Technology and Its Impact on Communication in Organizations “I’ll have my fax call your fax with my address.”

Some Trends Regarding Technology n Organizational decentralization, both geographically and managerially n Increases productivity, decreases in employees n Dramatic increases in information sharing n Dramatic decreases in middle level management n Increased use of contract workers

Theoretical Approaches to Technology n Neil Postman--Amusing Ourselves to Death n Thesis--The dominant technology of the age has a profound effect on what passes for truth in a culture n Applied to business--increasing information technology will color our judgments about the credibility of information produced by other means

Some Statistics n million had access n million have access n million have access n Office workers exchange 25.2 BILLION message DAILY n 20% of US businesses randomly check employee

Some Litigation Nightmares “Yes, I know we shipped 100 barrels of [deleted], but on our end, steps have been taken to ensure that no record exists. Therefore, it doesn’t exist. If you know what I mean. Remember, you owe me a golf game next time I’m in town.”

Litigation Nightmares, cont. n “Did you see what Dr. [deleted] did today? If that patient survives it will be a miracle” n “Hi David, please destroy the evidence on the [litigation] you and I talked about today, Thx, Laura.” “Hi Laura. Ack yr. msg. and taken care of. Aloha, David”

Overview n Remember, belongs to the company [Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 1986] n It is retrievable even after deletion n Monitoring by the company is legal, that is, you have no expectation of privacy n If you have a private address that also gets used for business, expect no privacy here either

in Practice n Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front of the New York Times n Don’t ever respond in anger n DON’T USE ALL CAPS, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING!!! n Understand your company’s policy

Steinfield Study, 1990 (Xerox) n Do the business advantages of outweigh the social costs? n Yes: People learned more rapidly, social contacts valuable, increased quality of work life, increased creativity n No: responses often seem overly critical or blunt, no tempering context

Teleconferencing--Pros and Cons n Advantages: shorter meetings, more task oriented, more organized, more equal participation regardless of status, more open exchange of ideas, less likely to be swayed by group norms, less threatening n Disadvantages: fewer nonverbal cues to aid interpretation, tech uncertainty

Videoconferencing n Advantages: almost all of teleconferencing plus better chance of getting nonverbals n Disadvantages: startup costs ($20- 25,000), tech uncertainty 2

Intranets and Organizational Communication n Defined--any LAN or WAN capable of supporting internet applications n What’s on one ?--Policy manuals, benefits info, price lists, product catalog, marketing literature, newsletters and announcements, online help, reports, customer data n Why do it--access for employees + staff, transparency, efficiency n Caveats--security, disclosure?