Recommendations And Conclusion Videoconferencing Technology example essay topic

THE IMPACTS OF VIDEOCONFERENCING IN ORGANIZATIONS AUTHORS: Richard Coles Bryan SeowChiew-Yen OngABSTRACTThis report analyses the various influences of videoconferencing, both positive and negative, and evaluates its usefulness in organisations. One of the major points of discussion is how face-to-face meetings, whether virtual or physical, have been affected by the embracing of this new technology by various organisations and groups. Due to the radical nature in which traditional meetings and appointments have been challenged by videoconferencing, many issues have arisen regarding its application, like whether video-conferencing actually improves communication? Another important discussion involves the cost-saving benefits to organisations, primarily through reducing travel, and how this affects organisations strategically as well as other industries (i.e. hotels, airlines). Since many organisations now compete and communicate internationally, this potential elimination of travel for businessmen and women has far-reaching consequences. This essay seeks to explore these and other issues using three major themes: ICTs have unexpected and paradoxical effects, costs and benefits of ICTs are unevenly distributed throughout organizations and society, and ICTs and socio-technical context are co-produced.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY Videoconferencing is an emerging technology which enables people from any location, with the appropriate set of equipment, to communicate with each other in a virtual 'face-to-face' manner. The impact of videoconferencing on organizations has been extensive, with the effects of this technology growing as it becomes more user-friendly and the cost of equipment decreases. As a promising technological advance, videoconferencing has already had recent impacts upon some organisations. From a positive perspective videoconferencing has permitted things like decreases in costs, greater flexibility, and heightened strategic opportunities. Nevertheless, caution must still be applied to videoconferencing, like any new device, with concern now emerging regarding the negative consequences of such technology. These extend too many areas for example interaction, psychological outcomes, and team dynamics.

POSITIVE OUTCOMES primary impact of videoconferencing is that it allows more people to conduct work from home. This has many implications such as reducing the levels of travel needed by employees and increasing the time they can spend with their family, etc. This aspect is particularly exciting in relation to disabled citizens, enabling them to do much of their work in the home office environment. It is important to note however, that this benefit is unevenly distributed throughout society. This is because people who require more sophisticated equipment or environments (assembly lines, construction areas, etc), have to be at their place of work and cannot operate from home. Videoconferencing provides a cost-effective means of bringing a firm's managers and employers together with customers.

Estimates are that the average cost of a video conference is about 10 percent that of a physical meeting. This is supported by research in the Business Research International showing that videoconferencing can provide businesses with a 90% saving, versus the cost of travelling to the meeting in person. This is another example of an uneven distribution in society, due to the fact that such systems will be of greater benefit to larger companies, who have clients in a wider variety of locations. In the hotel industry, videoconferencing has given hotels the opportunity to diversify business by investing in and providing videoconferencing facilities. This is because some users are also likely to use a combination of in-house and off-site facilities, to meet peak demand and to deal with simultaneous bookings of meetings. Bjorn Hanson, National hospitality chairman at Coopers and Lybrand, states that "hotels can play a large role in this continuing evolution of communications technology - if they enter the market now".

He also adds that hotels are in a good position to provide videoconferencing facilities because they already offer complementary services. This presents an unexpected and paradoxical effect in that hotels can take advantage of this threatening technology, to maintain or increase business profits in the face of reduced travel volumes. Another positive consequence of videoconferencing has been the marked ability it provides to interact face-to-face with clients, providing an extremely rich communication experience without the need to travel. This has allowed firms to greatly increase their presence by maintaining fast, convenient meetings with their clients. Face-to-face meetings are even more important depending upon emphasis of culture.

This is supported by Leo Cortjens, vice president and general manager of Asia-Pacific operations for Polycom, who mentions "video becomes more valuable when the interaction involves a critical social component like trust". In countries like as China, trust and respect are highly valued characteristics. Videoconferencing allows these characteristics to be communicated through eye contact and body language. "You can actually look people in the eye, which is very important in this part of the world" said Cortjens. This again produces an uneven distribution, primarily benefiting organisations and countries that place greater importance in face-to-face contact. This benefit is contentious however, with many arguing video-conferencing actually degrades face-to-face contact.

Videoconferencing also enables companies to have greater flexibility in their operations. Meetings can potentially be organised and held instantly no matter where the involved parties are. This permits greater communication throughout the company and heightened productivity. Currently however, such communication advantages only really exist for top management, who are the individuals with regular access to videoconferencing systems. This may change in the future as desktop videoconferencing begins to become the norm. Another positive outcome of videoconferencing was its ability to heavily assist the Asia Pacific region during the SARS outbreak.

In fact, the company Premiere Conferencing, audio and videoconferencing specialists, saw usage of its technology increase by between 40 to 60 per cent during the outbreak. This shows the reciprocal relationship between ICTs and socio-technical context. Such a benefit was again highlighted following the World Trade Centre crisis. During this period, the technology allowed businessmen of various nationalities to avoid travelling to potentially dangerous regions.

Another positive impact of videoconferencing has been its ability to improve meeting efficiency. Indeed a field trial in the United Kingdom found that meetings conducted by videoconferencing technology had a higher degree of task orientation, increased effectiveness and speedier decision making. Such effects are unexpected and paradoxical with many predicting videoconferencing would in reality be less efficient, due to inherent communication problems and technical difficulties. Videoconferencing has had positive impacts in allowing much greater sharing of expertise with and between companies. An example of this is the Sustainability Special Interest Group in New Zealand, which meets monthly through a video linked between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. This conference allows different experts to teach member companies about topics including the sustainable use of energy.

Uneven distribution throughout society is apparent however; with the benefits of mass networking and linking with videoconferencing not being realised when an organised group is small. Videoconferencing has also been used in an attempt to improve employee relations in certain companies. This is best seen in the case of global shipping company CSX, which has began looking into holding annual video meetings with all of their employees on a mass basis. This will allow the company to obtain higher quality feedback from staff in order to improve performance and to better satisfy their needs.

Further the company has recently began allowing employee representation, the Transportation Communications Union, to use the system for union communications. Director Geoffrey Fuller believes "this will get company / union issues dealt with quicker and more sensibly". This is an unexpected and paradoxical effect of the system with many predicting these videoconferencing systems would, if anything, cause union problems. It is also an example of an uneven distribution of benefits through society, with companies unable to afford such videoconferencing systems not being able to offer such services to their unions Videoconferencing is starting to play a major strategic role in organisations. These roles include but are not limited to using the systems to gaining a competitive market advantage, enhance public image and assisting following a merger. From a competitive advantage perspective the impact of videoconferencing is depicted by Apple computers in California, which has started to build video briefing centres to help sell Apple systems to top corporate executives.

This system allows the companies staff located throughout the country to assist in sales pitches by video link, giving them a distinct advantage over their competitors. According to their Donna Collins the manager of videoconferencing networks for Apple "when we need to bring on a product manager, or even the Apple president, they come in, take part for as long as need, and then return to their other meetings and projects. This helps us get a variety of experts and technical resources to the customer easily and quickly". This competitive advantage provided by videoconferencing is also seen things like productivity, with John Champa of Unisys Corporation reporting measurable improvements in the ability of his managers to get work done. Bendix / King Division of Allied Signal supports this indicating his company was able to release an important new product far enough in advance of its competitors that, for a year, it almost owned the market.

These are unexpected benefits which have been realised in implementing videoconferencing technology. However they are unevenly distribution between organizations, as companies that will experience more benefit are the ones whose top management are tech savvy. Videoconferencing systems also have the impact of allowing companies to further their image in their industry and to promote community relations. A good example is The Travellers, a Connecticut based insurance provider known in the market for its products designed for the elderly. This company has began employing its business video network to co host the nationwide video conferences on elder care. This has provided the company with an unexpected means of lifting its profile in the community and of enhancing its reputation.

Videoconferencing has had an invaluable impact on assisting companies manage and coordinate following a merger. Indeed Steve Sherwood Director of the company Daisy / Cadnextix found that "videoconferencing eased the transition into a merged organization". This is because the system allows managers from both companies to communicate more openly and come together more easily. This is an example of uneven distribution through society, with the benefit only going to companies that are involved in takeovers. NEGATIVE OUTCOMES Despite the seeming abundance of benefits that videoconferencing offers, much like other ICT's this new technology also spawns various negative consequences.

A major negative impact of videoconferencing is the interaction problems that it has created. Indeed communications breakdowns have been evident with the technology since it was first introduced with problems like mishearing, misunderstanding and misinterpreting of messages. These communication breakdowns are a direct result of absence of things like eye contact, facial expressions, and bodily gestures, which we use as trouble flags, indicating if something has been understood. In face-to-face communication for example, frowns are used to indicate if a person is confused. Although videoconferencing provides a picture of the person we are communicating with, such gestures are not observed anywhere near as easily. This is heightened when you consider much videoconferencing revolves around interaction across international borders, and cultural mistakes can be made without even spotting the problems created.

This is an unexpected and paradoxical effect of videoconferencing, which was believed to improve communication almost to the point of being in the same room as one another. However such a loss of cues that are intrinsic parts of our everyday communication has meant it "is not and never will be like being next to one another". These results conflict with earlier findings that it improves, thus it can be seen that videoconferencing has varying effects in different situations, so measurement of its influence on human contact can possibly be shaky evidence. Another concern with videoconferencing has been the variety of negative psychological effects it can have on users as opposed to face-to-face contact. Firstly research has shown that the impressions people form of remote others are different from and less positive than the impressions that they form from face-to-face others, starting from an equal baseline. This is due to the absence of non-verbal cues that cause communication to generally be depersonalized.

This is an unexpected consequence of videoconferencing and something not considered to be a problem at the time of its development. Videoconferencing can also lead to anxieties for workers, like other new technologies, when it is adopted into the business environment. This is an example of uneven distribution through society, where a study of 60 users of videoconferencing found females experienced lower levels of anxiety then males with the equipment. Further it has also been shown that videoconferencing can have the unexpected effect of greatly reducing the meeting experience for some participants, and make them feel even more distant. This is particularly the case in situations of sophisticated multi-channel setup displays, which can have up to eight people interacting from different locations at the same time. Such situations provide a large amount for the participant to keep track of, not to mention interact with.

Finally a field study examining the effects of organizational status and multimedia communications technology, shows that videoconferencing unexpectedly exaggerates the high status of group members. This allows them to verbally dominate discussion and have greater control of proceedings than in face-to-face interaction. This makes it more difficult for lower ranked individuals to overcome the status constraint to effectively contribute in group discussions. The socio-technical network within organisations is seriously affected by these outcomes of videoconferencing. There is a possibility however, that as time progresses and this technology advances, the results of these examinations and field studies may change as society becomes more accustomed to videoconferencing. From a group environment perspective it has been shown that videoconferencing can regularly sabotage attempts to work together.

Indeed virtual team members all need to be aware of problems such as lack of eye contact cues and delay effects caused by displaced feedback on team chemistry. This is supported by Brigitte Jordan, a Xerox PARC corporate anthropologist, who claims that such problems promote the vague feelings of unease, mistrust and the lack of confidence in others that are hard-wired into the technology. The negative consequences of videoconferencing technology in a team environment can also be observed in the fact that it is easier for team members to fall behind schedule in a virtual team. The primary reason for this is the fact that it is easier for procrastination or miscommunication to inhibit a virtual team. This is supported in an article by Anne Greenham that says a virtual group "can get further afield or further behind schedule before it's noticed if the feedback loops aren't tight, if the milestones aren't so noticeable, and if the communication isn't good". These are paradoxical and unexpected effects of videoconferencing, which was previously thought to be a terrific enhancement to many areas of remote teamwork.

This is also a controversial issue; with some studies having found that videoconferencing drastically improves communication and efficiency in meetings due to its flexibility, while others have found the opposite. This indicates again that the technology is used in different manners in different situations, therefore some organisations / individuals get more benefit than others. When videoconferencing was initially designed, it was thought the technique could be used by interviewers, and that this technology would improve the advantage of interviewers in assessing individual candidates. Since people generally allow long distance interviews that previously took place on the phone to take place via video, it enables potential employees to present themselves better in an interview than they would in a phone call conversation. Yet it has proved that most of the benefits of being in a face-to-face interview, such as noticing mannerisms, directness and general self-confidence are voided when subjected to the debasing nature of communications via videoconferencing.

Further, Robert Kraut, professor of Social Psychology and Human Interaction at Carnegie -Mellon University, believes adoption of videoconferencing has had the unexpected and paradoxical effect of "providing interviewees with an advantage in the interview process". Indeed Kraut says that "because you are easily able to control a very powerful expressive device, your face, if you look honest, and it's easy to look honest, you can deceive the other party, and you " re more likely to be able to do that if you have video [as opposed to in person]". Another major negative consequence of the adoption of videoconferencing has been the inevitable spying on employees that is beginning to happen as desktop systems are introduced. This is not new, of course, as many companies currently track the telephone, web-access and e-mail habits of their workers. This again represents an unexpected effect of videoconferencing and is also an uneven distribution throughout society, with only employees in companies that utilize videoconferencing subject to this additional monitoring.

The effects of uneven distribution can also been seen in the impact of videoconferencing on profitability of the hotel and travel industries, as corporations seek to perform more meetings via video conference rather then face to face. According to an FAA-funded study conducted by a team of consulting firms led by Arthur D. Little Inc (ADL), videoconferencing may reduce the demand for air travel at Boston's Logan airport by 1.5 million passengers in 2010 and by 4.4 million passengers in 2030. Further ADL funded studies that suggest videoconferencing will be substituted for 13-23% of business related travel by 2010. Hotels will also suffer as a consequence, yet they may be able to capture a niche market of those requiring additional videoconferencing services with their lodging - if they enter the market soon enough. Although reduction in both cost categories was seen potentially from the use of video conferencing, such a dramatic impact on travel figures is unexpected consequence of this technology. This is reflected in comments from Bjorn Hanson who was hospitality chairman at Coopers and Lybrand when videoconferencing was introduced who the stated "it was initial seen when designed purely as a means of enhancing phone calls".

This rapid demand for videoconferencing, coming from the need to reduce unnecessary expenses in the modern business environment, is also an example of the reciprocal nature in which ICTs and socio-technical context are co-produced. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION Videoconferencing technology poses many opportunities for organisations, for instance the ability to allow staff to work from home. Due to this fact the choice facing senior executives is often portrayed as stark - either they must engage with the new technologies or risk losing control of their businesses. However it must be remembered there are many downsides of this revolution, particularly that it reduces people's opportunities for face-to-face contact.

This continues to remain a major issue of videoconferencing. Further the true impact of videoconferencing on some areas remains uncertain, with some empirical studies finding that videoconferencing improves efficiency of employees and meetings, while other have concluded that it hampers communication lowering effectiveness. It is therefore important to understand that while video-conferencing is an attractive technology; its strengths must be evaluated and assessed to see whether the organisation will gain maximum benefit from it. As videoconferencing is still a growing technology, it is as likely the results of the analysis conducted in this report will change rapidly as time progresses.

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