Transcript MIS542 Database Management - Te

Using IM at Workplace
MWAIS May 18-19 2007
Wyatt Ditzler, Brian Stillfield, and Te-Wei Wang
University of Illinois at Springfield
The Objectives
Learn more about the Role of IM at
workplace.
 What are the adoption patterns of IM at
workplace?
 What are the
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IM History and Distinct
Characteristics
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Instant Messaging Services
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Zephyr (a protocol) from MIT (1988)
ICQ (1990)
AIM
Yahoo Messenger
Windows Live Messenger
Skype
Special Characteristics (Compared to other
communication technologies)
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Near-Synchronous communication
Presence awareness
The Trend of IM: Integration
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What can IM do today?
Video Conferencing
 Voice over IP
 File Exchange/Sharing
 Photo Exchange
 Online Gaming
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Integration
With Cell Phone
 With Blog
 Twitter
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Using IM in Workplace
90% of large US organizations using IM
(Osterman, 2003)
 Enterprise IM systems are usually used (not
the public IM services).
 A communication tool (Vos et al., 2004)
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Not a main tool
 Clarification
 Coordination & Scheduling
 Informal meetings
 Socializing
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Advantages IM
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Control over interruption compared to
Phone and Face-to-face coversation.
No sense of obligation to respond
 Ignorance is not an offense
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Opportunity for multi-tasking
communication
 Enhanced Social Connection among CoWorkers (Presence Awareness)
 Cost saving in communication
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What Promote IM Usage (Adoption)?
Official Introduction of IM by the
organization. (De Vos et al., 2004)
 Experience of IM use in the pass.
 Perception of Usefulness
 Low Self-Efficacy leads to less use of IM
 Peer Pressure from co-worker.
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Conflict with Other Communication
Methods
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Conflict 1
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Conflict 2
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IM is not and will not substitute other communication
methods at workplace. (De Vos et al., 2003)
IM reduced the use of other forma of communications
including e-mail, voicemail, telephone, teleconference,
pager and face to face. (Muller et al., 2003)
Use of IM tend to switch to other form of
communication in the middle of IM conversation. (De
Vos et al. 2003)
Use of IM does not usually lead to other form of
communication ((Isaacs et al, 2002)
Interesting Fact: at workplace, IM is less used for
social talk. Work-related issue is the main topic
Validation Through Examples
We want to verify the advantages and
perceived benefit of IM.
 We want to further explore the conflicts in
the literature.
 Online Survey is used
 Two organizations
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A Software Development Firm
 A middle school
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Demographics
Category
Count
Percentage
Male
11
30.6
Female
25
69.4
Total
36
100
18-25
3
8.3
26-30
8
22.2
31-35
5
13.9
36-40
3
8.3
41-45
4
11.1
46-50
7
19.4
51-55
4
11.1
56-60
2
5.6
Sex
Age
IM Usages
Category
Count
Percentage
AOL Instant Messenger
18
50.0
Yahoo! Messenger
5
13.9
MSN Messenger
17
47.2
Gaim
0
0
Trillian
0
0
ICQ
0
0
Other*
1
2.8
*Windows Messenger
1
2.8
Text Messaging
34
94.4
Video Conferencing
3
8.3
Audio/Video Communication
4
11.1
File Transfer
5
13.9
White board
3
8.3
Screen Sharing
1
2.8
Other
0
0
IM Software Used
IM Software Uses
Presence Awareness
Category
Result
Count
Percentage
Use IM to see if colleague is at work
Yes
27
75
No
9
25
IM them
17
47.2
Telephone them
2
5.6
Meet face-to-face
0
0
E-mail them
2
5.6
Depends on what needs to be
communicated
14
38.9
If colleague is present do you…
IM Affect other Communication
Methods
Category
Result
When IM is available I use the telephone
Less often
21
60.0
More often
1
3.0
IM has no impact on
telephone use
13
37.0
Less often
12
33.3
More often
1
2.8
IM has no impact on faceto-face conversations
23
63.9
Less often
20
60.0
More often
0
0.0
IM has no impact
15
40.0
When IM is available I use face-to-face
conversations
When IM is available I use e-mail
Count
Percentage
Reasons of Using IM
Category
Response
Count
Percentage
Use IM software
to…
Get a quick response
32
88.9
Socialize
15
41.7
Schedule impromptu meetings
12
33.3
Avoid the telephone
14
38.9
Avoid face-to-face
conversation
6
16.7
Get answers to simple
questions
28
77.8
Discuss detailed work items
8
22.2
Multi-Tasking?
Category
Response
Count Percentage
While using IM
software I also…
Have instant messaging conversations with
others
22
61.1
Have telephone conversations with others
12
33.3
Have face-to-face conversations with others
9
25.0
Perform other work
29
80.6
IM User Feeling
Category
Response
Count Percentag
e
How do you feel when you do NOT receive a
reply
Indifferent
17
48.6
Slightly Annoyed 13
37.1
Annoyed
4
11.4
Greatly Annoyed
1
2.9
Yes
28
77.8
No
8
22.2
Do you feel obligated to respond to messages
IM Distract Work?
Category
Response
Count Percentage
How often do you feel distracted from work by instant
messaging
Never
6
16.7
Infrequent
21
58.3
Somewhat
freque
ntly
6
16.7
Frequently 3
8.3
IM & Work Performance
Category
Respons Coun
e
t
Percenta
ge
Overall, do you believe instant messaging is an effective means of
communication?
Yes
33
91.7
No
3
8.3
Yes
22
61.1
No
14
38.9
Yes
9
25.0
No
27
75.0
Overall, do you believe instant messaging makes you more
productive?
Is instant messaging essential to performing your job
Observations
Most findings from literature are consistent
with this study.
 Presence Awareness is essential reason of
using IM.
 IM does have substitute effect on other
communication methods.
 IM does promote multi-tasking
 Users do have bad feeling if messages are
not replied. User also feel obligate to reply.
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Future Study
Identify possible theories to support the
finding in previous slides.
 Larger sample, more rigorous methods
should be used for future study.
 Thank you.
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