How are professionals using communication technologies in the workplace?

1. How are professionals using communication technologies in the workplace? Class interview project HU3840 Organizational Communication Spring 2010

2. 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

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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”)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 insmart phones, itouch, IM, social networking

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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 co-workers after seeing compromising content • Overall participants agreed that it would be difficult to effectively do their job without Facebook

15. 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

16. 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

17. Blackberry Use Pro’s Con’s 24/7 availability Blurs life boundaries Increases stress Increases workload Limited wireless service Limited applications • Increases flexibility • Increases convenience • Facilitates prioritizing • Increases efficiency • Simplifies messages • Increases productivity

18. 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.

19. 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?

20. 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

21. 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 non-professionals in communication technology uses? • Social networking technologies: what do these add to workplace cultures and communication?