An analysis of the organization of several technical communications departments

The author examines the technical communications department (TCD) as an organism that changes in response to the stress of its environment. It is pointed out that desktop publishing technology has created few changes in the department´s organization. Most departments have chosen to remain in the same organizational structure they had prior to acquiring desktop publishing tools. To meet the demands of the environment within which the TCD operates, supervisors look for ways to make their departments adaptable. Some of the solutions chosen by the supervisors were examined in a survey. These solutions included the following: the supervisors share some of the department management with the senior technical writers; the supervisors use contract people or agencies to accommodate temporary increases in work load; and the supervisors use technology to decrease documentation development and production time