Technological Influences on Building Relationships - Essay Example

ID Lecturer Technological Influences on Building Relationships Essay Question Upon what social networks do newcomers to an organization rely to become acquainted with the norms of the organization and with peers? What are the challenges for the newcomer and how do they overcome them? How does communication facilitate the process of socialization? How does technology limit or enhance this process? The social networks that newcomers within an organization rely immensely in order to become acquainted comprise of Facebook, the company’s internal databases and so on. These social networks are understood by them as their saviors because they seek to learn a great deal about the employees who work within the company and are part and parcel of nearly all decisions taken on such a level. Their willingness to find out more about them comes about from the internal database as well that allows them to learn who works on what position and who reports to which authority at the end of the day (Hitch, 2011). The norms of the organization are similarly studied well through the database which is present within the computer network and more specifically the hierarchy table that exists amongst every machine these days. This allows for a better understanding of who works where and who is required to do what in essence. The challenges for the newcomer are many since he has to find out the exact ways and means to get things done as well as to form relationships along the way. He has to make sure that the people around him do not feel that this individual is unfriendly or unwilling to make his point amongst all (Berge, 2010). A sense of acceptance needs to be there as far as this newcomer is concerned because this is much needed. When communication happens across the board, the facilitation process for socialization takes place automatically. It allows the people to get to know each other and explore the various ways through which new relationships can be built for the sake of achieving organizational harmony. Socialization is indeed an important ingredient of any employee’s stay at the workplace. Technology only allows him to socialize more, not in person but with the aid of a number of tools like the office phone, the cell phone, Internet, computer and social media linkages. Technology has the role of enhancing this process as has been proven with the passage of time. Question 2: To what degree does privacy influence ways individuals interact face-to-face and online? How do approachability cues differ in both contexts and what variables influence openness (i.e. age, sex, culture, past experiences)? Privacy plays a huge role at influencing different ways through which individuals interact in a face to face manner or even when they meet online. Privacy measures are spoken about at length because some individuals have serious reservations about opening up in front of others, which essentially suggests that the communication channels can come to a standstill all of a sudden. The privacy measures therefore must be understood properly before one needs to move ahead with such a scenario (Diaz, 2003). The face to face interactions are taken care of by the communication hierarchies when there is a dire effort to correct things or to resolve some ambiguities. The online meeting can come about when there is distance amongst the participants or when there is a requirement to avoid a face to face meeting. This is imperative to note that the online meetings are happening more and more in this day and age. Approachability cues differ in both these contexts because there are separate environments here that need to be comprehended. Within a face to face meeting, the environment includes the physical presence of all the participants while in an online scenario; only the channel environment is taken into perspective (Fuchs, 2011). The variables that influence openness include the formality or informality that exists amongst the participants and the past linkages which have taken place between them. Also their age differences, cultural changes, gender distinctions are taken into context before openness is ensured in both the face to face interactions as well as in an online method. Therefore privacy can be analyzed in an adequate fashion if openness, approachability tangents and the like are seen from a number of different angles – all of which suggest a thing or two about the manner in which privacy comes about or gets influenced amongst individuals as far as communication is concerned (Zhou, 2011). This is the basis of achieving what is intended to be attained as far as communication hierarchies are related because it does not really matter whether face to face communication or online communication is successful. It is the end result that holds a great amount of value more than anything else. Question 3: Technology provides fast and easy access to individuals. What are the limitations of this kind of access and how do we create boundaries to minimize the limitations? It is a fact that technology has been able to fast track the links that have been present within individuals located in different corners of the globe. This seemed to be a distant dream but has swiftly turned into a reality and that too for all the right reasons. The limitations that stand in its way are immensely significant to understand and take a leaf out of. This is because these limitations and shortcomings form the core essence of the mistakes that individuals do once they commit to the use of technology (Sawang, 2010). Often times, they overdo it and then they find out where they had gone wrong and what corrective measures could have been adopted to begin with. The limitations are that this kind of access of technology makes things bound for the people. They must adopt technology and they cannot rely on any other alternative. There is a dire need to comprehend that technology is the basis of achieving all results and if this technology subsides for one reason or the other, there are issues that need to be answered by all and sundry, and especially by the people who hold important positions within the organizational levels. In essence, overdependence on technology is also a problem that needs to be sorted out and that too in a fair enough proportion (Brewer, 2012). This will resolve quite a few ambiguities and it will take care of the boundaries under which work needs to be done. Technology is improving at a fast pace and it would not be wrong to suggest that there should always be an alternative in place to take care of the issues that crop up from time to time. If this happens, there will be immense success for one and all, and the communication channels would be bolstered nonetheless. Summary It would be correct to state that the face to face communication hierarchies are indeed the best that one can possibly find. This is the reason why despite many meetings taking place online, there is always a need for people to fly off to different destinations for that personal feel. This is a requirement that has come about with the advent of time and there is no denying this fact at all. Technology has definitely played a huge role and one cannot possibly deny such an instance but there is a need to comprehend the ideology that technology depends on the human beings and if these human beings are unable to make technological progress, the development can just come to a halt. Therefore it would be correct to say that technology can never be substituted for the personalized feel that one is suggesting here. There are no alternatives available to such a philosophy which has come up as times have changed. Relationships have become dependent on the usage of technology but not so much that they would have to wait for the link to clear up. The irony of the human mind must transgress such a thinking regime. The focus should be clear and the process smooth. Only then there would be more reliance on building relationships irrespective of the technological link that crops up amongst the human beings. Essentially speaking, this resolves the privacy concerns which exist at a very deep level and those that have to be taken care of on a regular basis. References Berge, Z. (2010). Tapping into social networking:: Collaborating enhances both knowledge management and e-learning. VINE 40(1) Brewer, G. (2012). Cultural consciousness and the effective implementation of information and communication technology. Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management 12(2) Diaz, C. (2003). Revocable anonymous access to the Internet? Internet Research 13(4) Fuchs, C. (2011). Towards an alternative concept of privacy. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 9(4) Hitch, L. (2011). Using social networking sites during the career management process. Cutting- edge Technologies in Higher Education 2 Sawang, S. (2010). Engagement with information and communication technology and psychological well-being. Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being 8 Zhou, T. (2011). The impact of privacy concern on user adoption of location-based services. Industrial Management & Data Systems 111(2) Read More