The Framework for a Cross-Cultural Communication Process Efficiency and Cost in a Global Economy

In this millennium, global organizations will increasingly focus on the critical value of the cross-cultural communication process, efficiency, competence and the cost of doing business. In order to successfully communicate cross-culturally, knowledge and understanding of cultural factors such as values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors should be acquired. Because culture is a powerful force that strongly influences communication behavior, culture and communication are inseparably linked. The objective of this chapter is to define the framework for a cross-cultural communication process, efficiency, and cost of doing business in a global economy. This task is very important for the promoting of global peace through trade, since it aims at understanding how to communicate successfully among different cultures from different civilizations. This understanding should minimize conflicts, increase international trade and investment, and facilitate the development of the global economy. The research method is based on the architectural design of a cross-cultural communication process and system and their quantitative analysis. Their attributes are estimated in a normative way on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is the best value. The attributes for two selected cultures (Western-West and Egyptian) are estimated by expert opinions.

Extending Collaboration Support Systems

This chapter first examines the role of collaboration and collective learning in regional and industry-wide innovation and how remote innovation–that is, innovation organized through electronic collaboration–could be enhanced by comprehensive computer support tools that include sensemaking aids. We look at the importance of sensemaking in collaborations and report on a study in which we analyzed sensemaking processes among students collaborating remotely. We describe a web-based computer system called LiveNet, that incorporates sensemaking aids to facilitate remote innovation. It brings together members within one workspace, provides them with the ability to locate needed information quickly, and supports this process with an agent-based structure that can assist members to achieve their goals. In addition, LiveNet supports the development of a common language and facilitates knowledge sharing, processes deemed important in the innovation and collective learning literatures. In the final section, we describe how this system can be used in remote innovation.

Computer-Mediated Communication - The Power of Email as a Driver for Changing the Communication Paradigm

Email has been with us now for a long time and is being increasingly adopted as a major communication tool in UK Higher Education (HE) establishments (colleges of Higher and Further Education and universities). As the use of email grows, the effect on communication patterns needs to be established. This chapter looks at current communication and working practices within a Higher Education institution in the UK (the author’s own). A survey has been conducted to elicit people’s feelings about the use of email and how they see future patterns of communication developing within the establishment. The questions that the survey set out to answer were as follows: • Preferred methods of communication; • Advantages and disadvantages of each of the communication methods utilized at Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU); • Efficiency of email; • Items not suitable for email transmission; • Ethical considerations in using email; • Who is contacted using email; and • Increase or decrease of email usage in the future. The specific focus of the survey was to elicit how staff feel about the increasing dependence on the use of email within the institution, and these findings are discussed in the results section. The chapter will present a literature review of the area, the framework for the study, the methodology utilized, the results of the questionnaire, conclusions and future trends.

Cultural Characteristics of IT Professionals

The purpose of this chapter is to present data and analysis from research that focused on the human side of IT. In an effort to determine the potential effects of outsourcing on the shared norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions of IT professionals, a two-part study was conducted using ethnographic research methods. Its first goal was to identify the cultural characteristics of IT professionals as an occupational group. The second goal was to determine how the cultural characteristics might potentially be affected by the phenomenon of outsourcing. The data and analysis that follow pertain to the first part of the study.

E-communication of Interdepartmental Knowledge

This chapter presents a review of the organizational learning literature that points to process improvement (PI) groups as an appropriate tool for organizational knowledge communication. Based on this review, the impact of support provided by a class of e-communication systems, email conferencing (EC), on knowledge dissemination in organizations is examined in the context of PI groups. Data was collected through an action research project, where the researcher facilitated seven PI groups in two organizations with the support of an EC system implemented with Novell Groupwise, and using a group methodology for PI called MetaProi. The study suggests that, overall, EC support seems to have a positive impact on knowledge dissemination in organizations when used in combination with a group methodology for PI. EC support effects on PI groups can be summarized as: (a) a reduction of the influence of distance and other physical obstacles to the participation of members from different departments in PI groups, and of the disruption that group discussions are likely to cause for individual group members, particularly when these members are from different departments; (b) a reduction of interdepartmental conflict obstacles to the formation of PI groups; and (c) an increase or decrease in individual learning in PI groups, depending on the complexity of the issues being discussed and the clarity of electronic contributions by members. Organizational implications of these research findings are discussed.

Personal Information Privacy and the Internet

Personal information privacy is arguably the most important issue facing the growth and prosperity of the Internet, especially of e-commerce. Protecting personal information privacy has ignited a debate that pits privacy advocates against technology growth enthusiasts. This chapter explores personal information privacy on the Internet in terms of the social and legal issues surrounding it, and the technological challenges to personal information privacy facing individuals, businesses, and government regulators. Representative solutions to resolving the debate are presented, though at present the debate over personal information privacy continues and may have to be resolved by governments and the courts.

The Social Antecedents of Business Process Planning Effectiveness

Although there has been a wide coverage in the IS literature of the alignment of IT plans with organizational plans, most studies focused on the mechanics of this alignment rather than its antecedents (Brancheau, Janz, & Wetherbe, 1996; Rodgers, 1997). Therefore, emphasis was put on the strategies, structures, and planning methodologies used to attain alignment (Henderson & Sifonis, 1988; Tallon & Kraemer, 1998). A minor line of research that focused on the people involved in the creation of alignment (Nelson & Cooprider, 1996; Subramani, Henderson, & Cooprider, 1999) dealt with the state in which business and IT executives within an organizational unit understand and are committed to the business and IT mission, objectives, and plans (Reich & Benbasat, 2000). While this chapter would partially fit within studies examining the social antecedents of alignment, it departs sharply from earlier studies in the sense that it does not consider the organization as made up of distinct IT and business functions. Instead it adopts a holistic view whereby information systems form the skeleton of business processes and neither can be disentangled from the other. This peculiar perspective on the role of IT in the organization makes it essential to consider antecedents to alignment that go beyond the dichotomy between IT and business. The key concepts that will be introduced throughout this study derive from this logic. Information-enabled leadership, the planning culture, knowledge worker management, and strategic alignment are key constructs that form the backbone of our model of business process planning. The latter is the outcome of integrating IT and business planning. Planning effectiveness that is posited as the outcome variable of the previous variables is itself re-conceptualized within the proposed perspective.

Using Action Learning in GSS Facilitation Training

Although electronic face-to-face meetings are increasingly being used by organizations to improve the productivity of their strategic planning teams, design task forces, quality circles, sales management, and other organizational groups (Alavi, 1993; Dishman & Aytes, 1996), the rate of adoption of the technologies to support these meetings appears to be slowing (Grise & Gallupe, forthcoming). A possible reason for this reduced rate of adoption may be the difficulty in training competent electronic meeting facilitators. These facilitators play a key role in electronic meetings that use computer-based group technologies or group support systems (GSS) to assist the group in tasks such as generating ideas, evaluating alternatives and developing action plans. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how an action learning approach was used to train traditional meeting facilitators in the tools, techniques and processes of electronic meeting facilitation. This chapter begins with a description of action learning, in particular the three schools of action learning. The second section explains the nature of the “experiential” school of action learning and the GSS facilitation training program used in a research project in which 15 facilitators, already experienced in conventional meetings, were trained to become facilitators of electronic meetings. The final sections describe some lessons learned and implications for organizations training their electronic meeting facilitators.

The Non-Technical Side of Office Technology

Office work plays an important role in Western economies, and the use of office technologies in this type of work is inextricably linked. People employed in office environments are confronted with an almost continuous introduction of new office technologies, as decision-makers in companies believe that the market drives them towards being very attentive to the latest developments in the field of IT. Furthermore, IT in general has become a strategic factor in doing business (e.g., e-commerce), which has further increased the need for the newest office technologies. As a result, the number of projects in organizations to develop and implement new office technologies has unarguably increased. However, office technology projects are often confronted with problems. In our view, these problematic experiences are due to a lack of attention to the non-technical side of office technology development, implementation and use. Hence, in this chapter, we present a study based on a view of office technology project that stresses the non-technical side of office technology. We introduce the concepts of spirit of office technology and office technology appropriation. By testing three hypotheses based upon this view, it is shown that this concept can be helpful in contributing to an improvement in the understanding of office technology development, implementation and use. This is scientifically interesting and relevant since the outcomes of our study say something about the value of the theoretical framework applied. It is also of practical interest, as the results of the study can help in the everyday practice of office technology projects.

GSS Facilitation

The objectives of this chapter are to describe the nature of reflective practice and the development of reflective practice in one human aspect of information technology application, namely, the facilitation of face-to face electronic meetings.