Phenomenon of Network Society - Essay Example

 Network Society is a term that is used to denote numerous phenomena that are associated to social, political, economic and cultural changes that have been brought about the increased distribution of networked, digital information and communication technologies (Dijk 2012). The term emerged from the idea of a nation and national states where there was new transportation links and Information Communication and Technologies (ICTs). In essence globalization emerged with national boundaries becoming porous. Gradually, people began to view themselves as a ‘global village’ national and geographic boundaries began to disappear, and work began to have no distinction of time, space or organizational hierarchy in the information society (Malamud 1997). Through network society, Information, Communication Technology (ICTS) have come up with numerous social, political and economic phenomena, a term that emerged from various theorists to explain a society that is connected by mass and telecommunication networks. Additionally, the ICTs demonstrate a society as a transformation era from an industrial age to an information age, which is central to the working of the economy. This enables annihilation of space and facilitates globalization. Of importance to note is that, network society is a global network that has led to decentralization of organization from vertical hierarchies to horizontal corporations. Large corporations decentralize themselves as networks of semi-autonomous units (Barney 2004) In a network society there exist a network economy, which acts as a new, efficient form of organization of production, distribution and management that facilitates substantial increase in productivity growth rate especially in the United States and related countries that have adopted these new forms of economic organization. In fact, many businesses have increasingly adopted a virtual approach to work space. This situation has led to evolution of business into a large organization a network that contains workforce that is distributed over diverse locations and time zones. These working forms have continually created new cultures and forms of belonging, over and above, gaining identity (Nikravesh 2004). Social Networking In light of the network society, social network has enormously contributed to a global village as would be expected. Essentially, social networking incorporates informal, transient forms of association such as gossip flow, mobilization of social movements and political movements with the inclusion of maintenance of patron -client relations, known or unknown to each other. Besides, social networking incorporates individuals or groups who are liked by a common bond, shared social status, similar or shared functions, as well as, geographic and cultural connection. Needless to mention, social networking as web based services that give individuals to generate a public or semi public profile that is within a bounded system. It further articulates a list of users with whom they share a connection over and above being able to see what has been generated by other users in the system (Dijk 2012). As part of the information age, social networking lays its focus building online communities of people who have share interests, or are interested in searching the interest of others. Such sites include facebook, my space, twitter among others. Communication in social net working includes instant messaging, email, blogging and many more. This makes it easier to maintain ties simultaneously with several people, a situation that would not be possible without the presence of ICTs. In workplaces, social networking has been rated as one among the technologies that have significantly led to business development in the twenty-first century. As a result of this, maintaining professional networking has become crucial to businesses in relation to project and teamwork. For instance, those organisations that have invested in social networking have an upper hand in culture shift from information gathering to information participation (Barney 2004). Social, Economic and Political Implications The social and economic implications of social networking is that apart from embracing and praising social networking for individual control they grant individuals, markets and advertiser have found direct windows for marketing and advertising their products to a large population simultaneously ,and in a more convenient manner. In anything, online networking permit a high level of surveillance and business such as colleges are able to troll accounts such as facebook to validate the behaviour of their clients. Facebook has been rated as one of the largest type of social networking all globally with it implications ranging from a new form of governance, new notions of community and friendship to new models of business and transactions (Malamud 1997). It is worth noting that, technology determines the effects of society as having an inner force and logic to change the lives of human beings. Simply, technology is viewed as positive, negative or neutral. They are socially shaped in terms of the context of use and how they interact with technology and direct it to their needs. The presence of technological convergence means that multiple products merge to form one major product that is believed to be more advantageous for them all. On the other hand, media convergence entails the remove of entry barriers across the IT, telecom, media and consumer electronics industries that have merged to create a converged industry (Malamud 1997). Digital Platform In relation to this, many countries have realised the importance of digital platforms as a tool of development in economic and social terms. Some of the development plans include the improvement of telecommunications infrastructure, liberalising telecommunications industry by privatisation, and setting of technology zones and tax incentives. In the education sector, the tool of development includes the incorporation of Information, Communication and Technology (ICTs) in the education curriculum. In addition, the use of technologies has influenced the rise of e-governance that administers populations, and delivers public service to people through e-platforms. Also, the development tool embraces the use of new ways of archiving knowledge and information that is relevant to all sections of development. Consequently, there are three important stakeholders that ought to be considered in the development and use of ICT. They entail individuals, business and governments. None the less, the degree of usage and the impact of ICT purely depend on the capacity of the three to use and benefit from the overall technology. For instance, there is general macroeconomic and regulatory environment for ICT where individuals, business and governments are expected to play their relevant roles (Barney 2004) Foreign Investment In Relation To Network Society In terms of foreign investment, ICT has facilitated the accessibility of quality and affordability of broadband services as a crucial factor for international investors especially when they make decisions on the investment areas that they want to participate in. It has been noted that development countries that have been privileged with advanced ICT infrastructure tend to attract more off shoring, outsourcing and foreign investment. In fact, many governments believe that broadband has increasing become an important tool for globalization. As a result of this, most governments have embraced the numerous impacts that technology has brought forward in relation to economies and global allocation of resources particularly for developing countries in regard to integration in global chains. For instance, most government have used broadband as a tool for e-governance especially in developing government wide information infrastructure, shared networks, date centres, formulation of e-laws and frameworks among other technological impacts. There had been enormous growth of IT sector especially in the United Kingdom where various connected technological impacts such as cloud computing, SME business that use cloud solutions. As wireless broadband becomes increasingly mature, different sector such as health sector, marketing, education, governance, are reaping big gains in relation to the mobility aspects (Goldstein 2000) Limitation of Network Society However, network society and all the related components lack necessary privacy as most of these activities happen in the social media. Basically, there is no law that regulates everything as law depends on the jurisdiction. In fact, within one country different agencies could be used to regulate diverse activities on social media. Although different countries have different laws, specific areas that require protection are similar such as trade laws, libel, advertising, harmful behaviour among others (Nikravesh 2004). In the event that this is not practised, technology especially through social media will be disrupted. This is demonstrated through activities like cyber bullying and cyber crime where criminals acquire peoples’ information illegally and spread defaming remarks about them that are not genuine. Others find pleasure in posting damaging information on blogs or websites, over and above, using their mobile phones to record conversations and then playing them back to the concerned persons. Such kinds of activities have continually deterred the expansion of a network society in regard to the system being used (Barney 2004) For instance, political medium has limitation that range from global but fragmented audience, increased over run in relation to capitalist, nature of the legislation, regulations, and libel laws. Unique Impacts of Network Society In regard to the internet, In Serbia, the main democratic radio station shifted online through servers that were based in Netherlands, after the president shut down domestic transmission during his final months in power. Additionally, Burmese expatriate opposition carries its mandate via the internet as it continuously forces reforms in the autocracy. Besides, many former USSR –controlled states have used the internet to keep global community informed (Nikravesh 2004). Case Study: McDonalds McDonalds has come a long way in the span of 30 years since it embarked on utilising technology in its operations. Analytically, technology has played a part in the development of McDonalds. The primary goal of utilising technology was to draw extra customers into its stores, improve sales, maximise profits, and reducing on costs. Upon realising the trend in which people were adopting following growth in technology, McDonalds opted to venture into social media in the bid to capture the attention of potential customers (McDonalds 2013). The use of social media such as facebook and twitter guaranteed McDonalds of the possibility of attracting mostly the youths in using their products. Since youths are considered to be the most active age group in the social media, much of activities are believed to take place every time they go online (Qualman 2013). With such deliberations, McDonalds decided to maximise that opportunity to engage social media users by designing some innovative and attractive packages, which would have enticed many social media users. For example, McDonalds ventured into a mainstream technology. It introduced Wi-Fi hotspots, internet terminals, as well as web-based games for children especially in its stores (McDonalds 2013). In essence, McDonalds predicted that many people would like have meals in a place where they could access the internet. Due to the culture of people exchanging views of their current locations during their conversations, for example, when chatting with their friends in the social media, it is apparent that McDonalds had an idea that, this would happen whenever customers used the internet at their restaurants. In addition, as people post items in their social media sites, it is evident that once a person is pleased by the idea of having a meal at McDonalds while at the same time using their internet would make them post positive comments on their social media accounts (Sweeney and Craig 2011). In the event, the followers of such a person would in future tend to try the magic posted by their friends on the social media in relation to good customer services portrayed by McDonalds. In another dimension, McDonalds innovative planning had the idea of pulling more children into their restaurants (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). Due to its innovative advertisement in various media forms, there has emerged the culture of children wanting to eat McDonald’s products as they are portrayed as being sweet. When such culture is cultivated in the minds of children, the parents would try to appease the children whenever they want to eat from McDonalds restaurants. In fact, this is evident when a child would here, for example, her older sibling discuss about how a friend through social media such as facebook, enjoyed snacks at a McDonalds sore. Due to curiosity, such a child would demand to eat from a McDonald’s restaurant next time they are in town. There is also a culture of adults wanting to have everything done quickly as they fell much wastage of time would not add up well in terms of their business or job engagement. For example, since many people know that they can get fast foods from McDonald’s stores, they would rather eat their lunch from the store and get back to their jobs than taking a lot of time to prepare the lunch themselves. In addition, McDonalds introduced card payments, which is also a symbol of change of culture of many people (McDonalds 2013). This is arguably true because many people have altered their ways of doing businesses with the urge to have things done faster being in the front. For example, in the U.K, McDonalds wanted to improve the customer experience by introducing chip-and-PIN payment card, which allows customers to quick payment experience even to those going through a drive-thru (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). Such innovative experiences have been adopted by McDonalds after close interaction with their customers in the social media. Through such interactions, customers leave comments on the experience they had during the time they spent in the restaurant, and they also leave suggestions of what more they would wish to see in future in regard to better and improved services. Economic aspect of the network society on McDonalds With the primary objective of utilisation of IT by McDonalds being to improve the business, it is apparent that McDonalds has greatly benefited from adoption of IT. For example, after adoption of IT, McDonalds has been able to reach many customers worldwide (McDonalds 2013). With its IT utilisation being most effective in 2007, McDonalds was able to generate $22.8 billion, a record believed to be the higher in the 54-year history in the fast food sector (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). This is a clear indication that McDonalds has highly benefited from the IT. From another perspective, McDonalds opens an average of 2,000 new restaurants per year (McDonalds 2013), which means that it employs a substantial number of employees in those restaurants. This means that those employees become economically empowered. Their lives and that of their families get improved significantly. However, there is a negative aspect associated with fast food eating habits. For example, it is believed that some people buy fast foods and snacks as impulse buying. This is mostly the case with parents whose children demand to east fast foods any time they want. This ends up distorting the planned budget by such parents. In addition, cases of obesity have been on the increase as people continue eating fast foods and snacks. This has implication of people spending money in obesity treatment. Studies have also highlighted that obesity may cause some other implications such as high blood pressure and heart diseases. This is a great challenge to the affected persons in terms of the money they spend treating such complications. Political and cultural aspect of the network society on McDonalds With deliberations on how McDonalds has maneuvered with IT to improve its sales, there stands a great challenge on sustainability and the very recent and challenging concept of ‘green’ movement (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). This has to do with the social responsibility. In fact, network society has been one of the most effective ways of keeping organisations on their toes in issues pertaining social responsibility. This has to do with operations and reputation of the organisation in the eyes of the public. However, McDonalds has been argued to be a prominent global force and actually a symbol of globalisation, which employs social responsibility in order to adapt to the forces of the global market. For example, in China, the company introduced ‘Aunt and Uncle McDonald’. This was in line with trying to fit in the culture if Chinese, which revolves around family values (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). Due to differences in the political and cultural connotations of different countries and regions, McDonalds is forced to maintain its production strategies, which articulates on the adoption of the product and service choices of the people in that particular region (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). Additionally, McDonalds has been on the record as being strict on its suppliers to offer their customers with safe products. Nevertheless, McDonalds has been integrating supply chain in some regions where local regulations differs with their standards. For example, in Russia, McDonalds designed a different purchase mechanism of their meat due to local regulations that do not match with their standards. At the same time, McDonalds has been cautious about how to maintain its corporate image to its customers and the society. This is by giving value to the customer and the products they sell. It is evident that McDonalds share in the social media has it bypass political and cultural barriers. In fact, McDonalds has developed the term ‘McDonaldization’, which makes most of its customers proud of being identified with it (McDonald’s corporate report 2013). With facebook and twitter being the most used social media, people share and discusses dynamics of McDonalds. This has been the push to McDonalds by social networking people to open new stores in places where they are not abundant or where they have not ventured at all. In an attempt to respond to calls by such invitations from social media, McDonalds makes substantial research, which is highly aided by the use of technology on how they can venture into new markets. This enables them to have adequate information on how they can easily adopt to the political and cultural systems in the new market (Ller and Müller 2011). Conclusion Technology has played a part in the development of McDonalds. The primary goal of utilising technology by McDonalds was to draw extra customers into its stores, improve sales, maximise profits, and reducing on costs. The use of social media such as facebook and twitter guaranteed McDonalds of the possibility of attracting mostly the youths in using their products. With that in mind, McDonalds ventured into a mainstream technology such as Wi-Fi hotspots, internet terminals, as well as web-based games for children in its stores. Due to its innovative advertisement in various media forms, there has emerged the culture of children wanting to eat McDonald’s products as they are portrayed as being sweet. In addition, McDonalds introduced card payments, which is also a symbol of change of culture of many people. Such innovative experiences have been adopted by McDonalds after close interaction with their customers in the social media. In light with this, McDonalds has greatly benefited from adoption of IT. Bibliography; Barney, D., 2004. The Network Society. Cambridge, UK [u.a.] : Polity. Dijk,J.,2012. The Network Society. London [ etc.]: SAGE, cop Goldstein, D.2000. E-Healthcare: Harness The Power Of Internet E-Commerce & E-Care. Gaithersburg, Md. Aspen Publ. Ller, C., and Müller, C., 2011. The Impact of the Internet and Social Media on the Hotel Industry: How the Internet and Social Media Have Changed the Way Hotels Need to Operate If They are to Succeed in Today's Dynamic and Global Markets. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag. Malamud, C., 1997. A world's fair for the global village. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. McDonalds corporate report. Accessed on 9th April from: http://www.personal.psu.edu/lyd5003/blogs/portfolio/McDonald%27sCorporateRepor t.p df. McDonalds., 2012. Accessed on 9th April from: http://www.mcdonalds.com/ Nikravesh, M., 2004. Enhancing the Power Of The Internet. Berlin [u.a.] : Springer. Qualman, E., 2013. Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Sweeney, S., and Craig, R., 2011. Social media for business: 101 ways to grow your business without wasting your time. Gulf Breeze, FL: Maximum Press: Distributed by Independent Publishers Group. Read More