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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Project Proposal Cont'd.
One of the articles I am reading for the upcoming project proposal to examine the communications climate, culture, and identity of an organization, introduces the term "multicommunicating" (Reisch, Turner, & Tinsley, 2008). The term refers to "the use of technology to participate in several interactions at the same time." The authors note that as communication practices drive technological innovation, the resulting products influence the practices they were designed to support. Although the term was coined to describe the enabling aspect of technology, it is a useful metaphor for the layered and complex communication environment of an organization. As with all organizations, the whole is more than the sum of the parts.
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3 comments:
I've not come across the term "multicommunicating" before, but from what you mention in your blog, it appears to be something like "multi-tasking or communicating with multiple people using the latest communication technologies". I wish you good luck on your project, but I have to say that I'm not a big fan of this concept of multicommunication because I have generally observed that it is not a great idea to communicate with multiple people at the same time in business.
We recently had an audio-only meeting with a couple of business partners from other companies, where one person was silent during the hour-long meeting. At the end of the meeting, he asked a question that was so elementary and had been discussed several times during the course of the meeting that revealed he had not listened through the entire meeting - he was probably doing some work on the side or listening to something else during the time!
The other day, I was IMing with my husband in order to ask him some questions about the rental application I was filling out for the two of us. At one point, I asked him to call someone to obtain a piece of information, and he replied "on two conference calls now. :(" I blinked for a moment, then asked him how that was possible. He replied "one voice, one IM, also another conversation on IRC".
Even as an online communication enthusiast, I find it difficult to multicommunicate; more than two or three IM windows open at a time, and I'm totally lost. Generally, I excuse myself from online conversations when I get a phone call, simply because I am not able to muster much more than "uh-huh" and "yeah" over the phone if I'm trying to type at the same time. Still, I see people who are very skilled at multicommunication, and I've seen instances where it has come in very handy, especially in the workplace. I've been called upon as a "Google guru" many times in the past, with someone (either a friend or colleague) frantically IMing me to help them find a piece of information they needed to relay while they distracted the person on the phone asking the question with cordial chatting. Still, I wonder if the known presence of the ability to multicommunicate leads people to sometimes disregard boundaries for what should be a reasonable workload. My husband felt like he had to talk to everyone who was asking for his attention (including me) because he logistically could - but that didn't make it a good idea for his mental well being!
"Multi Communicating" like multi tasking sounds like a good option when you have to meet dead lines and the work involves a lot of people. I, for one, am all for it because through online meetings or audio meetings lot of people can benefit and the message every one gets is the same. But it has its drawbacks as well. It works as long as every one included is participating or interested in whats going on. Also incase of bad equipment or bad network connection many people can get disconnected from the meetings. I have had this experience many times; in the middle of a very important conversation the call drops and when I join again, the topic has already ended and I am standing in the middle of nowhere wondering what happened to the topic we were discussing.
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