Work relationships and media use: A social network analysis

Abstract

Abstract.Our research provided empirical evidence about the alternative means of communication used by 25 members of a resehrch group who had available to them: unscheduled face-to-face encounters, scheduled face-to-face meetings, electronic mail, telephone, fax, and desktop videoconferencing. The intent of our research is to learn whether there are elements in existing group communication patterns that suggest how future communication systems can be designed or selected to fit the actual work relationships of a group. A detailed social network survey provided information about what members of the group communicated about, how they communicated, and with whom they communicated. Most communication was done through a combination of media, but predominately through unscheduled encounters, electronic mail, and scheduled meetings; people rarely vldeoconferenced, telephoned, or faxed. Factor analysis reduced the 24 work relationships to six distinct dimensions: receiving work. giving work, collaborative writing, major emotional support, sociabihty, and computer programming. The proportion in which the three main media were used varied according to the nature of the work dimension. Our findings suggest that a multivariate perspective that considers group norms and practices, social networks, and work dimensions is necessary to analyze media use.Key Words: computer-mediated communication, electronic mail, information technology, collaborative work, media choice, multimedia integration, network analysis, social networks, videoconferencing, work communication Can we discover which kinds of communication media are used, and presumably preferred, for different types of work? To do so, we need to study an organization which has available a wide range of media, and we need to use a method that can identify which media are used for which kinds of communication. In order to examine this issue, we asked members of a university research group to complete a social network survey about their choice of communication media for different work relationships, that is, for specific kinds of interaction at work, such as giving instruction, demonstrating work, or disagreeing with others. The 25 computer scientists provided information about their use of unscheduled face-toface encounters, scheduled face-to-face meetings, e-mail, telephone, fax, and desktop videoconferencing for each of the work relationships.

Work, friendship, and media use for information exchange in a networked organization

“…They are empirically derived from an orthogonal factor analytic procedure (described in Haythornthwaite, Wellman, & Mantei, 1995) showing that 23 specific kinds of work and social interaction in Cerise fit within 6 more broadly-defined information exchange relationships: Receiving Work, Giving Work, Collaborative Writing, Major Emotional Support, Sociability, and Computer Programming (see Table 1). For example, those who "collaborated on written work" were largely the same pairs who "exchanged documents": Hence an interaction in either of these specific exchanges was treated as fitting within the broad "Collaborative Writing" information exchange relationship.…”

Redes sociais virtuais: premissas teóricas ao estudo em ciência da informação

“…Assim, Haythornthwaite et al (1995), relatam que os recursos compartilhados pelos atores nas redes sociais virtuais, inseridas no contexto da CMC, são "aqueles que podem ser compartilhados com outros via texto, gráfico, animação, áudio, ou mídia de vídeo, por exemplo, compartilhando informação (notícias ou dados), discutindo assuntos do trabalho, dando suporte emocional, ou fornecendo companheirismo [tradução do autor]". Para Recuero (2009c), "as redes sociais na Internet alteram de forma expressiva o fluxo de informações na sociedade", pois permitem que todo ator seja um potencial emissor de informações, além de facilitar sua circulação.…”

Cyberidentities : Canadian and European Presence in Cyberspace

“…Research by members of the group includes studies of: the role of CMC in social networks within organizations (Garton, 1995;Garton & Wellman, 1995;Haythornthwaite, 1996a;Haythornthwaite, Wellman & Mantei, 1995; press); telework (Dimitrova & Salaff, in press;Salaff, Dimitrova & Hardwick, 1996); and the invisible colleges of scholars (see Table 1). In keeping with CSCW and social informatics researchers, the context in which computer networks are placed is considered an important factor in the ways that computer networks support social relations.…”

“…CMC networks also support individuals outside the organizational context, as seen by the vast array of Usenet interest groups. Organizational networks may support multi-stranded ties when co-workers mix work and social exchanges (McGrath, 1984(McGrath, , 1991Haythornthwaite, Wellman & Mantei, 1995;Wellman, Carrington & Hall, 1988), and they can support single-stranded ties when co-workers solicit help across the internal network (Constant, Kiesler & Sproull, 1996;Feldman, 1987). Extra-organizational networks also support multi-stranded relationships, for example, when family members communicate via CMC.…”

“…Factor analysis revealed six dimensions from these 24 activities (for details, see Haythornthwaite, Wellman & Mantei, 1995), which were named: Receiving Work, Giving Work, Collaborative Writing, Major Emotional Support, Sociability, and Computer Programming (see Figure 1). Examination of media use at this stage showed that that the use of unscheduled and scheduled face-to-face meetings, and email predominated in Cerise.…”