Computer Mediated Communication (Task 1)
Title :
Impact of Task Types and CMC
Technology on Exchange Quality: An Empirical Investigation
Author : Payal
Mehra
Journal : Research, volume 32, number 1, January – March 2010
Purpose of study :
The purposes of this study are to:-
• examine the perceived satisfaction of employees with respect
to new media, in particular, e-mail and instant messaging (IM) on these
exchange dimensions
• compare media choices for information-related tasks which are
information generation, information exchange and decision making.
• report trends relating to communication in a computer-mediated
environment.
Statement
of problem : Some questions arise
when people doubt about the capability of
CMC in improving exchange quality which is the quality of relationship
and interaction between members.
Research Questions
:
1)
What is
the perceived satisfaction of employees with respect to new media specificallt
Email and Instant Messaging (IM) on these exchange dimensions?
2)
What is
the choice of media for the information-related task?
3)
What are the trends relating to communication
in a computer-mediated environment
Methodology
:
1)
In this
research, the first method chose was by using E-mail and Instant Messaging to
investigate on the relationship of those two variables in which the independent
variable comprise frequency of use of media, media familiarity, media choice
for task performance on relational and economic dimensions, strength of the
relational ties among group members, and quality of information sharing while
dependent variable is the quality of exchange.
there are two types of CMC are used which are E-mail and Instant
Messaging (IM)
2)
The
second method used was questionnaire which functions to measure perceptions of
managers related to each of them.
Sampling/population/participants
The participants of this research were the knowledgeable workers
who were working in a computer-enabled organization and who had regular access
to e-mail. The subjects were junior, middle, and senior level employees who
worked in teams in organizations of repute.
Finding
& Discussion
1)
Information
generation task and exchange quality
-
Majority
of the participants (225) chose to use face-to face (FtF) communication for
tasks that involved ideas generation and information discovery while for online
brainstorming was preferred only by 118 respondents
2)
Information
sharing and exchange quality
-
CMC was
preferred by most of the respondents (282) as for information exchange.
Meanwhile, FtF was only preferred by only 74 respondents.
3)
Decision
making and exchange quality
-
Most
respondents (255) preferred the CMC media for decision making; those preferring
FtF were 84 in number
4)
There is
a positive and significant association between frequent e-mail communication and
exchange quality on idea generation, information sharing, and decision-making
tasks.
Frequent use of
e-mail may lead to devise newer ways to stay in touch (such as social
networking) in which it leads to clarification of thought and ideas. Frequent
e-mail communication leads to media familiarity which in turn improves social interaction
at the workplace
5)
Frequent
IM communication has no significant association with information generation and
exchange tasks but it is positively associated with the decision-making task.
6)
Majority
of the respondents chose FtF communication rather than CMC mode to generate
ideas and brainstorm tasks. However, for task that involves routine exchange
and decision-making, CMC is preferred over the FtF.
Comments :
From this research, it is clearly shows the demanding of CMC in
the workforce is raising up from time to time. In fact, it also shows that
people in this multipolar world are now growing up with the advancement of
technology. Thus, they become fully aware on the usage of CMC in their working
field especially in the usage of E-mail.
No comments:
Post a Comment