3. Implications For Organizational Structure, Culture And Management

THE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

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THE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

The framework, typically hierarchical, within which an organization arranges its lines of authority and communications, and allocates rights and duties.

An organizational chart illustrates the organizational structure.

Organizational structure determines the manner and extent to which roles, power, and responsibilities are delegated, controlled, and coordinated, and how information flows between levels of management

Organizational structure is also becoming virtual and the virtual is becoming real.

POSITIVE EFFECTS:Rapid communicationEasy to send any information More customizedTemporaryGreater in volumeMore formalMore relationship-basedStraightforward

NEGATIVE EFFECTS:The security is unguaranteed More riskyCreate misunderstanding if there are too much information Lack the social context cues of face-to-face interactionEncourage communicator aggressiveness or inappropriate communication

Communication is fundamental to any form of organizing but is preeminent in virtual organizations.

Virtual organizations are characterized by: (a) highly dynamic processes (b) contractual relationships among

entities (c) edgeless, permeable boundaries (d) reconfigurable structures.

The study of such a virtual team is especially useful for extending our understanding of the adaptation process as virtual teams have more malleable structures than typical organizational units and controlled group experiments.

Firms benefit from virtual teams through: (1) access to previously unavailable

expertise (2) enhanced cross-functional interaction (3) improve the quality of the virtual team's

work.

(1) communication volume and efficiency (2) message understanding (3) virtual tasks (4) lateral communication (5) norms of technology use (6) evolutionary effects (7) more reconfigurable (8) their boundaries are considerably more blurred (9) their relationships are more likely to contractual than traditional forms

THE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

New technologies are being developed and updated continuously and pose challenges for PR professionals to keep up with what is being planned for release in the future.

The implications for PR practitioners of needing to prepare material faster than before include being able to produce what is required almost instantaneously and with the required level of accuracy.

The rapid movement of technology may put pressure on the PR practitioners to produce instant content and updates to consumers.

It may also put pressure on the PR practitioner and the team with which they work and the relationships they have with colleagues or more senior staff, in particular the CEO, and his or her minders.

Another area of practice that new media has changed in the past decade is that of events.

Practitioners working on events may need to manage expectations from:(1) employing organisations (2) consumers (3) stakeholders(4) sponsors

With new media, PR practitioners will need more technical skills in areas such as: (1) web publishing (2) new software operation(3) online security(4) search engine optimisation(5) web analytics(6) web trend analysis software operation.

The past several years has seen an increased use of multimedia and interactive content in news releases and leading newswire services (Nowland, 2006).

Taylor and Kent (2007) state that the use of the internet in crisis communications is a logical one in that websites are one controlled channel through which organisations can communicate directly with the media and the public.

Through website an organisation can tell its ‘side of the story, reduce the uncertainty of consumers, address multiple stakeholder needs, and work with government agencies that specialise in public safety.

Research has shown that PR practitioners who embrace new technologies such as blogging are perceived within organisations as having more power, in that they are willing to be leaders in the industry and use new tools to better reach target publics (Porter, Sweetser Trammell, Chung, & Kim, 2007).

Corporate culture can be described in the following way, "Culture is the sum total of values, virtues, accepted behaviors (both good and not so good), and the political environment of an organization" (Bliss, 1999).

E.g 1: Monitoring softwareThe impacts: (1) Can cause negative reactions from employees(2) Portraying the idea of “We don’t trust our employees” (3) People do not want to work for a company that instils a sense of mistrust.

E.g 2: Groupware packages and IntranetsThe impacts: (1) increase employee productivity and better time

management (2) the one downfall to these applications is the

reduction in actual employee contact and social interaction.

Managing virtual teams is about expanding our available tools to create new dynamics aligned with the best thinking about supporting collaborative work.

FROM:1. Face-to-face is the best environment

for interaction - Different kinds of environments that

can support high quality interaction.

2. Collaboration is what happens when teams interact at a fixed time and space

- collaboration happens in an ongoing, boundary less way.

3. Being people-oriented is incompatible with using technology

- using technology in a people-oriented way

is possible and desirable.

4. When the communication process breaks down, blame the technology

- when the communication process breaks down, evaluate our management and interaction strategies, not just the

technical tool.

5. Learning to manage virtual teams is about learning how to use the technology

- learning to manage virtual teams is about

understanding more about teams and the collaboration process.

The terms "virtual conference", "virtual group", and "online group” refer to many technologies.

They may be real-time activities, like video teleconferencing or audio conferencing, where people are in different places participating at the same time; or, they may enable participants to join in from different places at different times.

Same place (co-located) Same time (synchronous) Face-to-face meetings

Computer-supported meetings

Different place (distributed) Same time (synchronous)

Audio (telephone) conferencing

Video conferencing

Same place (co-located) Different time (asynchronous) Library (resource center) "War" room

Different place (distributed) Different time (asynchronous)

Voice mail

Electronic mail Computer conferencing

Groupware (Intranets)

Face to face meetings

Computer supported meetings

Audio (telephone)

conferencing

Video conferencing

Groupware (Intranets)

THE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

Organizational management is the process of planning, organizing, leading and

controlling of organization members and resources to achieve stated organizational

goals.

Information capture: gathering, monitoring, detecting and measuring strategic communications and relationship internally and externally.

Information storage: the technology converts numerical and textual information into binary (computerized and digital form of documents)

Information manipulation: manipulation means organizing and analyzing especially where repetitive calculations are necessary.

Information distribution: modern IT (web based applications) can transmit and display information electronically to broad audiences.

Effective introduction of IT in an organization requires not only technical expertise but also managers who appreciate these changes and support

them.

Successful IT implementation requires changes to the way in which work is organized and in workers’ jobs which

may resulting:

New product and services: innovation generate new product and services like PC, lap tops, smart phones and recent invention- tablets.

Lower cost increase demand: higher productivity indicates producing the same output with the same or fewer resources – taking twitter to promote product for example.

Time tag: it is always hard to adopt a new technology into existing systems and organizations.

Risks: most organizations adopt new technologies slowly to reduce or avoid the risks.

Expectation of demand: organizations may need to employ more people to handle the increase in business or new people who have skills that require using these new technologies.

Technical limitations: existing job, skills and machinery may be required to work alongside the new devices and technology.

FromFixed team membershipAll team members drawn from within the organization

Team members are dedicated 100% to the team

Team members are co-located organizationally and geographicallyTeams have a fixed starting and ending point

Teams are managed by a style managers

ToShifting team membershipTeam members can include people from outside the organization

Most people are members of multiple teams

Team members are distributed organizationally and geographically

Teams form and reform continuously

Teams have multiple reporting relationships with different part of the organization at different times

Technology allows organizations to adopt ‘virtual’ teams to operate in multiple modes including face-to-face meeting

when possible.

Managing a virtual team means managing the whole spectrum of communication

strategies and project management techniques as well as human and social

processes in ways that support the team.

Developing and spreading better practices faster Connecting ‘island of knowledge’ into self-

organizing, knowledge sharing networks of professional communities.

Fostering cross-functional and cross-divisional collaboration

Increasing ability to initiate and contribute to project across organizational boundaries.

FromFace-to-face is the best environment for interaction and anything else is a compromise

Collaboration is what happens when teams interact at a fixed time and space.

Being people-oriented is incompatible with using technology.

When the communication process break down, blame the technology.

Learning to manage virtual teams is about learning how to use the technology

ToDifferent kinds of medium can support high-quality interaction.

Collaboration happens in an ongoing.Using technology in a people-oriented way is possible and desirable.When the communication process breaks down, evaluate our management and interaction strategies, not just the technical or physical devices.

Learning to manage virtual teams is about understanding more about teams and the collaboration process.

Web page to provide members of the organization access to documents that can be searched, and that may include annual report, official announcement, financial report and organization’s performance data sheet.

Web conference to provide places for interactive discussion.

Email to connect with both internal and if desired, connected to the external public

Directories of people and office for better references.

InformationA web-based sharing meeting calendar helps team members schedule meeting.An email list allows members of change project team to check facts quickly by seeking input from other team members so they can move on the next step in their project.A website which includes project update and organization-wide directories provides information about who is working on different aspects of the change initiative.

A video-teleconference to multiple sites allows top management to send an important message to everyone in the system.Email list for announcement

Large ‘auditorium style’ of online meetings open to everyone and allow project teams to give opinion.

RelationshipsA set of web-based computer conferences serve as a virtual workspace for a change team over a period of weeks or month.An audio teleconference links members of a work team in real time so that they can come to an agreement around a tricky decision that needs to be made immediately.An organization-wide online bulletin board allows anyone to post a question about how changes are being implemented and hear from others about what’s from their point of view.

Facilitate ‘all hands’ meeting provides a way to for large number to join and to give input.A desktop video conference allows a team member to discuss alternative version of new organization charts with remote team members.Online suggestion box on a webpage provides a way for everyone to comment and provide idea anonymity.