Application of Goffman's social interaction theories to the technical communicator/engineer relationship

Technical communicators spend much of their time creating, editing, and revising text and images to guide the audience/reader/user/consumer to use a technical product more effectively. In order to help the user, however, the technical communicator must understand exactly what the engineering team intended in designing the product. This process involves developing and maintaining a healthy relationship between the technical communicator and the engineer, one which includes open and active lines of communication. This paper discusses Erving Goffman's social interaction theories from the discipline of sociology and what contribution these theories can make to the technical communicator/engineer relationship. Specifically, Goffman's presentation of self theory and impression management theory are applied as potential relationship-building practices for technical communicators. Implications for face-to-face, phone, and e-mail communication methods of successful interaction and relationship-building are also discussed.