Category: Workplace

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.

Most Think a Workplace Romance is a Bad Idea

By Guest Author Lizaura Riveraworkplace romance-- two stuffed animals hugging via lorraineemmans

Have you ever engaged in a workplace romance? The truth is most people have at some point, though interestingly most agree that a workplace romance carries negative implications.

In a survey of 140 employees, Horan and Chory explored interpersonal perceptions of peers who have been involved in a workplace romance and how that affected their other work relationship. They focused on four sets of variables:

  • Trust-in the survey the word trust was used to demonstrate the feelings towards a person.
  • Solidarity-used as a way to explain how people would feel towards someone in a given situation.
  • Honesty-used to measure how a co-worker would relate and speak to someone who was in a work place romance.
  • Deception-similar to honesty and solidarity deception was used as a way for people to describe their feelings towards a co-worker in certain situations, such as would they lie?

The data was used to describe how people would react, communicate, and feel towards a work place romance. Throughout these four issues in work place relationships is the idea that most workers respected and had a better rapport with people who were in a relationship with someone who was not a superior. Trust is a major issue for workers and according to Horan and Chory it dissipates towards people who are in a work place romance. People perceive workplace romances negatively–they divide people and often make the workplace uncomfortable. When one member of the team is not happy things quickly and surely fall apart.

Of course these things are not difficult to deduce even if one has never had to deal with a workplace romance. Most people that I know agree that this type of relationship is rarely good, as it creates unhealthy and un-productive levels of anonymity between people. But yet, workplace romances still happen…

Horan, S. M., & Chorry, R. M. (2009). When work and love mix: Perceptions of peers in  workplace romances. Western Journal of Communication, 73, 349-369.