Organizational Behavior
MGT 321.04
Group Name: Creative
Online messages and interruptions/responsiveness at work
Semester: Sum-2018
Name ID
M.A Rakib Hassan 1430051030
Mahir-E-AlamSowrav 132130830
1430357630
Absur Hossain 1420707030
Submitted to:
Dr. UmmahaTulHazra(UTH)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Management, SBE
North South University
Table of Contents
Serial No. Topic Page No.
1. Concepts in Article 2. Insights learned from concepts 3. Limitations 4. Application of the ideas in own business 5. References Concepts in Article
Concept from the First Article
The research explores interruptions in workplace from Online messages (also known as Instant Messaging) in terms of media choices and purposes of IM usage in workplace. Two main media choice concepts were media richness and social influence; whereas four purposes of IM use were organization work, knowledge work, socializing, and boundary spanning activities.
Media Richness:According to the theory of symbolic interactionism, a richer medium is needed when there is a high level of uncertainty and ambiguity and media richness is defined in terms of a medium’s ability to provide instant feedback, delivering multiple communication cues, using natural language and personal focus to express emotions. IM is a rich media in all these sense because it allows instant and simultaneous interaction among many users. IM is also considered a hybrid media because it allows file transfer along with expressing emotions.
Social influence: Based on social information processing theory, social influence is the main factor in media selection. The attitudes and behaviors of a worker’s colleagues and supervisors towards a media strongly affect media selection. It is observed that individuals spontaneously activated IM immediately after arriving at the office simply because this conveyed their “availability” to coworkers. When an organization’s employee observes that others are electronically multi-tasking and realize this behavior was socially acceptable, the employee increases their own electronic communications.
Purposes for IM usage: The Organization Work purpose includes administrative issues such as ensuring availability and establishing meetings. The Knowledge Work purpose is about exchanging information in problem solving and reaching consensus. Socializing purpose is any social exchange unrelated to work. And the Boundary Spanning activities purpose is creating contacts across organizational boundaries such as within and across departments and organizations. IM is used for all of these purposes since it’s a hybrid medium.
IM interruptions: IM users usually receive messages without warning, and IM notifications are typically associated with sound or picture to remind the receiver to respond to the message. Thus an IM messages is often an unexpected event initiated by others, which breaks an established workflow; causing an individual to stop working on or lose focus on their current task. IM may cause interruptions through its three media characteristics: status display, the pop?up notification, and polychromic communication.
Research Findings
The reasons for IM usage better correlates to IM interruptions at work than purpose of IM usage. Among the reasons for IM usage, social influence best caused IM interruptions. In a social context where supervisors and colleagues show positive attitude and behavior regarding IM, use IM often and the experience of using IM is frequently discussed, employees report more IM interruptions. When supervisors and colleagues show positive attitudes regarding the use of IM, IM interruptions gain of social acceptance. An important reason for regarding IM interruptions as part of one’s job is that all the individual’s coworkers show the same attitudes and behaviors. When the organizational norm is that all coworkers interacts using IM, employees connect to the standard contact network of the company using IM first thing at work, and show their IM status as “available” simply to state their presence at work. The research shows that such employees experience the most interruption at work. Also, by the “local virtuality” phenomenon, people within close geographical areas (like within an office) using electronic communication develop a dense network of cooperation, tying up individual’s needs, values and demands when they interact, and in such cases IM causes greater interruptions.
Compared to media choice because of social influence among employees in an organization, the results showed that IM choice because of media richness caused fewer IM interruptions. Among the four aspects of IM richness, only instant feedback and personal focus showed a higher correlation with IM interruptions. Thus, instant feedbacks that can instantly break workflows and personalized messages that enhance one’s personal sense of social presence increases the chance of disturbance for workers and thus increases the degree of interruptions.
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Overall, the IM purposes investigated in this study were not correlated with interruptions as much as the IM choices. Being a hybrid media which allows file transfer along with expressing emotions, IM can actually assist in the purposes of work organization, knowledge work, if the content of IM messages is work related and if IM is properly managed and controlled. However in terms of the purpose of Boundary spanning activities, work-related personnel across different departments and organizations did correlate to some interruption.
Concepts of the Second Article
Instant massaging (IM) is a communication tool. By using these tools, employees can send and receive short text instantly. All over the world, the influence of instant massaging is increasing. To speed up the activities of an organization, many new technologies are being used today. From this article we see that the use of instant messaging and its impact on the environment of an organization. The people use IM for communication. The main concept is why people accept IM as more important than other ways of communication and how they use it in organization. However, IM is less than face-to-face communication but it is very successful in communication. One the other hand, IM is also interruptive at workplace and unfair but IM enhances privacy. Since IM is increasing day-by-day and other communications at workplace as well, this represents a bright future by psychologists. I personally believe every object has some positive and negative impact. It depends on the way of uses. If we use any object properly, then it will be effective but if we use it unnecessarily then it will hamper our original purpose. Therefore, in case of Instant messaging, the concept is similar. The issue is how we use it. Whether it positively impacts on us or negatively impacts us, that is the main scenario here.
Concepts of the Third Article
From the article by “Ben Chair”-‘Can’t work, Must Chat: Do you gossip too much on Ghats? Blame the open office’, the article is all about how instant messaging affect the work performance. In the article we see that usages of instant messaging may vary by different type of office design, culture, communication method, internal office politics and practices but in all of the scenarios, instant messaging interrupt work productivity. From the view of Ben Chair, usage of instant messaging is higher in open office. When employers don’t have a door to close, they use instant messaging more to contact with others even if they are sitting just close to them. By some academics it is said that instant messaging increases productivity in some cases. Because instant messaging helps them to do multitasking, whereas in phone calls they need to select time to call, both party have to match the same time otherwise a successful communication will not happen.But above all of this, instant messaging may sometimes help the employee to communicate with each other in a short period of time, but in most of the cases it interrupts work performance because of wrong uses.
Concepts of the Fourth Article
The main concepts we have learnt from the 2 articles are that there are four hypothesis based on their research, which are
H1: IM users will report lower levels of disruptive interruption than will non-users.
H2: IM users will have the same overall level of work communication, as will non-users.
H3a: IM users will engage in more frequent computer-mediated work communication than will non-users.
H3b: IM users will engage in more frequent computer-mediated personal communication than will non-users.
From the research, we can see that the first hypothesis is correct because the data shows the level of interruption between Non-users and users are not same, in fact users did report lower levels of interruption. IM users do have the same overall work communication as does non-users. Users and Non-users spent the same amount of time for their colleagues in the work place. The hypothesis says that the users will engage in more frequent computer-mediated work because the users spent more time in their computer, which involves them in more frequent computer-mediated work. The number four hypothesis states that IM users engage in more frequent computer-mediated personal communication then the Non-users. As the users spent more time in front of computers or other device that connects them into a network, they engage more in personal communications.
Insights Learned from Concepts
Insights of the First Article
Overall the interruptions can be summarized into 5 different scenarios. First, IM messages do not become much of an interruption if the user is familiar with the work at the time of receiving messages. Second, longer and more frequent IM message becomes an interruption. Third, IM messages which content match with work will not be an interruption. Fourth, IM messages received at a time close to finishing work will not be interrupting. Fifth, IM messages received during more complicated work will be greater interruption. Instant Messaging does not always cause work interruptions. During phone or Face-to-face conversation, the timing and topic of conversation is directed by the sender and the receiver is forced to respond to this direction, making it easy to interrupt the receiver. IM can make this even because it provides the option to “negotiate conversational availability”, allowing the receiver to their status as ‘busy” through plausible deniability. Now the receiver can delay response or simply choose not to respond when they don’t want to. In this sense, IM doesn’t cause interruption. However IM also breaks time and geographic constraints, meaning a lot of people can contact you at a lot of undesirable times, stirring up spontaneous interactions, which means more interruptions. Although from social influence perspective, workers learn the appropriate means of communication from their social environment, so if your coworkers think IM is interrupting, then IM become an interruption and vice-versa. Also, an IM messages is considered an interruption when it breaks your concentration while being focused on another task, which has content different from the content of the IM messages. This mismatch is the main problem. Thus if the message is filtered using selective attention, which means that you only accept IM messages which has a content related to the task at hand, IM can actually be a good communication management tool for the workplace. Another issue is that although the media characteristics of IM lead to interruptions, if these characteristics can be controlled and managed in the process of consultation, feedback, construction of meaning and information sharing, IM ceases to work as a redundant media and the interruptions in turn becomes useful communication.
Insights of the Second Article
People sometimes view instant massaging as same as electronic massaging but the concept is very different. In electronic mail, a user can send mail to any other user but in instant massaging the user must be in same IM system. The other benefit is the receiver can receive massages in real time. The IM users are multi tasker they can do a lots of work within a single time. Communication through IM is not formal. It can be used in informal situation. This is the reason email is use for formal and IM is use for informal situation. IM help to know which user is currently present and available. It helps to communicate but some of the people they did not find it as flexible. They cannot even accept it. If we compare other local way of communications then instant massaging gives more privacy. There is a big issue here even a notification of an incoming massage can hamper task performance. If the employee carry on IM during their performance. It must be hamper their job and sometimes the people who want service get bored. However, from another research a study found IM as less interruptive than the other way of communications. Many people used IM rather than another communication because of critical mass, symbolic cues and media richness and they use IM as replacement technology, polychromic use of IM and as unfair technology. The another big issue here is fairness. From this, we find that half on the people think that IM is more interruptive than another communication and it has high interruptive power as well.
Insights of the Third Article
From general overview article was all about instant messaging interruption. But if we go deep into in it we see that it doesn’t only show instant messaging interruption or affect in the productivity of workers but it also shows in which culture of the organization instant messaging make positive effect or negative effect, in which type of organizational communication practice employees uses most of it.The research was done on basis of two types of data- primary and secondary. Author of the article used his own experience to make the article livelier. If we see at the theme we see that when there is no privacy between the employee, they don’t have a door to close, they feel safe to converse silently on their own computers, even most of the employees keep running the instant messaging open all the day. In this type of culture, they don’t only want other people to know what they are saying but also feels rude to speak out loud because they think that their voices might be problematic to others who are trying to focus. On the other hand, we see that employers who are constantly using instant messaging, directly and indirectly they are interrupted, so they change the mode of working ultimately. So to manage time they start working faster or writing less. But this working faster with interruptions has its cost. From the research of author, we see that people who are in interrupted conditions experienced a higher workload, feel more stressed, become frustrated and live in more time pressure and effort. But again for coping with workplace stress employers use instant messaging for conversation but actually that make workplace more stressful.
Insights of the Fourth Article
the writer found that the possible linkages between two important issues in the contemporary workplace: the frequency of signi?cant interruptions of work and the role and impacts of instant messaging. We have four hypotheses regarding the in?uence of IM on contemporary computer-using workers. Our conclusions, based on our empirical analyses of a U.S. national sample of more than 900 workers. Our study of computer-using workers indicates that instant messaging in the workplace simultaneously promotes communications that are more frequent and reduces interruptions. The authors have argued that this occurs because workers are using IM technology to manage interruptions, postponing work-related communications until they are more relevant or less disruptive, and integrating communication with friends and family into the ?ows of work. In some instances, work-related instant messaging also enhances employee’s interactions with colleagues by offering an ef?cient mode of rapid communication and information exchange. Managing interruption and controlling work?ow are clearly a challenge for many information workers. If IM is used to manage these obstacles to ef?cient work, it could bene?t both organizations and their employees. As IM evolves to support richer communication modalities, becoming a medium over which voice and video dominated text, some of the bene?ts noted here might be reduced. The major ?ndings in this article is the actual uses of instant messaging in the work environment; suggest that workers are developing effective strategies for using IM technologies in positive ways, even when more negative workplace impacts seem equally possible. Further research on IM in the workplace is merited. Such analyses will contribute to a fuller empirical description of how IM is being utilized in work, can shed more light on the nature of workplace interruption, and might help software designers to re?ne IM technologies so that they more fully support the goals of both employers and employees.
Limitations
Limitations of the First Article
Due to the User-agreement policies of IM and encryption option, the research could not look into the content of actual collected dialogues from IM users. The present study was only based on self-reported questionnaires in order to correlate the reasons and purpose of IM usage to work interruptions. Thus, in order to play the role of “good subjects “and meet the “demand characteristics”, respondents might have been reluctant in reporting “socializing” as the dominant IM usage purpose, and more eager in selecting “knowledge work” instead, resulting in the assumption that the overall purposes of IM usage rarely cause interruption. Also, the same logic may have made respondents reluctant to select friends and family as interaction partners and more eager to report workers across different departments and organization instead when asked about Boundary spanning activities as a purpose of IM usage, again resulting in the assumption that overall purposes of IM usage rarely cause interruption.
For future studies, actual IM interaction content in dialogues collected from employees at work should be obtained to investigate the correlation between the reasons and purpose of IM usage to work interruptions. Future studies should be rather make without notice using different subjects and environments to get to a decisive conclusion on this issue.
Limitations of the Second Article
People sometimes view instant massaging as same as electronic massaging but the concept is very different. In electronic mail, a user can send mail to any other user but in instant massaging the user must be in same IM system. The other benefit is the receiver can receive massages in real time. The IM users are multi tasker they can do a lots of work within a single time. Communication through IM is not formal. It can be used in informal situation. This is the reason email is use for formal and IM is use for informal situation. IM help to know which user is currently present and available. It helps to communicate but some of the people they did not find it as flexible. They cannot even accept it. If we compare other local way of communications then instant massaging gives more privacy. There is a big issue here even a notification of an incoming massage can hamper task performance. If the employee carry on IM during their performance. It must be hamper their job and sometimes the people who want service get bored. However, from another research a study found IM as less interruptive than the other way of communications. Many people used IM rather than another communication because of critical mass, symbolic cues and media richness and they use IM as replacement technology, polychromic use of IM and as unfair technology. The another big issue here is fairness. From this, we find that half on the people think that IM is more interruptive than another communication and it has high interruptive power as well.
Limitations of the Third Article
In the article we see that it is based on an author’s view about a specific issue in different circumstances which does not make it a proper research, because it is basically a type of qualitative research article which does not use any quantitative record to make the article more authentic. As the article is written for newspaper, so it used newspaper based article format, which doesn’t contain any research format structure. So in the first view it is hard to know the all about the research flow, continuing and conclusion where a proper research paper flow the title, abstract, introduction to conclusion. On the other hand, as the article is only based on instant messaging interruption it could be more emphasized on its positivity and negativity. It is just written almost on authors view where it could be more authentic if it is added up with more real life interview.
Limitations of the Fourth Article
The article was about the Impact of Instant Messaging in the Workplace, which was the research, results of two different research concluded between IM Users and Non-users. The only thing is unclear to me that both of the research done by the employee who uses and who does not use the IM at work place. I wanted the result between two different offices one who uses the IM and the other office who does not use the IM services and compare which office has the more effectiveness, teamwork, socialness, productivity and unity. In this way, I can find out the overall impact of IM using at work. Therefore, because they did not do any survey in this way, which is unclear to me, and I would like to find out the effectiveness, teamwork, socialness, productivity and unity between IM at workplace in two different office, which use the IM and one does not use the IM service and compare the result.
Application of the ideas in own business
Utilization from the First Article
If I start up a business, I will not worry about employees being lazy, idling and socializing using IM as it’s a rich media. I would rather get the management team to utilize the social influence established through IM interactions among employees and create a new and improved organizational culture of using IM for communication and problem solving. I would try to control and manage the media characteristics of IM in the process of consultation, feedback and knowledge-work using Selective attention in receiving messages. With the increasing richness in communication media as they evolve quickly over the years, I would take advantage of the media characteristics to establish an organizational culture that positively uses it for the benefit of work, rather than establishing tight control policies. IM is a powerful tool with sufficient immediacy and enough personal focus to assist employees in sharing job-related knowledge so that workers can receive all the necessary files, documents, and information they need as per demand. Although IM can interrupt ongoing tasks, it also allows users to negotiate availability using plausible deniability in order to solve this problem. So I would use this and selective attention in order to control, manage and establish a work environment using IM for the better.
Utilization from the Second Article
Firstly, communications is very important in any kind of business. Without communications, running a business is not possible. The communication between one employees to other employees is more important. It creates a strong relationship with each other that will help the business doing better but a well-balanced communications is more necessary within a business. If the communications will very high and unnecessary then the output will decrease. On the other hand, without communications the business will suffer also. In my business, at the very beginning I will discuss about the importance of communication through Instant Messaging and then the drawbacks of IM. I try to maintain a good communication channel through employees so that they cannot make any kind misuse through IM. They just take the advantages from IM I will try to do that. I keep a system in my business to find out unnecessary use of IM and keep a process so that they cannot do that. If the situation will be uncontrollable then I go for penalty.
Utilization from the Third Article
From the article we see how instant messaging is cutting down worktime and making the employers less productive and it varies from different organizational culture. As we see using of instant messaging increases in open office space where employers do not have their privacy, so it decreases the uses of instant messaging. We need to give employee their own privacy or a time where they can communicate with each other. On the other hand, after a certain time doing the same job as everyone feels stressed, there need to be a space where they can do stress relief activities and they need to change the working place with same or other job. In addition, by this we can make less uses of instant messaging between each other.
Utilization from the Fourth Article
After graduating from the university if I start a business the understanding I get from these research is very important for me. Because I know about the results of users and Non-users of IM and the importance of IM at work place, which is very essential as now a days because everybody are connected via social media and other Apps before they even start working. As the impact of IM at work place is very helpful for the employees, we get those results from the two articles we read. From the articles I learned if the IM service is monitored during office hours it will be more helpful because one can get any information or file from his or her colleague very quickly without the physical presence which will be very fast and easy. However, the IM user’s gets more involve in the personal communications but it can be controlled by a good monitoring service. The importance of IM in the workplace is very useful to the both employee and employers. If we can use our cellular phones in the workplace, I believe we can also use the IM service in the workplace without causing any interruption.
References
Cameron, A. F., & Webster, J. (2005). Unintended consequences of emerging communication technologies: Instant messaging in the workplace. Computers in Human behavior, 21(1), 85-103.
Garret, R.K.,&Danziger,J.N(2008). IM = Interruption Management? Instant Messaging and Disruption in the Workplace. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 23-42.
OU, C. X.J.(2010). The Impact of Instant Messaging in the Workplace. AMCIS 2010 Proceedings. 136. http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2010/136AMCIS 2010 Proceedings. 136. http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2010/136
