Editing Collaborative writing (section)

== In the workplace ==
A study conducted by Stephen Bremner, an English professor at the [[City University of Hong Kong]], investigated eight business communication textbooks to test the depth in which they provided students with a knowledge of collaborative writing in the workplace and how to execute those processes. The study found that, generally, textbooks highlighted the role of collaborative writing in the workplace. Textbooks listed the pros of collaborative writing such as saving time, more superior documents due to each individual's strengths and specialized knowledge, a well-crafted message due to teamwork, balanced abilities, and an interest in accomplishing a common goal.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Bremner |first=Stephen |date=2010-04-01 |title=Collaborative writing: Bridging the gap between the textbook and the workplace |journal=English for Specific Purposes |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=121–132 |doi=10.1016/j.esp.2009.11.001 |issn=0889-4906}}</ref>

The textbooks examined gave students a basic knowledge of collaboration in the workplace, but they also lacked the information that showed students the realities of collaborative writing in the workplace with few activities presented in the textbooks that mirror collaborative activities in the workplace. Much of the activities that featured group work seemed more idealistic rather than based in reality, where the writing process occurred in only controlled and orderly environments. Bremner also found that group work in the classroom also did not properly simulate the power hierarchies present in the workplace.<ref name=":02" />

Jason Palmeri found that when it came to inter-professional collaboration, most of the issues stemmed from miscommunication. In differing disciplines, one person may have a level of expertise and understanding that is foreign to another.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Palmeri |first=Jason |date=2004-01-01 |title=When Discourses Collide: A Case Study of Interprofessional Collaborative Writing in a Medically Oriented Law Firm |journal=The Journal of Business Communication |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=37–65 |doi=10.1177/0021943603259582 |issn=0021-9436 |s2cid=145397761}}</ref> The article gave the example of a nurse and an attorney having different areas of expertise, so therefore they had differing understanding of concepts and even the meaning of the same words. While much of the issues resulted from miscommunication, the article claimed that some nurse consultants resisted change in terms of altering their writing style to fit the understanding or standards of the attorneys.<ref name=":5"/>