Category: Technology

Technology’s Effect on Communication in the Workforce

By Guest Author Chad Matsui

Bill Nye and a Naval officerIn the workforce, communication is absolutely essential to guarantee a successful business.  Over the past couple of decades, there have been hundreds of technological breakthroughs that have made communication over long distances a buttons-push away.  Information and communication technologies (ICT’s) have continued to improve the quality, accuracy and ease with which people can communicate over physical distances.  However, what has seemed to be only helpful to the workforce has turned into a dilemma, as ICT’s can not only bring people together with little difficulty, but they can also block people out with the same ease.

Leonardi and colleagues investigated how many managers allowed their workers to work out of their homes by using ICT’s, which would allow easy access to the worker.  36 people were interviewed who stated they employed workers and let them work out of the office.  32 of the 36 participants (89%) provided ICT’s for the worker to use, meaning the majority of businesses used in this study consider communication an important factor to employees working out of the office.

People carry the belief that communication is important to off-site workers.  However, over the past few years  a growing concern exists over whether or not the ICT’s used to help communication between workers has actually helped more than harmed.  Leonardi and colleagues also found that workers who worked at home strategically used the ICT’s to reduce communication between other workers to conceal the fact that they did not do all the work they needed to do.  8 of the 26 (22%) of the surveyed workers acknowledged the use of “disconnecting” from their ICT’s as a viable tactic to increase the distance of their colleagues and superiors.

ICT’s have allowed workers to stay at home while remaining a dedicated to their company.  People can now handle personal problems or obstacles in the privacy of their own house and still stay on top of their workload while away.  However this technological connection between worker and business can also hinder the workforce as communication solely relies on the workers to be available and willing to connected.

 

Leonardi, P. M., Treem, J. W. & Jackson, M. H. (2010). “The Connectivity Paradox: Using Technology to Both Decrease and Increase Perceptions of Distance in Distributed Work Arrangements.” Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35, 85-105.

What we use social media for

Research by NM Incite reveals some notable but not terribly shocking data regarding why people engage with social media.

From the highlights:

Not surprisingly, the top drivers of social media use among social networkers are keeping in touch with family and friends (89% and 88%, respectively) and finding new friends (70%).  Another driver of use is the desire to view and contribute to reviews of products and services as 68 percent of social media users go to social networking sites to read product reviews and over half use these sites to provide product feedback, both positive and negative.  Other top reasons social media users engage in social networking include entertainment (67%), as a creative outlet (64%), to learn about products (58%), and to get coupons or promotions (54%).

I am surprised people use it more to praise a product than to bury one, given  often I see people airing out their grievances about products on Twitter. On the other hand, people do not generally like the Facebook pages of a company that they dislike.

More Evidence that Online Communication Leads to Feelings of Closeness to Others

By Guest Author Hannah A.

Once again, one of the primal questions of how people relate on the Internet–is the presence of Internet communication helping or harming their relationships? In this case, we look at teenagers and pre-teenagers.

794 Dutch adolescents, between the ages of 10-16, were given a series of questionnaires within their school classrooms.  The research conducted by Valkenburg and Peter focused upon three main points:

  • How Internet communication affects closeness to friends
  • How the users perceive the breadth and depth of the communication
  • How loneliness and social anxiety could alter the results

Teenagers use Internet to help relationships by Frerieke; Internet relationships; teenagers Their research leaned toward the hypothesis that most adolescents use the Internet to become closer with the friends that they already have, as opposed to using it to talk to strangers.  They found that, in addition, adolescents feel closer to their friends when they talk to them on the Internet, showing that this communication only helps strengthen the relationships in all age groups that were tested.

In regards to how much breadth and depth can be reached through online communication, 30% of the sampled group thought that online communication can be more effective for self disclosure and sharing private information than offline discussions.

Lastly, this study supported the rich-get-richer hypothesis, in that it showed most adolescents who pursue online communication are generally not lonely or socially anxious. Rather, doing so enhances existing relationships or promotes new ones.

The evidence here suggests that the Internet is not having a negative effect on the lives or development of adolescents in this generation, at least in terms feelings of connectedness to others.  For parents, this means not worrying if that if your child talks with their friends online, this can indicate anti-social behavior.  They are disconnected from the real world, but rather are enhancing their relationships.  For adolescents, this study indicates that reliance should not be solely on the internet, but on the symbiosis that can be achieved with existing friendships and those online.

Valkenburg. P.M., & Peter, J. (2007). Preadolescents’ and Adolescents’ Online Communication and Their Closeness to Friends. Developmental Psychology, 43, , 267-277.