Transcript Managing Communication with Technology

STRATEGIES FOR CONTEMPORARY TEAM LEADERSHIP
Managing
Communication with
Technology
Jonathan Grudin
Strategies for Contemporary Team Leadership
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Team Design &
Development
Managing Team
Boundaries & Culture
Team Dynamics
Fuzzy Membership
Introduction &
Team Exercise
Distributed Teams
Managing Communication
with Technology
Conflict & Conflict
Management
Distributed Work
Fostering a Collaborative
Team Environment
Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
About the Instructor
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1968-1972
1972-1973
1973-1976
1976-1977
1977-1981
1981-1983
1983-1986
1986-1989
1989-1991
1991-1998
1998-
BA, Math-Physics, Reed
MS, Mathematics, Purdue
Programmer, Wang Labs
Psychology Department, Stanford
PhD, Cognitive Pychology, UCSD
Researcher, MRC Applied Psych Unit
Software Engineer, Wang Labs
Researcher, MCC
Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus
Professor, Information & CS, UC Irvine
Senior Researcher, Microsoft
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
About the Instructor
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1983-1986
Software Engineer, Wang Labs
Working on group support applications
 Learning about organizational obstacles
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1986-1989
Researcher, MCC
Research on group support applications
 Studies of organizational practices
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1989-1991
Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus
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1991-1998
Professor, Information & CS, UC Irvine
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1998-
Studies of organizations and design
Studies of collaboration technology adoption
Senior Researcher, Microsoft
Design and studies of multimedia systems
 More studies of technology adoption
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Outline
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Background
Key messages
Behavioral challenges for communication technology
Managerial use
Technology studies
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Application sharing
Shared calendars
Instant messaging and text messaging
Weblogs
Conclusion: Trends to consider
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Key Messages
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Behavioral challenges are always underestimated
Now that managers are hands-on users, we’re really in
trouble
Studies of technology adoption and use are interesting
The first new technology use cohort in 20 years is here
Virtual worlds are arriving from an unexpected direction
This is the calm before the storm
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Technical and Behavioral Issues:
Videconferencing as an Example
A simple technology intervention: Adding camera, monitor,
and microphone to the familiar meeting room setting
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Effects of Simple Technology Intervention
 Center of attention shifts
 Person at head of table seems smaller, peripheral figures are more noticeable
 Camera height makes everyone in the room less imposing
 Normal lighting and networking can make people look ill, jerky
 Voice rises “to be heard across room,” peripheral figures may be inaudible
 People less animated when addressing a talking head on a monitor
 Even one-second transmission delays can cause considerable confusion
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Human Nature and Social Organization
Human nature does not change
Groups and teams:
Large organizations:
Have existed for millions of years
Have existed for several thousand years
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Group Functions (McGrath)
Production
Group
Well-Being
Member
Support
Inception
Production
demand and
opportunity
Interaction
demand and
opportunity
Inclusion
demand and
opportunity
ProblemSolving
Technical
Role network
problem-solving definition
Position and
status
attainments
Conflict
Resolution
Policy
resolution
Power and
payoff
distribution
Contribution
and payoff
distribution
Execution
Performance
Interaction
Participation
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Behavioral Challenges to Design and Use
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Effort/benefit disparities
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Reaching Critical Mass
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The Tragedy of the Commons
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The Prisoner’s Dilemma
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Other social and motivational factors
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Limits to informed intuition
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Low-frequency events
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Exception handling
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Required Effort vs. Perceived Benefit
Assuming use provides an overall benefit to the group…
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Which groupmembers get the most benefit?
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Which group members have to do more work?
Consider a distributed group management application:
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Does the interface for the manager or the interface for
individual contributors get the most attention?
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Arbitration Cases
Management
(New York Times)
Should unions seek
legal representation?
Should management?
Average disputed
amount won by each
side (10% deducted for
lawyers fees).
With a lawyer
Without lawyer
Union: 44%
Mgmt: 36%
Union: 67%
Mgmt: 23%
Without Union: 27%
lawyer Mgmt: 63%
Union: 56%
Mgmt: 44%
Union
With a
lawyer
Example: expertise-locator database in an organization
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Technology and Social Values
Consequences
of inattention
Human Values Issues
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privacy
trust
reciprocity
autonomy
security
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democracy
accountability
responsibility
efficiency
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lack of adoption
abuse
Value-Sensitive Design site: www.ischool.washington.edu/vsd
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Exception Handling and Ethnography
‘Standard procedures’ may rarely describe real practice.
They may represent or enable:
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An idealized goal
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One path to a desired outcome
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A useful tool for planning
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Efficient record-keeping by noting divergences
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External reassurance
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Internal accountability
Software that enforces ‘standard procedures’ may obstruct work
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Outline
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Background
Key messages
Behavioral challenges for communication technology
Managerial use
Technology studies

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
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Application sharing
Shared calendars
Instant messaging and text messaging
Weblogs
Conclusion: Trends to consider
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Distributed
teams
Inter-organizational
Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Parts of an Organization (Mintzberg)
Strategic
Apex
Technostructure
Middle
Line
Support
Staff
Operating Core
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Managing Communication with Technology
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Direct, Hands-On Technology Use
1980’s: “Managers don’t type.”
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Perin study of resistance by tech company managers
1990’s: Managers as late adopters
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CEO use rose from 21% (1989) to 76% (2002)
2000’s: Managers as early adopters
Why the change?
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New features & applications useful to managers
Graphical interfaces made learning & use easier
Use by friends, colleagues, at home helped learning
Use by professionals & kids erased secretarial stigma (1993)
Young individual contributors became middle-aged managers
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Old managers disappeared
Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Direct, Hands-On Technology Use
1980’s: “Managers don’t type.”
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Perin study of resistance by tech company managers
1990’s: Managers as late adopters
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CEO use rose from 21% (1989) to 76% (2002)
2000’s: Managers as early adopters
Implications
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New process considerations for design, acquisition, deployment
New technology possibilities appear
Old technology possibilities disappear
Ways of using technology differ
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Two Ways to Partition an Organization
Vertical
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Computer Science Department, History Department, Philosophy
Department, Spanish Department…
Marketing Division, Engineering Division, Human Resources
Division, International Sales Division…
Horizontal
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Students, Faculty, Administrators…
Individual contributors, Managers, Executives…
Which sets of people in an organization interact and
have a shared sense of efficient work practices?
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Activity in Organizations
Strategic
Apex
Middle
Line
Operating Core
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Activity in Organizations
Strategic
Apex
All meetings
Heavy delegation
Very political
Middle
Line
Operating Core
Many meetings
Some delegation
Efficacy/sensitivity tradeoff
Few meetings
No delegation
Not political
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Outline
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Background
Key messages
Behavioral challenges for communication technology
Managerial use
Technology studies




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Application sharing
Shared calendars
Instant messaging and text messaging
Weblogs
Conclusion: Trends to consider
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Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Case Study: Use of Application-Sharing
80000
70000
User Hours per Month
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Jan-98
Feb-99
Mar-00
Apr-01
May-02
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Case Study: Use of Application-Sharing
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Four teams using NetMeeting and conference calls
One team varied its physical configuration
Conference room with remote sites
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Two conference rooms
Application-sharing added value
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Audio-conferencing alone unsatisfactory for some meetings
Access to last minute changes, high quality images
More efficient synchronization than typing URLs
Shared reference improves efficiency of distributed teams
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Managing Communication with Technology
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Attendance Record of One Team
Face-to-face meeting
NetMeeting
Audio
conferencing
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30
25
20
15
10
5
Meeting Date
2.10.1998
2.8.1998
2.6.1998
2.4.1998
2.2.1998
2.12.1997
2.10.1997
2.8.1997
2.6.1997
2.4.1997
2.2.1997
2.12.1996
2.10.1996
2.8.1996
2.6.1996
2.4.1996
2.2.1996
2.12.1995
2.10.1995
0
2.8.1995
Number of Attendees
40
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Number of Sites by Technology Phase
10
Face-to-face meeting
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NetMeeting
Audio
conferencing
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7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Meeting Date
2.10.1998
2.8.1998
2.6.1998
2.4.1998
2.2.1998
2.12.1997
2.10.1997
2.8.1997
2.6.1997
2.4.1997
2.2.1997
2.12.1996
2.10.1996
2.8.1996
2.6.1996
2.4.1996
2.2.1996
2.12.1995
2.10.1995
2.8.1995
0
29
0
Meeting Date
Dec 1998
1998
Oct2.10.1998
20
1998
Aug2.8.1998
Audio
conferencing
1998
Jun2.6.1998
1998
Apr2.4.1998
1998
Feb2.2.1998
1997
Dec2.12.1997
1997
Oct2.10.1997
1997
Aug2.8.1997
1997
Jun2.6.1997
Face-to-face meeting
1997
Apr2.4.1997
1997
Feb2.2.1997
1996
Dec2.12.1996
1996
Oct2.10.1996
1996
Aug2.8.1996
1996
Jun2.6.1996
1996
Apr2.4.1996
1996
Feb2.2.1996
1995
Dec2.12.1995
1995
Oct2.10.1995
1995
Aug2.8.1995
Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Distribution By Site
25
NM
Bellevue
Site
15
Auburn
Bellevue
Everett
Kent
10
Renton
5
Greater
Seattle
(remote)
Sites
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Satisfaction: FTF vs Distributed Meetings
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
CR
CR-CR
CR-CR
CR
CR-Office
CR
CR-Office
CR
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Challenges for Distributed Meetings
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Motivating adoption at remote sites
Building trust and motivation remotely
Audio quality -- consistently underestimated
Meetings delayed by struggle to get synched
Designed for dyads, not managers and groups
Difficult to visualize remote who, what, why
“Are they pausing for a comma, or a period?”
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Face to face yields more spontaneity, side discussions
“I hear the voice, but there is a vacancy for the whole human being.”
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Meeting and technology facilitators emerged in the most
successful team (but not the others)
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Case Study: Shared Calendars
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1980-1990: Rarely used
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Early 1990s: Use spreads
Study of shared calendars at Sun, MS, Boeing
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Management mandate needed?
Interviews with over 100 users
2500 responses to online survey at Sun and MS
Results
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Bottom-up adoption
Infrastructure, features, interface improved
Default settings overwhelmingly used
Use is heavily based on activity pattern or role
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Calendar Use Varies With Role
Executives
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Live on the road, schedule far in advance
Meeting invitations dangerous
Printing very important
Privacy very important
Managers and ‘admins’
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“Live from calendars,” reminders unnecessary
Meeting invitations very useful
Printing important
Benefits of very open sharing far outweigh privacy
Individual contributors
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Live at desks, reminders popular
Meeting invitations an incentive to use
Printing unimportant
Privacy can be a concern, often unwarranted
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NetGen: Bringing A Second CMC Revolution
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New technologies
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New Behaviors
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IM and text messaging
Weblogs
Multi-tasking
Multimedia authoring
Search-and-browse
Parallels earlier generation that brought email and word
processing
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That generation embraced Web but not these
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
A Tale of Two Technologies
Email in 1984 and today
Used mostly by students
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Used by everyone
Access limited to friends
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Accessible to everyone
Clients not interoperable
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Complete interoperability
Conversations ephemeral
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Conversations saved
Chosen for informality
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Became the formal option
Organizational distrust:
Chit-chat? ROI?
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Mission-critical technology
IM in 2004 is evolving
Used mostly by students
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Use spreading rapidly
Access limited to friends
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Pressure to remove limits
Clients not interoperable
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Pressure for interoperability
Conversations ephemeral
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Recording is more common
Chosen for informality
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Becoming more formal
Organizational distrust:
Chit-chat? ROI?
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Will be mission-critical!
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Case Study: IM in Company and Community
100
91
File transfer
Percent of Respondents .
80
70
App sharing
60
44
43
40
Ever used
2-3 / month
More freq
Audio chat
33
31
Video chat
20
11
Whiteboard
0
Quick
General, less Establishing
questions &
formal
presence
answers communication
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Socializing
Exchanging
business
information
Sending Collaborating
reminders on documents
0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Percent of Respondents
Personal use correlates with productivity estimates
Distributed groups and heavy phone users love it
Managers and older users use it differently
Frequent requests: better client-side saving, firewall traversal,
more reliable file- and status-sharing, easier set-up
Critical mass needed within a workgroup
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Case Study: IM in Company and Community
Findings from Puget Sound Area ethnography
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Broad familiarity with technology
Choice of communication channel driven by activity
pattern and peers
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Students use IM at school but not on summer vacation
Adults switch to and from IM based on urgency
Blog awareness low but blogging+IMing can reduce
email use
NetGen may have different stance toward privacy
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
What Is a Blog?
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Frequently-updated website composed of posts in
reverse-chronological order
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The front page is the interesting part
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Fostering discussion (on or off the blog)
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Web discussion board through comments
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Posts often link to other posts
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Inbound links (trackback)
Authorship, audience, topics, and media vary
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
How Blogs Work
1. Easy to publish
Robert Scoble’s
“Five Pillars of
Conversational
Software”
2. Discoverable
weblogs
.com
Google
Technorati
Daypop
etc.
Web UI
Blog
Server
Client
App
3. Reveal social
patterns
Web
Browser
Aggregator
Blog
Server
4. Permalinks
5. Syndication
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Managing Communication with Technology
Strategies For Contemporary Team Leadership
Team Leadership
Definition
The management of ….
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