Electronic Communication at Work - Essay Example

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AT WORK Introduction The modern wave of globalization has come with a revolution in use of information and communication technology (ICT). It has been a historical mark in the revolution of the communication and sharing of information in the world. ICT is one of the sectors that have been growing at a rapid rate in the world. It has played a crucial role in linking people in the world. Communication technology has been taking place in the social, economic and political life of the people. The rise in use of cheap computers is one of the reasons why there has been a great revolution in the communication and information technology in all countries. This has led to increased social and technological changes. This paper will look at various issues relating to the use of ICT in the everyday life of the people. (Tavani 2004, p. 78) ICT has changed the nature of working life ICT has changed not only the social life but also the nature of working life of the people. ICT has greatly changed the nature of work of the Australian community in many aspects which has been brought about by use of new technologies in work. ICT has mainly changed the nature work in the following ways: The diffusion of ICT in some of the aspects of the traditional jobs shows that they can be performed by clients themselves at all levels. For example the increased presence of photocopying machines and computer has taken the services at home from the commercial centres as more people now own these machines. The presence of the internet has led to creation of new jobs in the market as well as evolution of new methods of working. In the industries, it has also changed the nature of work and some of the traditional jobs are not turning multi skilled or they have come to add value in order to remain more viable in the market. Therefore it has led to diversification of skills that are required to perform a certain job while in other cases it has led to reduction of the skills required. This has been an important change in the way we work. (Martino, 2007) The rise of electronic technology has facilitated the aspect of computerization of almost all the sectors of our life. The production sector has been changing very fast which has led some of the trade skills traditionally considered important obsolete. For example typesetters and engravers in the printing industry and the circulation desk in the libraries have been rendered obsolete by the emerging technology. There has also been a great reorganization of the work place. (Capuro 2006, p. 65) This reorganization has led to creation of some departments which never existed before. The change in technology has brought about realignment of the workplace. For example the increased data handling capacity of computers has led to change of some departments that existed before. Computerization in the workplace has also led to the need to have workers who posses computer skills. It has become a requirement for every worker to have the basic computer skills in order to carry out their duty effectively. The use of computers in all departments demands multi-skilled workers. (Coyne 1995, p. 71) ICT has also led to breaking of boundaries of many occupations. There has been replication of services handled by different departments. For example, there has been increased sharing of duties between different departments that have reduced the boundaries between them. If we take the case of human resource department and the accounting department, both share the same database on the employees which is used to account for the payroll by the accounting department while the HR department use for supervision. (Forester 2004, p. 32) The nature of work has also been changed by the development of new products and process inputs in the production process. The change in technology of the production process has led to development of new product and new production process which has changed how we do our work. However the speed at which these new products and process are being developed has meant that we have to adapt to these new changes in order to remain useful in the job market. (Kling 2006, p. 91) The nature of work has also been influenced by change in client demand. There has been changing nature of demand in the market based on the technology. We are changing our production process since we have to adapt to the nature to the demand in the market. The clients want products to be delivered just in time not as they were delivered in the past. They want more sophisticated products and service like in other process. This has led to increased pressure to change our production process. (Barbour 2003, p. 93) Issue surrounding gender and communication in use of ICT There are various issues that still surround gender and communication as far as the use of ICT is concerned. Although there have been increased use of ICT in all sectors of the country, females seems to have been left behind in the process. There are various issues that have been limiting the participation of women in the use of ICT. This has led to a low number of women professionals in ICT. One of the great barrier that has limited the participation of women in ICT is lack of enough education and the failure to address fully the need of women in the ICT curriculum that is being adopted in the country. Lack of quality education has been one of the hindrance to the fully participation of women in various sectors of life not only in the ICT sector but even in other academic and professional spheres. The combination of illiteracy, poverty and other social culture restriction is great hindrance to the participation of women in the development program of the country. This is because these factors severally limit their mobility. Lacks of mobility hamper the ability to benefit from ICT education operation that can help women to become equal players in the new sector of economic. Due to the commitment at home, women may not set aside a part of their time in order to participate in the ICT education. Since there are not educational facilities accessible to all, women may not have time to go and access the education facilities at a long distance. There are therefore limited from accessing the same education facilities as male. (The Communication Initiative Network, 2008) Gender differences exist in the workplace as far as ICT is concerned. In some places women have been discriminated against participation in the sector based on the belief that they may not be able to deliver the expected results in the sector. There are still very few females who are working professionals in the ICT sector compared to males. Although this difference has been attributed to the provision of equal education opportunity to all right from the start, there are many multifaceted issues that have continued to undermine the role that women can play in the sector. (Jacques 2004, p. 39) It has also been found that those women who are participating in the sector have been given a raw deal and are only participating in the lower ranks compared to males. In this case, they may have the same qualification but women are ranked low when it comes to the position in the workplace. They always work under men despite some of them possessing higher qualification than men. (Iannoe 2007, p. 40) There are calls from various sectors on the need to ensure that women are well incorporated in the process of learning and sharing of jobs in ICT. They should be given the role of a trainer in order to enhance gender equality in the sector. Though considered as simple work that women can actually participate in unlike other menial jobs where they may be disadvantaged to men, they have been given a raw deal in the sector because as they denied enough participation right from the education to the work place. There is also need to inform women on the operations that are available in the sector in order to enhance their participation. Women continue to be left out of the sector because they have not exerted themselves as equal players with men. Right from school they should be sensitized on the availability of job opportunity which can make a great future for them in the sector. In this way they will develop a positive attitude towards the sector and therefore play an active role. (Fredrick 1998, p. 72) Key privacy issue of workers management There has been lack of trust in the use of ICT technology due to the issue of security and privacy measures that would help to protect the information. There have been many incidences where companies have lost valuable data or their secret information has been interfered with. The rate of rise of cyber crime has continued to rise at an alarming rate. This has been great hindrance to the use of the ICT in our daily lives. (Bynum 1997, p. 86) There are various cyber crimes that continue to undermine the ability to carry out effective use of the ICT tool. Hacking has been one of the cyber crimes which have led to loss of trust in the use of ICT. There are many people and many companies which have lost secretive information due to hacking of their sites. Spasms are another crime that has led to avoidance of use of ICT. There are other cyber crimes that still continue to hamper the use of ICT and which there is not solution that is at sight. (Eironline, 2008) Privacy in the use of the ICT has been one of the most contentious issues that that world has to deal with. There have been massive breakdown of cyber security due to lack of laws and regulation framework which could help to impose various standards of practice as far as the use of ICT is concerned. Although there are a number of other common with and state laws that have been put in place on the issue of security, they have not been well enforced and lack of security remains a threat and a major hindrance to the use of ICT. (Lecture 8) There is increasing need to have national or state privacy laws that will protect the sovereignty of the nation. With countries hoisting their satellite to the sky based on the satellite surveillance technology, there are concerns that states are going to loose their privacy as these satellites will be able to record everything happening in the world. This is likely to be a big interference with the liberty and sovereignty of nations. Therefore there is need to put in place strict laws that are going to protect the country from loosing its privacy. (Lecture 8) Privacy laws that are used in Australia are based on the international agreements which have been trying to put in place laws and regulation that would guarantee ICT use in the security and privacy of their information. These laws include some antiterrorism laws which dealing with security of information over the internet. There are also get electronic surveillance laws for example phone tapping law that helps to increase security of information in line with the use of ICT. (Lasa, 2007) With the development of the satellites, there is a hope that the security and privacy of information ICT is going to be improved. Satellite surveillance technology has been shown to be one of the most effective technologies that can be used to guarantee the security of your information. But there are still concern that this laws have not been accepted in the whole world and there are still some areas of the world which are not protected. (Lecture 8) Therefore in order to enhance the effective use of ICT, there is need for the world to put in place a framework that will guarantee people security of their information. There is need to restore trust in the system. Enforcement of laws against cyber crime will make the use of ICT more effective which will lead economic growth. (Barlow 1995, p. 28) Reference Barbour, I 2003, Information Technology, Harper Collins, New York Barlow, J 1995, who owns young the cyberspace, Communication of the ACM, Vol. 38, Issue 12 Bynum, T 1997, Global information ethics, Oxford University Capuro, R 2006, Information technology and the technology of self, Journal of Information ethics, Vol. 3 Coyne, R 1995, ICT and the post-modern age, MIT press, Cambridge Eironline, 2008, Data protection and respect for workplace privacy, Retrieved from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2006/09/articles/mt0609029i.htm on 27th May 2008 Forester, T 2004, The rise of computer in the workplace, MIT Press, Cambridge Fredrick, F 1998, Philosophy of technology, Prentice Hall, New Jersey Iannoe, P 2007, Gender issue in technology, Oxford University Press, New York Jacques, E 2004, ICT and the society, Knopf, New York Kling, R 2006, Computerization of the work place, Academic press, San Diego Lasa, B 2007, Internet use policy, Oxford University Martino, J 2007, AVATAR project, Retrieved from http://72.14.235.104/searchq=cache:ImyENky2xq0J:art.tafe.vu.edu.au/avatar/wp-content/uploads/AvatarLitReview-revision%25202.doc+Issue+surrounding+gender+and+communication+in+use+of+ICT+in+australia&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8 on 27th May 2008 Tavani, H 2004, Ethics and information technology, Kluwer Publishers, Hingham The Communication Initiative Network, 2008, Gender Barrier to ICT, Retrieved from http://www.comminit.com/en/node/210538 on 27th May 2008 Read More