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Communication Technology in Organizations I. Introduction The study of organizational communication recognizes that communication in organizations goes far beyond training managers to be effective speakers and to have good interpersonal communication skills. Moreover, it recognizes that all organizations, not just business organizations, have communication needs and challenges. The field of organizational communication is highly diverse and fragmented, as evidenced by results of literature searches on the topic and textbooks in the area. It spans communication at the micro, and macro levels; formal and informal communications; internal organizational communication practice as well as externally directed communications. As a new academic discipline, organizational communication is struggling to develop and convey some sense of coherency across these many areas. Organizational communication in today’s organizations has not only become far more complex and varied but more important to overall organizational functioning and success. While research used to focus on understanding how organizational communication varied by organizational type and structure, the emphasis has increasingly turned to understanding how new communication technologies and capabilities can help bring about new and more effective organizational forms and processes For the past decades, technological innovations and advancements have given birth to a wide array of new communication technology. The study of the diffusion of technological mediation in organizational communication is the subject of both academics and practitioners interest in many parts of the world. These new technologies have impacted all aspects of the human lives, particularly in the workplace as the main feature of the organizational operations. Realizing the importance of recognizing the practical and successful use of the technology, organizational communication experts and scholars have in many ways tried to define and find the most efficient way of implementing the technology. Internet and the Information superhighway, being the newest phenomenon derived from communication technology, have especially attracted the interest of the communication community. Many believe that through the advent of the information superhighway, organizations are departing from the traditional communication strategies and tactics to new unique ways that allow them to be more effective on many ways. The information superhighway is being shaped by the creation of digital telephone networks, interactive cable television, personal computers and Internet. For most organizations, these expansions provide a larger and vast communication that is the driving formation of a global marketplace. Although there are consensus agreement among scholars and practitioners on the viability and significance of the technological impact on organizations, agreement on the more specific impacts and social influences of those technologies have yet to be achieved. The differences in organizations’ adoption level and implementation of new technologies have resulted in the different results and outcomes, some negative and some positive, that it makes the task of identifying the best mode of implementation seemed unattainable. 2) Issues of concern and position After going through the process of writing the concept paper, I have been able to study how numerous prolific scholars in the organizational communication study define, understand and look at the emergence and impact of communication technologies on the many areas of organizational functions. Through careful study also, I have been able to identify a few points regarding the topic that are still vague. Therefore, in these areas I have tried to build my own position with the hope that it can give not only myself but also other interested parties a basic standing point, if not a clearer view of the particular areas of concern. What is most important, I would like to identify the determinant of technological success. Although the scholars have given different views that state the importance of both technology and organizational/cultural/social change, I would like to have my own position on a single key factor. In order to build a strong position, I have outlined several questions, which I deem, are in need of specific answers. These questions assisted me in creating a conceptual framework of the topic thus giving me a better understanding of my own position of the concerned issue. Answers to these questions will lead me to my core position on which has the biggest influence on the technology application: the technology or the social alteration? Among the questions are: · Which element has the stronger influence? Is the organization in a better position to determine the technology used? Or, is technological advancement the key that shapes how organizations develop? If either one is has the bigger take, what determines that influence? · How are communication technologies being assimilated with organizations? Are technologies being used as a form of mediation, extension or replacement of current processes? what constitutes the decision of the level of assimilation used? · How are communication technologies being implemented? What is the best form of technology infrastructure? Who is responsible for this implementation? What are the choices of technology used? Are there any particular theories, principle or technical reasons on why the technology is chosen? · What degree of change will these technologies bring? Will it change the organizations’ structure, process, products and services, goals, design in particular? Or, will it change all of the organizations’ components? · What can the management do to influence the impact of technology? What kinds of influence does organizational members have on the technological implementation? How do they influence the process? What about training and technology literacy? · Will technology bring about significant change in the organizational attitude and culture? What about technology attitudes and culture with regards to related job tasks and use of technology? · How can the success or failure of organizational technology be assessed? What are the determinant and measuring factors that determines the nature of the out come? Who has the right to assess that outcome? · What are the societal impacts of the technology implementation? Will organization have more influence on political, economic or even environment? Will the influence be good or bad? In the process of trying to answer these questions, I have made extra readings of other scholastic writing that assisted in building my position on the topic. In the subsequent chapters I will try to provide answers to the questions raised and hopefully provide a better understanding on the impact of communication technology on organizations. 3) Literature review and indicated position There is a long tradition in information systems research on evaluating the impacts of communication technology on organizations and individuals. Within this broad context, some researchers have focused on the impacts resulting from implementation of information systems, and on resistance to change. This paper reveals that effects can range from decentralization to centralization of authority; job enrichment or, in opposition, more routinization of jobs; (Daniels, Spiker and Papa) and finally, there are larger social implications (Huntley,1988) (Hicks&Gullet,1985) (Kovacic, 1994). The paper discusses the several factors identified to explain this wide variety of impacts: the capabilities and limitations of the technology chosen for the work, the objectives of management, and the demanding social and organizational change. Communication is not only an essential aspect of these recent organizational changes, but effective communication can be seen as the foundation of modern organizations. Changes confronting organizations and the associated changes in organizational forms have made organizational communication increasingly important to overall organization (Hicks&Gullet,1985) (Kovacic, 1994) (Hickson, Stacks and Padgett-Greely,1998) (Roach Gaut and M. Perrigo,1998). I consider communication today is more complex and requires greater coordination and interaction among workers due to the faster pace of work, broader work scope and processes and the increased importance of knowledge and innovation within organizations. These make communication technologies and networks increasingly essential to an organization’s structure and strategy. The capabilities and limitations of the technology are argued to be one of the main factors that need to be identified by organizations to ensure success in implementation process (Byers,1997) (Jablin&Putnam,2001) (Roach Gaut and M. Perrigo,1998). Therefore, I have chosen these points of pros and cons to be discussed in my position. I argue that other things being equal, the various levels of information system and communication technologies selected for distributed work arrangements will have differing impacts on the success of the arrangements, both for organizations and individuals. The second factor, objectives of management (Hicks&Gullet,1985) also affects outcomes and, in addition, these objectives have a large influence on technological choices. Finally, the existing structures in the organization (Hicks&Gullet,1985) (Kovacic,1994), specifically the work coordination mechanisms and communication requirements, will serve as both enablers and constraints in taking advantage of the advanced technologies. The use of technology is expected to change the face in which organizational activities, especially in meetings, group or individual tasks, human interaction and work settings (Jablin&Putnam,2001) (Hickson, Stacks and Padgett-Greely,1998) (Byers,1997) (Roach Gaut and M. Perrigo,1998). Distributed work arrangements encompass many different alternatives to working at the traditional office. These remote work options, or non-traditional work settings, include satellite work centers, virtual teams, neighborhood work centers, flexible work arrangements, generic offices (recently referred to as hoteling), and telecommuting or telework. My position will concentrate on distributed work arrangements of the telecommuting type and virtual team, where employees use both computers and telecommunications to work at home all or some of the workdays. However, the portability and freedom of working may bring both positive and negative result as it diminish human interaction while trying to provide an avenue of a more flexible working conditions.
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