How are professionals using
communication technologies in
the workplace?
Class interview project
HU3840 Organizational
Communication
Spring 2010
Interview Guidelines
• Defining a professional
– Salaried employee or licensed contractor
– Position requires specialized education
– Works in a designated workplace
– Communication is central to the job
• 30-minute interview
– Class questions
– Questions specific to group’s topic
– Informed consent
Class Questions
• Which technologies do you use to communicate in your
workplace?
– Please walk me through a typical day’s communication activities.
• How have communication technologies affected…
– The types of work you do?
– Your workload ?
• How have communication technologies changed from the
time you started in this field?
Was there initial resistance to the communication changes?
– How have these changes affected your work experience?
• Are there any specific technologies your office plans to
incorporate in the near future?
Group Topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Facebook at work
Effects on collaboration and mobility
Restrictions on usage in the medical office
Blackberry addiction?
New and old technologies: hinder or help?
Supervisory uses
Effects on face-to-face interactions
Personal and professional risks of usage
Participants
• 24 professionals interviewed
– 4 Medical
– 7 Academic
– 11 Other
• Positions
– Managers, directors, supervisors
– Most had specialized careers
– All had advanced education and/or experience
Communication Technologies
Most Often in Use
• Most frequently identified: Email & cell
phones
– Also ftf, landlines, regular mail, fax, collaboration
tools
• Identified by 1-3 participants
– 2-way radio, IM, meeting software
Most Used: Email
• Pro’s
– Facilitates interaction
• Difficult co-workers
• Professional collaborators
• Intimidating others (“big-wigs”)
– Organizes and documents messages
• Con’s
– Email never closes or goes home at the end of the
day (“It’s like you’re always working”)
Effects on Work and Workloads
• Email has become “work”: reading, responding, organizing,
forwarding
• More multi-tasking
• E-recordkeeping in the medical office
– Patient files
– Filing Insurance Claims
– Internal Electronic IM Notification System
– Email Prescriptions
• Phones and email enhance travelers’ mobility and access
– Hazards of driving and cell phone use
• Improves scheduling and meetings
Confirmation for
Rich/Lean Media Model
• Participants report that types of
communication differ with importance or size
– Large and important tasks are generally discussed
in person
– Mediocre tasks are delivered via memos or email
but rarely in person
• Final decisions are conducted in personal
meetings
Observed Changes Over Time
• Spatial shifts: beyond location toward virtual
– Facilitating more interpersonal communication and
collaboration across long distances
• Video conferencing; Google Docs/Wave; Drupal
• Time shifts: immediacy, urgency
– Email facilitates quick response
– Online info transfer is faster
• Online gossip can out-pace a formal response that must go
through the chain-of-command
• Media shifts: from snail mail to email to i-options
– Email is widely used but is beginning to be phased out
– Increase in smart phones, itouch, IM, social networking
Resistance to Change?
• Two-thirds reported little resistance
– Uneven reception and adoption (“at their own
pace”)
• One-third reported problems
– IM and email as distractions/Inappropriate use
– Changes not as accepted by older coworkers
– Resistance to availability outside office
– Learning curve and compatibility issues with
collaboration and work-process software systems
Anticipated Changes
• Enhanced video conferencing capabilities
• Standardizing software systems across a
national company
• Text-messaging to publicize events
• Moving to “paperless” offices
• Sharing information
– Google Docs
– Drupal
• Using iphones for IM and intranet access
Ftf and Work Relationships
• Ftf enhances workplace efficiencies
– People that work together tend to have closer human to
human relationships
• Most participants report regular ftf meetings
– People who communicate electronically don’t share the
same closeness
• Electronic media increase informality and decrease face time
– Social networking, IM
– One participant warned of “faceless people departments”
because so much communication is online and personal
connections and skills are becoming obsolete
Facebook
• Participants started using Facebook due to workplace
pressure
– An informal substitute for email
– Professional accounts are often separate from personal accounts
– Many organizations now have Facebook pages
• Impact on work relationships
– Participants make an effort to treat co-workers the same after viewing
co-workers’ Facebook profile
– Some participants mention actively separating themselves from coworkers after seeing compromising content
• Overall participants agreed that it would be difficult to
effectively do their job without Facebook
Research on Facebook Use
• 50% of Americans use Facebook
• Workers who browse Facebook saw a 9%
increase in productivity
• 20% of companies check prospective job
candidates’ profiles
– 10% of companies say that they plan to check
prospective job candidates profiles
• 43% of companies worldwide say they have
banned Facebook in the workplace
Reported Regulations
on Personal Use
• Personal calls and internet use
– Restricted for some, especially lower-level
employees
• Specific prohibitions regarding:
•
•
•
•
•
Pornography
Facebook
Shopping
Chain Letters
Religious, Political, or Racist messages
Blackberry Use
Pro’s
• Increases flexibility
• Increases convenience
• Facilitates prioritizing
• Increases efficiency
• Simplifies messages
• Increases productivity
Con’s
• 24/7 availability
• Blurs life boundaries
• Increases stress
• Increases workload
• Limited wireless service
• Limited applications
The Work Day Is No Longer 9 to 5
• Work and home being phased together due to
communication technology
– Participants are almost constantly available for
contact by clients, co-workers, or employees
– One participant noted a “fuzzy barrier between
work time and personal time”; another said, “I
think people work 24-7.”
– Most participants seemed to find email, cell
phone, and IM contact with work necessary
during off-work hours.
What’s Old? What’s New?*
• Old: Email, fax, landline phones, beepers
– These are still present
– Written documents retain bureaucratic and legal
importance
• New: Text messaging, smart phones
• Often overlooked: computers
– Technology transparency: Has this technology
become so familiar and integrated into our lives
that we fail to recognize it as mediating
communication?
A paradox?
• Utopian view: Most professionals see
technological changes as ultimately beneficial
for tasks and relationships
• Endorsing the urgent organization: more and faster
communication connections; multi-tasking;
transparency in supplier and customer interactions
• Negative impacts: Most professionals also
reported negative effects
• Technologies themselves add work; work/life out of
balance; creates professional and personal risks
Future Research
• Communication technologies as work in themselves?
• Communication technologies blurring work life and
personal life—how much is too much?
• Communication technologies and multitasking: how
does this shape work processes and relationships?
• Differences between professionals and nonprofessionals in communication technology uses?
• Social networking technologies: what do these add
to workplace cultures and communication?