The impact of communications technology has reshaped how business
is done in the world today. You can communicate almost instantly with anyone in
the world. The internet with email communications, and video conferencing are
amongst the new tools of the corporate world. Individuals and corporations have
to cope with the flood of information from all corners of the world in
developing a truly global market place. The internet and fiber optic
communication have greatly sped up communications between all corporations
around the world. The impact on global corporations has been instant
communications with any group organization anywhere in the world. Changes to
the development of a product can now be instantly relaying half way across the
world. Collaboration and net meetings
are a commonplace occurrence between divisions to better coordinate group
efforts.
Less than a hundred years ago, communication in a company by
international means took days to reach all of the offices nationwide. Today,
the impact of technology has increased the flow of functional message between
organizations. Communication networks, communications load, and message
directions are handled by high speed routers, computers and fiber optic cables
around the world.
The dynamics of this new communications system has greatly reduced
the time to relay instructions to all the facets of a global corporation. An
example of company communications worldwide is The Ajax Company in Kansas that
makes brakes and wants to make design changes. They simply email the pdf file
of the new drawing to their manufacturing plant in Korea instantly. The time to
change drawings revisions due to faster communications between manufacturer and
corporate has reduced the time to implement changes in any design.
There are new (PDMS) Process Documentation
Management Systems today that have greatly streamlined the engineering design
process. The communications throughput or transforming and changing input
information for internal organizational use in an engineering organization can
now interface all departments in a company’s organization. Quality control for
the product and design now interfaces with people in sales, manufacturing,
marketing, and engineering.
When I finish a design for a company; throughput communications
interfaces with document control. I compiled the bill of materials and design
drawing who then forward this information to manufacturing through a
communications output to vendors who will bid and make the parts necessary for
the project. The impact of technology has made change functions in organizations
speed up problem solving. Emailing the drawings to vendors and other engineers,
I can get instant feedback for new ideas and information to make the necessary
changes to improve the product before production.
It
is essential to have good communications networks in any engineering
organization. We have fast turnaround with receiving inputs from everyone
including: manufacturing, quality control, and vendors of electronic components
for the parts. The communications network between supervisors, managers, and
employees are similar to the electronics of a network. There are various nodes
between all of the groups and organizations with ip addresses.
Effective
communications channels, face-to-face meeting in a group setting helps to
improve the quality of the product with manufacturing. Receiving input from
personnel from all departments addresses all of the issues that must be
complied to meet the vendor’s requirements.
When
I worked at semi-conductor company, we had weekly staff meetings to go over
design changes for a project I was working on. I would put together weekly
power point presentations to show the design review group the progress on the
project. I would address each aspect of the changes to the wafer processing
tool and get feedback of approval or recommended changes to the design concept.
I would produce jpeg files from my Pro/Engineer CAD design system and
incorporate these ideas into periodical emails to the various people involved
in the project. I would get immediate feedback as to whether to pursue this
design or try another approach to meet the demands of the group. Message
directions in the group for this project went horizontal to all involved
engineers and up to division management. In any high paced design environment,
the communications load of changing requirements can be a daunting task. We
would have to interface with electronics vendors, accessory vendors, machine
shops, and suppliers.
There
has to be a structure and organization when dealing with a large scale project
that requires communications interfacing with many people. There can be daily
changes to the designs that are being worked. Communication feedback between
the design team is important due to the potential impact on a project they are
working on that might interface with my team’s project. When I present ideas for
change and what wording to use is an important component in socialization with
the group.
The
role of social factors, when interfacing in a dynamic work group, is essential
to getting your message across. Communication networks are effective when
involved in peer group reviews. As illustrated in Blackwell Handbook of Social
Psychology - Interpersonal Processes (2003), the author illustrates the
importance of awareness that socialization is essential to interpersonal
relationships in the work environment. One must be aware of structuration, “the
production and reproduction of social systems”. There are complex formal and
informal interactions when communicating with any group in an organization.
Formal interactions are usually during weekly or daily staff meeting when
people get together. Informal interactions are examples of how the people are
doing today in a group. Sending a personal email to others in the group about
an upcoming event in the group would be an informal communication.
Communications
is an essential part of our culture today. I share our ideas and thoughts of
how to get things done by various methods of interactions. In the
meaning-center approach at an engineering company, I have to communicate to
organize, decision making and influence the process of creating new products.
Everyone in the group has a different perspective on how to get things done.
The diversity of backgrounds in a group thorough emerging perspectives is one
way to approach a problem with a design or method for manufacturing.
Sending
emails, drawings, PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheets to the different members of
the group will yield many different responses on how to address the problem at
hand. The communication network is helpful in coming up with a synergy of the
best potential solutions to a design or manufacturing problem.
Global
communication has enabled scientists and management to be instantly in touch
with each other. When dealing in global collaboration, cultural differences
have been bridged to some degree by the common use of computers and email
systems. The transmission of a manager’s power strategies can now be an instant
global effort.
The influence and power through global cultures can be manifested by
this new powerful communications influences via the internet and net meetings.
In the past, a manager or CEO of a company had to fly to another country to
have meetings with staff members in foreign organizations. John Carlson, in
Academy of Management Journal, illustrates that “the dimensions of global
cultures: power distance, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism,
amongst others, is being bridged by this international collaborative effort”.
By utilizing channel expansion theory the corporate group can utilize the media
to give new global perspectives for social influence and dynamics change to
achieve a richness of perceptions on how to conduct business on a global level.
Media-use knowledge bases improve the communications channel between all of
those in the corporate environment. The social climate today in businesses is
for changes to occur quickly to enhance an organization’s productivity. Today’s
economic environment has mandated channel expansion to better experience each
other with communication co participants. Knowledge bases in a global
communication environment are essential to a corporate survival.
In engineering, one must be able to find information on the
internet knowledge bases anything on anything relating to the project. I am
from the Dewy Decimal generation, whereby, I had to look up books at the
library using that system. One of the most important things to know today in
knowledge-generating strategies is where to find information relevant to the
task at hand and the reliability of that information. Since the baby boomers
generation has used computers from their inceptions, I have grown up with the
incredible information gathering and creative potential of computers and the
internet. Knowledge building experiences has been the core of most successful
companies. Collaboration on projects is not done on an international level.
People are instantly linked and communicating on a global level.
When you have a strong knowledge-base, you can interface with
people from different information channels to quickly gather the information necessary
for the organizational needs in the course of a project. The larger the
knowledge base that one has the richer of a diversity of knowledge and
information that is available for almost any task in an organization of a
corporation.
Projects I have worked on over the years has incorporated systems
theory due to the need of subsets made up of human resources, information
technology, document control, engineering, marketing, sales, and manufacturing.
There is a richness of dynamic equilibrium in this open system with all of the
inputs, throughput and outputs between all of the organizations necessary to
produce a product. Knowledge-based communications is essential to gather
product information, competition of competitors, component information going
into the product, sale forecasts for the product, materials information, and
cost analysis for projected sales plan of the designed product. There are
various dynamics elements necessary to create a product and get it to the
market place. Having up to date computer equipment and software are essential
to be competitive in today’s world. I have worked at many contract jobs over
the last twenty years and seen many of them go bankrupt because they did not
invest in current technology to be competitive in the world market place.
All areas in the dissemination and processing of technology in
communication interfacing are important in the world market. Processing of
information from various sources can be overwhelming. One has to develop
methods of filtering the influx of communication information from the various
channels in the organization. There is such an information overload today that
people have troubles dealing with the incredible influx of information today.
According to U.S. Newswire, Apr 22, 2009, there is a twelve percent of time
lost due to information overload. Employees spend two hours a day reading
emails, some of which may be important. “The overload of corporate information,
there has been a loss in the ability to make decisions, process information,
and prioritize tasks.” “This information overload has cost the U.S. economy
$900 billion per year in lower productivity.” The government has so much
information to process from all facets of society it takes seemly forever for
decisions to be made. Alvin Toffler in “Future Shock” wrote. “We have a
functional flaw in communications overload in our governments and corporations on
how to deal with global communication assimilation of information.”
Our society is undergoing a dramatic change as we approach a
super-industrial society. There has been such an accelerate rate of
technological and social changes. People feel stressed out at work and home due
to this new environment. The incidences of nervous breakdowns are due to
information overload in society.
The environmental stimulus in today’s communications between
companies and people is too much for many to process. Toffler wrote, “And
rather than creating societies based on mass production, mass education, mass
media, and weapons of mass destruction, the new technologies had a reverse
impact, opening up opportunities for what we called demassification.” According to “Fundamentals of
Organizational Communication”, Motivation-Hygiene Theory emphasizes how
“The various influences of both internal and external stimuli affect human
behavior. Our environment, interpersonal relations, policies, work conditions
and salaries.” Toffler and many other authors have illustrated the
psychological impact of communication technology on the psychological well
being of people in society.
Today, people over sixty are having problems with the integration
of the use of computer technology for communications at the workplace. I have
helped mentor many in that generation to not be afraid of this technology shock.
It is overwhelming to that generation and many others of what we have created
today. There must be a compromise of balance in the task issues that employees
encounter in a day to day environment. The barriers to change in a corporation
can be immense to overcome. Many large corporations have become complacent and
prefer the status quo to change.
Dayton and Henriksen stated, “Converging areas of research from
the cognitive, social, and organizational sciences and the study of
sociotechnical systems help to identify some of the underlying factors that
serve to shape and sustain organizational silence.”
Organizations often have an
information deficit, an inadequate amount of knowledge; without the proper
information, change will be difficult. A changing company must make a risk
perception about the impact changes will make on the organization. Change by a
group will bring about active and passive resistance in an effort to stop
planned changes in an organization. If there is organizational trust, “concern
for employees, identification, competence, openness and honesty”, then changes
due to this trust will be easier to implement and be accepted by the group
organization. Changes are essential to meet the increasing competitive world
market.
Competition with moderation is important for corporations to
survive the world climate. There is an impact to the emotional and physical
health of the employees. I have seen too many engineers and managers work sixty
hour work weeks to compete for a contract with a rival corporation, resulting
in high blood pressure and other heart conditions due to overwork.
The United States is the most competitive country in the world. Americans
compete on every personal and economic level. In a corporate environment
comprise and accommodation is important to the overall health and well being of
all those in this collaborative environments.
In conclusion, the impact of technology and communications on our
society has increased the living standards for many people to the highest
levels in history. How Americans handle and the changes in this communications
explosion of information to people will determine corporate survival in the
future.
Adaptation in corporations is similar to adaptation in nature; to
survive a species must change to have a future. Long term planning, education,
respect of the employees needs and communication are essential to corporate
survival in the United States and world in the 21st century.
References
Anonymous. Telecommunications Weekly.
Atlanta: Aug 26, 2009. p. 131
Anonymous. U.S. Newswire. Washington: Apr 22, 2009,
Basex Lowers Corporate Information Overload
Exposure
Carlson, John,
Academy of Management Journal. Briarcliff Manor: Apr 1999. Vol. 42, Is.
2;
Garbin , Daniela Pranicevic. An Enterprise Odyssey.
International Conference Proceedings. Zagreb: Jun 15-Jun 17, 2006. p. 925 (8
pages)
Kerm Henriksen, Elizabeth Dayton. Health Services Research.
Chicago: Aug 2006. Vol. 41, Is. 4p2; p. 1539
Koch, John, Globe Staff. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.:
May 23, 1999. p. 8
McGowan, Rosemary Albertine, Ph.D., York University (Canada),
2003, 251 pages; AAT NQ82809
New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc, Sensitivity, Skills, Values.
Keiko Fujise, S Héléne Deacon. Canadian
Psychology. Ottawa: Aug 2008. Vol. 49, Is. 3; p. 265
Shockley-Zalabak, Pamela S. (2006.). Fundamentals of organizational
communication knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values (6th Ed.). Boston: Pearson
Education. ISBN: 020543503.
Toffler, Alvin, Future Shock, 1970
Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.Upper Saddle River
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