Conversational conventions and participation in cross-functional design teams

The benefit of participatory teams—their cross-functional and diverse nature—presents a converse challenge to communicate in a common “language”, using shared conventions, against the backdrops of an unfamiliar speech context and the tacit organizational social structure. This paper employs constructs from several language-use theories to identify mismatched conventions and consequent confusion that impede or inhibit full participation in settings like system design or work-process redesign.