Classroom:
Kathryn posed an interesting question for our class discussion board.
How/when is ICT interfering with our face to face connections? What are the negative or positive effects of this?
Our discussions around culture and signs seems to run parallel to these questions. We discussed in class the adoption process of ICTs, particularly the role of management and the culture's adoption readiness. For example, does there seem to be a "me too" (bandwagon) culture or is there a hesistation to change to accept new technologies? Culture can perpetuate face to face connections whether it be with the extreme " no email fridays" or simply with managers encouraging face to face weekly check-ins. Cutlure creates connections via mission, vision, values and/or the workforce that comprises the culture.
Cubicle:
Thinking about ICTs and culture- I think about feedback loops. Regardless of what the survey concerns, ie leadership or a recent event, it seems to a congruent theme that surveys are not widely accepted nor considered to be effective, particularly those existing online. To mimic the trend of social media's from the bottom to the top communication, surveys are the easy way to receive feedback, but there is nothing easy about getting someone to take a survey. At a previous employer, one of my clients gave incentives for surveys. "Take this survey and we will give you $10. "Take this survey and you could win an ipod." Even with these incentives, the participation still does not equal to what would be considered "effective feedback." Even thinking about my health plan, I coudl take a survey that took me minutes and I save 25 dollars on my health plan - I cannot imagine how someone wouldnt take it.
It is in this instance that I too believed that ICTs hinder connections. At an community town hall meeting in November, we used a paper survey and received double what we recently received from a January event. The same amount of participants; the similar content; nothing exceptionally variable occurred between the two meetings- yet by merely counting the number of survey participants, it seems that people feel safer with paper than on the internet.
Perhaps there is a fear using electronic survey will incriminate them and paper is non-traceable- however, with this notion perpetuating in my work culture- we will never have a loop of feedback.
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One reason people are wary of online surveys is that they are used as blatant marketing tools and not as a way to get real data. The questions are usually simplistic, hardly scientific, and of course, you never get the free laptop (or to be eligible to get it you have to get 10 friends to take the survey -- and sign up to get 10 friends, etc.).
ReplyDeleteIn fact, real, carefully thought out questionnaires are rare on the internet. It's too bad because a tool like Survey Monkey can be an excellent way to gather data.
Here are some tips: Let the person know exactly who you are and exactly what the survey is for. Let him or her know how the results will be used. Guarantee anonymity. Describe how they were chosen for the sample.