarily on genre studies for its theoretical basis, and offers a picture of the intricate and purposeful organization of genres in an institutional setting. Briefly, our argument is this: workplace genres embody and enact ideology; that is, genres both reflect and create the ideas, interests, and values of those who participate in them and use them for their particular ends. Although the genres of stable, homogenous institutions may display a relatively consistent ideology, most contemporary organizations of any size consist of overlapping communities of practice (COPs) whose genres embody a variety of ideologies, some in concert, some in conflict. Indeed, as we hope to demonstrate below, individual genres may serve as sites of ideological struggle, as different communities within the larger collective seek to advance their own knowledge, values, and beliefs. As individual newcomers enter the workplace and participate in a particular community's genres, they adopt its ideology and join the struggle that is played out through rhetorical practice.
