How effective are they in business?  Is there an appropriate and inappropriate time to use.  Give an example of misuse of technology-driven communication you’ve witnessed in the workplace.

Appropriate Technology in the Business World?

Instant messaging, texting, social media–when does it work in business?  Most people entering teh workplace today have grown up with smart phones and technology-driven communication.  It’s only natural to see business communication to begin to adopt these technology-driven communication channels.  How effective are they in business?  Is there an appropriate and inappropriate time to use.  Give an example of misuse of technology-driven communication you’ve witnessed in the workplace.  How would you manage this?  What policies would you try to implement?

CLASSMATE POST #1:

Appropriate Technology in the Business World? There is appropriate technology in the business world and it is very helpful to the business world. I work with students every day in the business world and I have to contact them on a regular basis about attendance. So, I have to use instant messaging, texting and social media to contact them. It is allowed in my profession because we have the students to sign a waiver approving it. With the smartphones always in hand, my chance to contact he/she are high. It is very effective because I am able to chat or students can contact me after hours or when I can help with a matter. It is always appropriate as long as I and the student keep it professional. If I’m contacted at an inappropriate time I would not respond until later. I just have to keep lines of communication open with our student. The policy is very simple only contact me about our business matter due to you being our student. Always keep is professional and respectful or you will be deleted or blocked.

CLASSMATE POST #2:

I have worked in the insurance industry for almost 26 years and we use an online training system called Learning Management System (LMS). An email is sent to your inbox and you are automatically registered in training class. It also sends out a reminder when you’re getting close to the deadline of completing a training course. We have audio or you can read on your own. After each session, multiple choice questions follow. This is a very helpful tool that is used at the convenience of your desk. Leaving your desk and going to a training room for an hour or so is a thing of the past.

The downfall of this feature is the abuse that some use such as logging on stating they are training when they are not. We have a certain number of training hours to attain each year and some tend to let the training run and not take the time to read the session so that person may get the same amount of training but not put forth a lot of effort.