In the Office
Even in traditional offices running standard business hours, the use of technology can severely limit the amount of interaction among employees. With a telephone and computer a worker in a wide range of industries, from sales to research to software development, is given immediate access to a large portion of the resources they may need. Team meetings, worker cooperation, and informal conversations over the coffee machine or in the lounge are often replaced by email and voicemail messages, conference calls, and shared access to data over computer networks. Although video conferencing seems to provide more personal communication, it also threatens to complete the illusion of the virtual office space, leaving few opportunities for workers to leave their working space to interact with each other. Mark Dowdy, a marketing executive for IBM, agrees that "issues of communication are heightened when people don't spend as much time together, and teamwork must be re-established periodically because you no longer have the camaraderie at the office" ("Management").
This worker separation is aggravated by the realization of managers that client contact is increasingly carried out over the phone, through email, or via a video conference system. The function of the traditional office becomes less to impress clients and provide a friendly, welcoming environment. Instead the office is designed and monitored with the goal of maximizing worker productivity, even to the extent that employee interaction and the designating of lounge areas are intentionally avoided and discouraged.
The introduction of technology in the workplace sometimes poses difficult challenges for supervisors, and often the manager-employee relations suffer. Although a worker's access to a phone or computer may theoretically increase his or her productivity, it also introduces new temptations for distraction and wasted time. With their phone employees can reach almost anyone, often without their boss even realizing their employee is not being productive. An internet connection brings sports, computer games, politics, economics, and just about anything else the user is interested in right to his desktop. Although some managers are comfortable with granting their workers the freedoms associated with many of these technologies, the temptation to implement automated supervision techniques often arises, particularly because these methods are usually capable of providing large amounts of easily analyzed and acquired but very detailed data. These monitoring techniques, however, can often lead to tension, distrust, and resentment in the manager-employee relationship, especially since some of these methods are subtle enough that a worker may not even realize the intrusion. Video cameras, keyboard-stroke counters, and internet site visitation records are common means for supervisor monitoring. Because data gathering and processing through these techniques is quick and easily automated, a manager might be tempted to rely excessively on the results, although employee productivity might not be proportional to any of these statistics.
In addition, managers face the complication that employees may have a better understanding and working knowledge of these new technologies. As these technologies become increasingly complex, such as a networked computer system, workers farther down the command chain are often relegated the full-time task of configuration and maintenance of the system. Those employees that use the system for client contact or research will also become accustomed to the technology, while the managers who perform higher level tasks are less knowledgable. Thus, supervisors are sometimes faced with a difficult decision of adopting a new technology: on one hand, the potential productivity of the workers should increase, but at the same time the manager empowers and entrusts his staff with greater responsibility, and may lose some control and understanding of their activities.
Thus, bringing technology into the workplace has far-reaching ramifications. Employees are more isolated and their relationships with co-workers deteriorate. Client contacts can frequently be handled over the phone or by other electronic means, and although this usually proves more efficient and cost-effective than traditional person-to-person service, it also result in a depersonalization of this relationship. While clients of the past might have picked a partner based on their evaluation of oneÕs reliability, personal and communicative skills, and apparent competence, today the look and feel of a web site and several emails and phone calls take the place of the search for personal and professional compatibility. Technological advancements also lead sometimes to divisions within a company between management and its employees. Management must decide to give workers the empowerment and freedom associated with many of these technologies and construct a plan for monitoring employeesÕ use of these technologies, while keeping in mind that overbearing supervision leads to worker dissatisfaction and distrust of managers. In general, the relationships between individuals of any level of a company tend to suffer with the introduction of new technological methods.