Electronic Communication and Its Impacts on the Organization - Article Example

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication Electronic Communication and Its Impacts on the Organization Electronic CommunicationElectronic communication is a form of communication that was added to the Title III by the 1986 Act covering most forms of electronic communication, which currently exist. This form of communication is related to dissemination of signs, signals, writing, images, sound, data or intelligence by transmitting through wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or photo optical systems. In fact, the 1994 Act purges the omission from the meaning of radio fraction of a cordless telephone communication, which is conveyed between the cordless telephone handset and base unit (Renneker and Godwin 247). Nevertheless, the paper will discuss issues related to electronic communication, by defining it, comparing it to traditional forms of communication, discussing its impact on the workplace, and its impact on the customer and organization relationship. The definition of the electronic communication excludes the wire and oral communication as it is defined in the Tile III, from communication tracking devices, paging devices, and electronic funds transfer information, which is stored by financial institutions in their communications system. Therefore, electronic communication is defined in different ways depending on the ways of information dissemination, the purpose of the information conveyed, and the information involved. In this case, the paper has provided an extensive definition of electronic communication, which has been derived from the State Acts concerning communication. Differences between Electronic Communication and the Traditional Communication One of the traditional forms of communication is face to face, and it is a most preferred form of commutation. The main difference between the electronic communication and this form of traditional communication relates to maintenance of personal connection. In this case, face-to-face communication facilitates maintenance of personal connection for the parties involved compared to communication via text messaging and emails. For example, people prefer holding a face-to-face meeting with the other members of the board instead of making a conference call for discussing same issues (Walther, Loh, and Granka 36). In fact, electronic communication denies the parties a chance to see each other’s facial impressions, which are highly pertinent aspects in the process of communication. The other difference between traditional communication and electronic communication relates to the way of interaction since each form determines whether the meeting will take place in a single location or through live interaction over the Internet by use of technology. Electronic communication involves technology that allow people to connect from multiple locations, thus creating the ability of getting together with colleagues, managers, and customers through a team building that facilitates achievement of organizational objectives. On the other hand, in traditional communication, a meeting can only be held in a certain location and the parties involved must be in the same location at a period for the meeting to take place. In addition, traditional communication involving the use of telephone allows verbal connection, providing non-verbal cues, which are based on the tone of the voice, pauses and variations. In electronic communication, there are tools such as Skype, which offer online phone connection that includes images and video, unlike the traditional communication. Impacts of E-Communication on the Work Place Communication Electronic communication has made a significant contribution to workplace collaboration, expansion of globalization and distribution of work team members during the twentieth century. This is essential for sharing of information and communication related to various projects through the Internet, email, social media and virtual team rooms, which are applied as the tools of electronic workplace collaboration. Historically, electronic communication in the workplace collaboration commenced in the surge during the twentieth century, when various companies noted that the business trend of operation and functions was not changing for a period, despite the major development in segregations of work teams in various locations (Kokemuller 1). Therefore, the electronic communication facilitated collaboration among members who were distributed in remote areas, hence eliminating the need to keep the team members in the same location. Therefore, the electronic communication has been applied in the work place using interactive tools such as email and virtual team rooms, which are offered by the Internet. The tools allow the company employees to have an economical collaborate, even in a situation where they are in different locations of the world. For instance, electronic communication enables the manager to communicate across the chain of distribution on a regular basis through the emails and intranet and electronic forums. It also enables employees to communicate with one another for maintaining a substantial dialogue in order to share ideas such as ongoing input in developing new products, even when they are not meeting physically. On the other hand, electronic communication has facilitated the ability of employers to develop diverse workplaces, whereby they build a diverse work team for taking advantage of a broader range of ideas to serve the global market place through the knowledge of the employees. Therefore, electronic communication assists managers in dealing with challenges involved in instilling the cultural awareness, acceptance and sensitivity in work culture (Whittaker and Sidner 277). In addition, electronic communication tools facilitate the provision of diversity training to employees through webinars, tutorials and online forums. Electronic communication has made a positive contribution to the workplaces through the exchange of feedback messages, whereby email is considered a practical for the exchange of documents. Therefore, it is more commonly applied in delivery of feedback through documents, and these massages are critical components of forming constructive feedback. In this case, electronic communication has been made an initial step in the process of improving and developing employees in a workplace. Moreover, it is reserved as a significant resource of facilitating motivation at workplaces since the employees are able to evaluate their performance based on achievement the set objectives. Nevertheless, electronic communication has some negative impacts on the workplaces since unlike the face-to-face communication, it cannot facilitate building of a substantial relationship with clients and colleagues. For instance, an advertising agent can use email to communicate to a client in order to submit a request for proposal, but the agent will have to travel in order to meet with the client executives in order to sell their campaign ideas. Therefore, electronic communication does not have the efficiency that is needed in an urgent situation; hence, in situations where a decision is needed, face-to-face or phone conversations are preferred. The other negative aspect associated with electronic communication is security, whereby this form of communication is vulnerable to breaches of privacy and confidentiality of information shared among companies. In this case, there is a high chance for a company to abuse or misuse the emails and other electronic tools in other non-work activities. Impacts of E-Communication on the Relationship between the Organization and Its Consumers Organizations are involved in various projects, which are aimed at improving their customer services, and this results in the need for specialized form of communication since they offer a full range of services to their customers. Therefore, electronic communication enables them to deal with fluctuations of demand and respond to various situations (Walther and Parks 529). In this case, electronic communication has made a significant contribution to improving the communication process by focusing on the internal organization capabilities. In addition, there is a contribution to project approaches which have gained popularity in the modern economy. The electronic communication in the relationship between organizations and customers involves a computer-mediated communication, which refers to the tools of communication used to interact with various constituents of customers. However, the application of this form of communication depends on the nature of the message, cost, situation, objectives to be achieved and the strengths and weakness of media to be used. Electronic communication offers an organization a chance to combine numerous media such as text, graphics, sound and video into a single message in order to make it more meaningful to the customers. In other cases, the messages are tailored for customers in order to enhance their relationship with the organization. Electronic communication enables broadcasting, narrowing and development of communication subsets in the market constituencies. Moreover, it engages the customers with a two-way communication, which requires a way of thinking that can enhance the handling of public relation in the organization. However, there is a self-selected customer, who engages in active participation in the communication process. Organizations are applying electronic communication in the process of facilitating the World Wide Web through external communication with their customers. In this case, there are numerous chances to offer services to customers after performing an integrated research finding. Electronic communication eliminated the need for a communication gatekeeper, who has both positive and negative effects on the relationships between the organization and the customers. Therefore, most organizations use electronic communication to control messages sent to their customers (Vile and Collins 1). Electronic communication has facilitated the transmission and receipt of large amounts of information in a timely manner, whereby the organizations are able to receive feedback from their customers about the quality of services offered. This way the organization is identifying the areas that need improvement, hence increasing their market share by attracting more customers. In addition, electronic communication enables the organization to chance the sources and depth of constitution and knowledge levels, whereby they are able to reach different kinds of customers. In conclusion, the paper has explored issues related to electronic communication, whereby the electronic combination is defined and its difference from the traditional communications is elaborated. On the other hand, the impact of electronic communication on the workplace as well as on the customer and organizations relationship is discussed. Works Cited Kokemuller, Neil. 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The Interchange of Verbal and Nonverbal Cues in Computer-Mediated and Face-to-face Affinity". Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24 (2005): 36–65. Print. Vile, Dale, and Jon Collins. Email: Business or Pleasure? (the “Sharpened” Series). Berkshire, UK: Quocirca. Web. October 2012. http://regmedia.co.uk/2004/06/21/. Read More