Most Efficient Level Of Communication example essay topic

What is the best way to communicate with the Information Technology (IT) department? In this paper, we will look at two IT personnel and compare communication styles. The most effective way to present this scenario is to engage you, the reader, in a mock computer / network crisis in your company. For many years communicating with the IT department was not a priority.

Most businesses used computers for word processing and simple spreadsheets. Networks were stations on the televisions and there was very little to no dependence on a computer system. The hardware was costly and the support was virtually non-existent (web business solutions, 1998). Today, hardware is affordable and support is abundant. With these major changes businesses are upgrading and installing complete network systems with multi-site databases and very complex Intranets.

Along with the systems comes the support. The options are to have an outside firm support the system or an onsite / internal IT Department. Either option a company chooses will require constant communication with the people in these areas and these people are a different breed of communicators. The typical IT person is computer literate and usually very intelligent. They have incredible deductive reasoning and superior computational abilities.

Most of them are very introverted and have little or no social graces, not to mention any ability to communicate. Communication among their peers is usually something like a script from a very poorly written science fiction book or technical manual. Nevertheless they can communicate with each other. Can they communicate with the average person in the real world? Picture yourself managing a group of forty data processing people, all on a network feeding critical information to affiliates across the globe.

At 3: 00 p.m. one half of your network goes down and twenty of your people are not able to work. Your group is still producing, but at a reduced speed. You pick up the phone and contact the company's IT manager. Your situation is critical but not an emergency (at this point). You get him on the line and you get one of the two following situations: IT Manager - Joe (scenario 1) Joe is the manager of your IT department and has been since its inception two years ago. Prior to that, Joe worked as a technician for Fry's Electronics at night.

Joe is also the president of the "The original - Star Trek " fan club and believes that Captain Kirk is the only man qualified to command a star ship, at least that is what his tee shirt says. Joe answers the phone in his usual low toned, "Yea". After explaining your situation for the second time very slowly, Joe finally grunts, acknowledging that he is still on the phone. You finally get frustrated and tell Joe that you were instructed to call him by the VP of production (the senior VP over both departments) and your problem is of the utmost importance. He insists that the problem was created by one of your people; but he agrees to send one of the "techies" down to your area and the problem is fixed (except for your ulcer).

This is not unusual, though a bit exaggerated. Most IT personnel are under the impression that the outside world is so inept that they alone are a much smarter breed so they have a superiority complex. It is often shared in the IT community that communicating our problems to them is a waste of time because we usually do not explain it in a way that will solve the problem. Joe is the typical "Tech-Nerd" and is socially inept, and doesn't care. He can interact with the outside world over the Internet, so why does he need to develop any social skills?

Being introverted and having the superiority complex raises the barriers to communicate and prohibits any connection between the "Techie" and the rest of the business world. IT manager - Mark (scenario 2) Mark is the manager of your IT department and has been since its inception two years ago. Mark has an AA degree from the local community college in computer science. Mark loves computers and spends most of his free time tinkering with them. Mark answers the phone and listens patiently to your situation acknowledging your urgency. Mark repeats the problem to you and asks you to try one option first.

He says, "If that doesn't fix it, call me right back and I'll send someone down there immediately". Before you can call Mark back, he is ringing your phone to see what the results were. Does that sound too good to be true? It isn't unbelievable but it is rare. Investigations show that eighty percent of the IT departments are more like Joe's than Mark's.

IT people speak a different language, even in the same company your IT department uses terms and phrases that are completely foreign to you. With the different jargon's, the frustration level becomes elevated and one or both of the parties lose interest and what little communication there was, stops. With this gap in the communication line, the empathy for the other's situation becomes non-existent or very low, again resulting in poor communication. When asked if there was a communication barrier between the IT department and the other departments, most IT people responded with an emphatic "NO."I have no problem communicating with those people!" This statement sums up the overall and fundamental issues in the interdepartmental communication process.

In the examples above, Mark has undoubtedly had more human contact than Joe. What makes them so different is that Mark actually has compassion for the other person (the one that is communicating with him) while Joe is in a world all his own. Joe actually believes that other people should come to his level to communicate rather than Joe trying to find the most efficient level of communication. When communicating with the typical IT person, you may want to try a few of these suggestions. 1.

Remember that they are not very social and communicating is very uncomfortable for them; so do not try to engage them on the social playing field. Keep all communication relevant and to the point. 2. Do not diagnose the problem for them (unless you know it already in which case you would not need to call them in the first place).

If you think you might know it, ask questions that will guide them to the answer you think that it might be. 3. NEVER get them started on the differences between the original Star Trek and Star Trek, The Next Generation!

Bibliography

Administrative and Management Information Systems web business solutions, 1998.