Chapter 12: Organizational Communication Technologies

1
Chapter 12 Organizational Communication
Technologies

• What we will cover
• Meanings of technology
• Types of technology
• Uses and problems of technology

2
Chapter 12 What is Technology?

• Q What is technology?
• Q What is technique?
• Q How does technology become a force in itself?
  And what is technological determinism?
• Q Do we have complete control over technology?
  Why or why not?
• Q How is technological advancement equated with
  progress? What are the limitations of this view?

3
Chapter 12 Types of Organizational
Communication Technology

• Computer-assisted communication technologies
  (e.g., e-mail, teleconferencing)
• Computer-assisted decision-making technologies
  (e.g., GDSS)
• Networks of computers (e.g., LANs or WANs)
• Networks of networks (World Wide Web)
• Computer-assisted manufacturing technologies
  (e.g., CAD and CAE)

4
Chapter 12 Features of Communication Technologies

• Speed
• Access/Availability
• Geographic Dispersion
• Exchange/Interactivity
• Synchrony/Asynchrony
• Adaptability/Agility/Capacity for
  Self-Modification

5
Chapter 12 Perspectives on New Media/Technology
Usage

• Critical Mass Theory views adoption in terms of
  the size of the community of users.
• Media Richness Theory focuses on the potential
  information-carrying capacity of a medium.
• The Social Influence Model emphasizes the past
  experiences of users as well as relations with
  other users.
• The Dual Capacity Model highlights the symbolic
  aspects of the technology itself as well as its
  conveyance of information.
• The Cues-filtered-out Hypothesis refers to the
  limitation of nonverbal communication conveyed
  through most media.

6
Chapter 12 Successful Implementation of New
Technologies

• Support from top
• Positive external pressures
• Strategic vision
• Some familiarity
• Information richness
• Critical mass
• Pre-existing positive attitudes

• Embeddedness in resource-rich network
• Physical access
• Ongoing facilitation
• Experimentation, feedback, and modification
• Humor
• Patience

7
Chapter 12 First-order and Second-order Effects

• First-order effects of new communication
  technologies refer to the expected or planned
  technical and practical outcomes.
• Lets look at some examples.
• Second-order effects come about because people
  are led to pay attention to new things, to see
  things differently, or to organize their work
  differently.
• Lets consider some cases.

8
Chapter 12 Personal Dimensions of New
Communication Technologies

• Q When does a new communication technology
  enhance the personalness of communication?
• Q When does it help to make communication less
  personal or more impersonal?
• Q What do we mean when we say that e-mail is
  hyperpersonal communication?
• --Walther (1996)

9
Chapter 12 E-commerce and Organizational
Communication

• Q What is e-commerce?
• Q In what ways has it changed the ways we do
  business?
• Q How has e-commerce been both influenced by
  and contributed to broader cultural trends?
• Q What are some limitations and downsides to
  e-commerce?

10
Chapter 12 Communication Technology and
Democracy

• New communication technologies have led to both
  hierarchical flattening and increased
  centralization in organizations.
• How?
• New communication technologies have fostered new
  social bonds in society while loosening or
  weakening others?
• What are some examples of this?
• Harrison Falvey (2001)

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Chapter 12 Interactivity

• Simple Interactivity
• Bi-directionality
• Rapid exchange
• Increased volumes of transaction
• Complex Interactivity
• Feedback loops
• The medium responding to itself
• Evolution of the medium as a result of its
  reflecting back on itself
• Rafaeli (1988)

12
Chapter 12 New Technologies?New Organizations?

• Q How do new communication technologies modify
  existing organizational forms?
• Q How do new communication technologies foster
  new organizational forms?
• Lets consider some examples in each category.