In the last byte, we looked at the various technologies that were available today. In today's section, we begin our journey looking at how Communication Technologies affect Behavior.
Most of the technologies we discussed over the last couple of bytes form part of Information Communication Technology (ICT). ICT refers to the various technologies such as electronic mail, voice mail, teleconference, and wireless access which are used for impersonal communication. These technologies provide faster, more immediate access to information that any earlier technology. This instant exchange makes the concept of schedule and office hours irrelevant in the modern world - these considerations are less relevant if not completely irrelevant. Thus these technologies have an important influence on the behavior of people using these technologies.
It is given that almost all forms of computer-mediated communication are impersonal in nature - the sender interacts with the machine (not a human being) and the receiver also interacts with the machine (not the human sender). As discussed earlier - flaming is definitely an issue in these cases. The tact, grace, etc are all lost and there is no element of interpersonal communication that would prevent the managers from being blunter when using ICT!
The nonverbal cues that one relies to decipher a message is absent in the new technologies - gesturing, touching, facial expressions, eye contact are all missing so the emotional elements of message gets difficult to assess. Through Video Conferencing and the use of smilies in these communication means to certain extent this reduces - but there are still a lot of gaps present!
It would be interesting to note, that the cues to the positions of power also disappears in the use of emails!
Most of the technologies we discussed over the last couple of bytes form part of Information Communication Technology (ICT). ICT refers to the various technologies such as electronic mail, voice mail, teleconference, and wireless access which are used for impersonal communication. These technologies provide faster, more immediate access to information that any earlier technology. This instant exchange makes the concept of schedule and office hours irrelevant in the modern world - these considerations are less relevant if not completely irrelevant. Thus these technologies have an important influence on the behavior of people using these technologies.
It is given that almost all forms of computer-mediated communication are impersonal in nature - the sender interacts with the machine (not a human being) and the receiver also interacts with the machine (not the human sender). As discussed earlier - flaming is definitely an issue in these cases. The tact, grace, etc are all lost and there is no element of interpersonal communication that would prevent the managers from being blunter when using ICT!
The nonverbal cues that one relies to decipher a message is absent in the new technologies - gesturing, touching, facial expressions, eye contact are all missing so the emotional elements of message gets difficult to assess. Through Video Conferencing and the use of smilies in these communication means to certain extent this reduces - but there are still a lot of gaps present!
It would be interesting to note, that the cues to the positions of power also disappears in the use of emails!
No comments:
Post a Comment