JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGY BASED EMPIRICAL DYNAMISM INORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION CLIMATE
(A case analysis of developing v/s developed country’s organizations)
1 ARVIND KUMAR BHATT, 2 DURGA PRASAD SHARMA
1 PhD Scholar, S. Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur ,
2 Professor, CS & IT, AMIT, AMU, under UNDP,
,
ABSTRACT: The research is conducted to examine the usage of communication technology and the communication climate of the developing nation’s organizations. Findings are based on the survey conducted in the three organizations Arba Minch, Gamo Gofa zone, Ethiopia. Further the research considers secondary sources of Information of organization in developed countries like USA and examines the effective use of technology based communication climate. The comparative analysis i.e. primary information of developing country versus secondary information of developed country organizations has been done. The research shows that there is awareness about the communication technologies among the respondents and also there is acceptance that use of technology is helpful and effective in comparison of other interpersonal communication. The usage of the communication technology for interpersonal communication is not effective in comparison of developed nation organizations. Although the organizations is having technological tools like internet, intranet, desktops and other handheld devices at different level of management, but not frequently used for internal communication amongst all level of the organization. The most common reason is the staff is not having the necessary skills and another reason is disinclination of the organization to adopt or upgrade the latest tools and technology for communication. There is closed communication climate in the organizations because employees do not feel free to discuss the official or personal issues with their colleagues and employees do not receive any information, which is necessary to perform their professional task through communication technology.
Key words: Internal Communication, Communication Technology, Communication Climate
ISSN: 0975 –6760| NOV 11 TO OCT 12 | VOLUME – 02, ISSUE - 01 Page 1
JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
INTRODUCTION:
Business communication is the comprehensive, contemporary approach to communication for all types of the organizations whether it is public or private, large or small. The success of the organization is dependent on the communication effectiveness both internally and externally. Technology is increasing in our society and globally thus the need for communication efficiency become more crucial. Technology based approach contains the latest information regarding the technology of communication. The greatest challenge of today for the organizations is the proper use of technology. In business setting to communicate effectively, organizations must be familiar and ease with technology.
Business process management (BPM) serves as the master management layer controlling processes in applications in "enterprises" with which it is integrated. It lets business users design processes, allows IT to execute them, uses business activity monitoring tools to monitor them in marketing, project management, production, and uses simulation/optimization tools to test and upgrade them. While still integration-intensive, BPM
promises to make business more agile, productive, innovative, and customer-responsive on the track of Converging management and Technology.
Managerial and technological aspects have emerged, as an important yet insufficiently understood area of convergence. This paper develops new understandings in this area from a managerial constructionist perspective by using narratives elicited from technology-based management to explore their implementation experiences. The whole contents of paper are the emergent management in the technology-based organizations. The study develops a framework for analyzing convergence through in-depth analysis of converging management experiences by using discourse analysis.
'Electronic management' is the term that is being used as a synonym to describe an IT driven system of business management and administration that works better, costs less and is capable of servicing the target users needs as never before. Recognizing the enormous potential of IT, major initiatives are being planned by most organizations in developed countries. Ethiopia is one of the back-runners in the use of IT in organizations. It is the intention of the organization study to consolidate its efforts and to focus its energies to leverage the benefits of IT for the benefit of its stakeholders.
An information bomb is exploding in our midst, showering us with shrapnel of images and drastically changing the way each of us perceives and acts upon our changing world. In shifting from a second wave to third wave info sphere, we are transforming our own psyches. In altering the info-sphere so profoundly, we are destined to transform our own minds as well, the way we think about our problems, the way we synthesize information, the way we anticipate the consequences of our own actions. We are likely to change the role of IT literacy in our lives of organization. We may even alter our organizational brain chemistry.
The success of any organization depends on its effective communication culture at all levels of management irrespective of protocols privileges and rights. It is mandatory that an effective downward and upward communication between superiors and subordinates is now getting changed in new cross cultural environment where the bureaucratic management flavour is now diluting. Moreover, a healthy communication environment should be created among the peer groups. This leads to a hi-tech open communication climate in an organization. An open climate is essential for the smooth functioning of any enterprise. Thus, a conducive work environment can be created which helps towards fulfilling the objectives of the organization. Thus, a good communication climate is vital for the survival of an organization in a very crucial, competitive and global environment.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
We all human beings depend on good communication for much of our social and physical survival. The success of the organization also depends on effective communication. “A manager who is able to respond to the environment is much better equipped to manage employees effectively than who is not”. (Brien O Reilly,fortune1994)
Communication is theprocess of people sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings with each other in commonly understandable ways.”Hamilton and Parker (1987)
Bovee and Thill (2000)defined communication as “the process of sending and receiving messages”. They distinguished communication and effective communication. According to Bovee and Thill, effective communication occurs when individuals achieve a shared understanding, stimulate others to take actions, and encourage people to think in new ways.
Organization member spend much of their time in communicating. A study indicates that 5 percent of such communication involves writing, 10 percent reading, 35 percent talking and 50 percent listening( Aurelius A. Abbatiello and Robert T. Bidstrup, 1969). An organization must be able to communicate effectively with its environment and failure to do so can be very costly. John B. Lawson of Philco Corporation once commented, “Poor communications costs companies billions a year in ill conceived action based on misunderstandings and blameless rumuors”. The top companies in today’s business world have superior communication practices. Peter and Waterman cite 3M, Texas Instruments, Delta Airlines, Walt Disney Productions, Hewlett-Packard and United Airlines as superior examples. (Thomas J. Peters and Robert H, Walterman, 1982)
Business communication is the communication that it includes interpersonal communication and organizational communication. Interpersonal communication is the process of conveying information from one person to another. “Internal communications- talk back and forth within the organization, up and down the hierarchy will be more important to a company’s success than external communication. It is the free flow of information inside the company that enables to identify and attack problems fast, say, when customer service representatives first get an earful glitch, or salesmen in the field encounter a new competitor”. (Faye Rice, fortune,1991)
Communication Technology in today’s Business Organization
Technology has become such a part of our everyday lives which make more convenient our lifestyle. Technological developments have eliminated two great impediments to communication- time and distance. Some most dramatic changes have occurred in communication and information technology, which, of course had a major impact on the communication within the office. Christopher H. bunting, continental PIR Communication chairman and CEO, belief that leading companies place a high priority on both internal and external communication.
There arehundreds of communications and information technology tools and software programs that aid the communication process. From planning and developing to information gathering, analyzing and organizing, writing and editing, presenting, storing, and distributing or sharing, technological tools can simplify and expedite the process. These tools can aid in preparing a written communication, such as letter, memo, or report, an oral presentation or any other type of communication project whether we are working on an individual project or group project.
Computer-Mediated Communication
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is a generic term outlined in the literature as any one, or combination of, a set of telecommunications technologies including electronic mail, listservs, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and more recently, web pages (Strate, Jacobson, & Gibson, 1996; Herring, 1996). Computer-mediated communication denotes communication that is “processed” and transmitted via a telecommunications network linking computers and people. In describing the characteristics of electronic mail, Garton and Wellman (1995) provide a reference list that is generally congruous with other forms of computer-mediated communication: asynchrony; rapid transmission and reply; textual nature; dyadic and multiple connections; and, capability for storage and manipulation of messages. Newer forms of computer-mediated communication are distinguished from older forms of computer mediated communication by their capacity to provide a richer sense of community and socially produced space (Jones, 1995). Participants in new “cyber societies” can more easily establish and sustain identities, relationships, and behavioral norms because of the increasing ease of use and accessibility of computer-mediated communication (Chenault,1998; Jones, 1995; Pew Research Center for The People & The Press, 1999).
Computer-mediated communication technology changes rapidly. For practical research purposes, any lag longer than twelve to eighteen months is equivalent to a new generation of hardware and software, which often translates into studying a computer mediated communication system that no longer has empirical relevance. For example, a 1993 study of an e-mail system by the author focused on a cumbersome mainframe application (IBM OfficeVision) that has since been replaced (twice) with client-server email applications (Langhorst, 1993). The new e-mail system (Eudora Pro) is significantly different in ease of use, connectivity, and functional usefulness. More importantly, the organizational setting in which the e-mail system is deployed has evolved from a “hesitant, brave few” into a computer-mediated communication community that is now dependent on the tool to conduct daily business. A new study would be a different study. The notion of rapid technological obsolescence is not new; the rate of change is likely to increase in the near future.
Some attributes of computer-meditated communication abate organizational constraints, while other attributes impose new ones (Rice, 1990). For example, computer-mediated communication can be used to overcome temporal and proximity constraints to organizational communication through asynchrony and wide area networking. By supporting collegial communication relationships, computer-mediated communication may contribute to increased social cohesion and healthier psychological climates within higher education organizations (Odden & Sias, 1997). Yet computer mediated communication tends to impose some social constraints not encountered in face-to-face communication; the textual nature of computer-mediated communication limits non-verbal, contextual cues for both the sender and receiver, thereby restricting the emotive significance of some messages (Rice, 1990; Kiesler and Sproull, 1992). By displacing social activity and strong personal ties with weak personal ties, computer mediated communication may actually reduce social involvement and psychological wellbeing(Kraut, et. al., 1998). On the other hand, lack of contextual cues tends to reduce social inhibitions in group communications, and invites participation by those who might not ordinarily “speak up” in a face-to-face exchange, resulting in greater equality of participation (Bordia, 1997).
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are as follows;
General Objectives:
The general objective of the research is to compare the technology commonly used in the developed nations and in developing country. It is recognised that most managers spend between 50% and 80% of their time in communicating. Whilst the content of this communication may be important in getting the management job done. The sole objective of this research is focused upon the integration of IT based communication systems in managerial activities for phenomenon success in effective management.
Specific Objectives:
- Identification and assessment of existing communication climate in the selected organizations in developing countries.
- Identification and assessment of existing communication infrastructure in the organizations.
- Evaluation of effective utilization and deployment of communication tools and technologies
- Comparative analysis of technological usage and deployment in the organization of developed and developing countries.
- Critical analysis of roles of communication tools and technologies towards the dynamism of contemporary communication climate changes in the developed versus developing organizations.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology includes both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies through surveys of the existing systems used in the industry and literature reviews of published work related to the topic. Data required for the research were collected from various governmental organizations, observation, and secondary data collection. The proposed systems performance will be tested by various data sets to achieve optimal solutions.
The data for the study were collected from employees/associates of three service sector organizations at Arba Minch, Ethiopia; Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and Ethiopian Insurance Corporation through questionnaire. The sample frame comprises 97 employees from the above organizations. A sample size of 50 employees/associates was collected at randomly.
Secondary data of developed country was conducted through the secondary data, journals, recently published papers and related magazines and articles. Hypothesis testing was be done with the help of Chi-square.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Majority of the respondents are male 70%.maximum of the respondents are in the age group of 20-30 (58%) and work experience of the respondents frequency fall in the category of 6-10that is (38%).
The profile of the respondents are: 16% Managers, 12% Assistant Manager, 10% accountants, 28 % Clerks, 22% Customer Service and 12% are Supervisors. The majority of the respondents are clerks and customer service executives and minorities of the respondents are accountants and the average frequency is in the category of managers, assistant manager and supervisors.
The graph shows that only 16% respondents use communication technology to communicate with colleagues for their official work which is the least purpose of using technology among the employees. Total 24% of the respondent use to take the information and upgrade their knowledge. 18% use technology to have access with social sites. The majority of the respondents use the technology to communicate with friend for other purposes. Communicating with friends have maximum frequency of 42% among the respondents.
According to graph 72% respondents there is no necessary skill with the employees of the organization to use the communication technology, and minority of the respondents (20%) belief that organizational employees is having necessary skill to use the technology.
58% of the employee do not discuss freely the issues with their officials , 32% employee are neither agree nor disagree and only 6% of employees says they have freedom to discuss the issues with the officials. Graph shows there is closed communication climate with officials especially through communication technology.
The majority of the respondent’s response (70%) shows that there is no effective use of the technology when it is compare to developed countries organizations. 30% of the responses indicates that the effective use of the technology is same as in developed nation’s organizations.
58% of the responses show that employees do not receive professional information, which is necessary to perform the professional tasks. 20% of the response shows that employees receive the necessary to perform their professional tasks through the communication technology.
CONCLUSIONS
Awareness of the technology is there among all the employees but technology is used in the limited levels at managers and assistant managers. Other job categories are not much familiar with use of technology for interpersonal communication. Only 16% of the communication through the technology is done for the internal communication in the organizations. Other employees use the communication technology for other purposes. Factors that affect the technological communication climate are the employees not having the necessary skills and motivation to use such tools and technology. Another reason is disinclination of the organization to adopt or upgrade the latest tools and technology for communication. Traditional methodology is used to communicate the information to the subordinates and vice versa. There is closed communication climate in the organizations because employees do not feel free to discuss the official or personal issues with their colleagues and employees do not receive any information, which is necessary to perform their professional task through communication technology. This study clearly indicates that oorganizations must enhance technology based communication for internal communication by;
a)Providing them necessary skills to use the technological tools by providing training programs.
b)Encouraging them to use the technological tools for internal communication.
c)Providing information to perform the job through the technology based communication
d)Providing ample opportunity to consult with each other in different departments.
The less experienced employees and the newly recruits should be provided with more orientation programs so that they will be motivated to contribute more. Employees should be motivated and committed to take additional tasks and responsibilities. Special care and Attention should be taken in this regard by the organizations and by the policy makers. Majority of the employees in the organizations perform only medium level of communication climate. Only managers and assistant managers have a high level communication environment. Since majority is in the medium level it is easy to transition them to the high level by providing orientation programs on effective communication to achieve organizational success. Female employees should be empowered and should be given participation in each level of organizational activity. In this sense technology gives better support to the females. Those factors which are categorized as high level of communication climate should be retained by the suggestive measures should be implemented by each organizations depending upon their policies, rules and the types of governance. Finally it is observed that developing countries organizations like Ethiopia are still not able to fully exploit the power of technology in their internal communication. Still they are using traditional file systems. They have the sufficient IT infrastructure with them but awareness and poor implementation mechanism still putting them in a crucial situation of under utilized of IT resources. However on the other side developed countries like USA exploiting their IT infrastructure with full potential. A new divide “under utilized /unutilized digital divide” is emerging in developing countries; which is not a good indicator for their sustainable development.