Online Communication Or Computer Mediated Communication

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

INTRODUCTION:

Internet is described as one of the most prominent utility to procure information online, socialize with people and shopping online. There is a saying i.e. we can’t imagine world without number "0" and the same represents to INTERNET, Can we imagine our world without INERNET??

Internet became a source for accessing global information by sitting behind the desk. Although it is invented in 19th century most of usage is started from middle of the century. The internet technology has advanced at a lightning speed which exposed into various divisions like wireless connectivity, faster internet with better connectivity, Internet is not only limited computers and laptops which is now used in mobiles and tablets with support of 3G internet in turn makes access to internet convenient and easier.

The usage of internet can be used in wide varieties, to name few online communication and computer mediated communication are the most prominent ones.

Online communication: it is the tool which radically transformed our communication prospects. The online communication is now unbounded from geographical barriers which previously had limited speed and expansion. By using online communication tools it is made easy and instant to communicate with an excess proportion of human population. Nonetheless, every new technology comes up with new challenges.

The internet offers a prospect to increase students learning experiences by providing entree to vast volumes of information like online books and journal etc., across the globe. Online communication acquaintances students to offer a collective learning environment and is envisioned to assist with good learning outcomes. In Today’s environment most of the students are exposed to online communication tools and the internet in their schools and universities.

Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): The technology advancement and extensiveness of internet has facilitated globalization which generated a variety of innovative practices. The word internet has opened wide variety of spots to online news rooms, chat groups, mailing lists; text centered virtual environments and social sites of networking like Facebook, LinkedIn. These defined media collectively known as computer media communication (CMC). Though computer media communication is a form of human communication using computers and internet network and these internet based communication takes place at global collection of networks that uses the Transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) collective suite for exchange of data.

Computer mediated communication is an interactive mode of channel which allows users to be active and engage in dual mode of communication, herein, it is an inexpensive way of information seeking for increase in productivity and efficiency. The nature of CMC allows more careful construction and manipulation of personal information. Employees working in a company use CMC to organize social activities like playing games, entertainment activities with their peers. These kinds of activities help CMC to arise as a more focused, purposive communication and problem solving tool.

CMC being as asynchronous communication model has various advantages like eliminating problems created by barriers of space and time. CMC is cost-effective and easy to use. It has all potential for being more customizable and personal usage. The computer mediated communication technologies are which include e-mail, web based environments, computer conferencing, multimedia and database utilities. The above mentioned technologies are used for evaluation of products, strategic planning and project coordination.

Impact of Online communication in an Organizational Context:

Nowadays, it seems to be apparent that online communication has developed as a very common term in organizations. Since Electronic mailing (e-mail) is still one of the most predominant form of online communication within organizations. In fact the increase in usage of emailing act in mobiles is provided to be a new dimension of modern era. Therefore, in the present state our focus is primarily on the impact of e-mail, provided by personal computers as well as smart mobile devices, on organizational life.

There are many increasing number of studies on the various aspects of online communication, but due to impact of email and mobile usage in organizations, the life has been disused. Apparently, with day to day advancements in technology there are both advantages and disadvantages in consuming it. Basically the concept of email was brought up to make life live easier in organizations and also in personal use.

Unfortunately, besides advantages there are also few disadvantages. This concept is predominantly purposes to outline the impact of e-mail and mobile developments on organizations and their reliability in present era.

The influence of e-mail on a working weekday is essential of projecting differences between face to face communication and e-mail. The authors Bargh and McKenna (2000) listed their differences into four categories. Primarily, physical distance has really had no issue on the Internet; predominantly in a proportion of a second, the other can also interact with someone else at the other end of the globe, where in regular period e-mail generally takes days or even weeks to be delivered. The second characteristic is time, which is two-folded. It can be a significant sign in interpreting a message. When a coworker sends you an e-mail at 2 am you put through it in other perspective where you receive the same message at 10 am.

Ultimately, the speedy medium and advancement in fixtures of networks allow us to reach a large group of people in one or every delivery. Third proposition, apparently face to face meetings, visual meetings and physical appearances are viability is absent in e-mail (McKenna & Bargh, 2000). Lastly, it is easier to be unidentified while communicating on the internet. It is very common to use nicknames in chat rooms and pennames are used in the edifice of e-mail accounts.

The above are considerable differences which are treated as a major advantage that will make life easier to communicate online. While some other communication modes may complicate the process.

The distinctions between traditional face-to-face communication and CMC in an organizational context

The organizations typically use computer-mediated communication for publicizing work-related material to employees who are working in different time zone; receiving updated information from the management; and as reminders or black and white proof of communication. The frequently used computer-mediated communications are e-mail, instant messaging, intranet, and corporate website. One of the participants stated that "my manager normally sends us information and instruction through email because it is more convenient and easy", while other participants said:

"I used to email my fellow colleagues as well as my manager as a reminder for any up-coming activities and as proof of communication"; and

"Due to locality and different working time zone, CMC is more frequently used"

.Face-to-face communication, on the other hand, is used for communicating sensitive issues; building interpersonal relationships between employees and managers; and for project collaboration. The participants said:

"If it is a crisis or something sensitive which requires urgent attention, face-to-face communication will be preferred"; "face-to-face is a necessity to avoid any misunderstanding"; and

"For project co-ordination, face-to-face will be more effective because it is rich in content and it save time when I need to receive feedback from the participants"

The second research question addressed the issue of the effective employee communication channel as preferred by communications staff of five Malaysian organizations. During the interviews, the employees discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and computer-mediated communication in the workplace. In summary, nine out of fifteen interviewees claimed that face-to-face communication is the best medium for effective employee communication. Three interviewees however, agreed that computer-mediated communication is an effective employee communication channel, and the remaining three interviewees recommended a combination of both face-to-face and computer-mediated communications should be used for better effect. Majority of the interviewees perceived that face-to-face interactions are best used for employees to build interpersonal relationships with their managers and also for manager to transmit work instructions and daily operations to their employees. One of the interviewees described: "

I think face-to-face communication can bridge the gap between the managers and the employees"

. Another interviewee claimed that

"Face-to-face communication is quicker, more accurate and able to give immediate response when transmitting information to employees besides for employees to better understand the manager’s instructions"

.Other comments include:

"Face-to-face is best use for understanding supervisor’s instructions compared to email"

"Face-to-face is quick and more accurate in transmitting information"

; and

"Traditional face-to-face meeting provides me clearer picture of my task and strengthening my relationship with my boss"

Based on the findings of the interviews, the advantages of using face-to-face communication were instant feedback; rich of non-verbal cues such as gestures, eye contact and tone of voice; personal focus; easier to solve problems; bridging the gap between the managers and the employees; and able to reduce misunderstanding or misinterpretation during communication.

However, the disadvantages of face-to-face communication, as according to the interviewees were increasing decision time for solving problems; the unavailability of subjects; and lack of time for consideration when making decision or communicating with the employees. Finally, three interviewees claimed that computer-mediated communication had a number of advantages over face-to-face communication such as speed of interaction; communicating in remote area or in different time zone; provides black and white reference or as reminders after face-to-face interactions; and to deliver routine information to vast employees such as work instructions and job function. On the other hand, the disadvantages of computer-mediated communication were insufficient infrastructure of the new media in the organization; difficulty of access in some organizations; and lack of non-verbal cues especially facial expression and tone of voice.

The role of media richness in effective online communication;

An understanding of media richness theory is useful in when examining the impact that different communication media types potentially have on the message. Media richness theory comes primarily from the literature on computer-mediated communications (CMC) and is most often associated with business communication. In this context, media richness theory is used to analyse communication media choices and to help reduce ambiguity of communication through the appropriate selection of communication media.

Media richness is explained by some researchers (Trevino, Lengel et al. 1987) as the ability of a medium to carry information. Sitkin, Sutcliffe, and Barrios-Choplin, (1992) identify two components of a medium's ability to carry information. These two components are the data carrying capacity and the symbol carrying capacity. Data carrying capacity refers to the medium's ability to transmit information while symbol carrying capacity refers to the medium's ability to carry information about the information or about the individuals who are communicating.

Researchers who work with media richness theory often rank communication media on their abilities to carry both information types, but especially the second type, symbolic information. The criteria for ranking a medium's ability to carry information can be based on the ability of the media to, relay immediate feedback, provide feedback cues such as body language, allow the message to be created or altered specifically for an intended recipient, and transmit the feelings or emotions of the communicators. (Daft and Lengel 1984). In discussing communication in online classes, Newberry (2001) builds on the work of these researchers to construct the following table which attempts to place seven different types of communications media in a three-position matrix (high, medium, and low) expressing the media's performance or its ability to carry: feedback, multiple cues such as body language, message tailoring, and emotions.

Attempting to rank different media choices does not imply that one is better than the other. Each media type has its own advantages and disadvantages and each is probably more appropriate than the others in different situations. In fact that is the point of much of the media richness research; one should choose the media type that offers the greatest efficiency and the greatest opportunity for the intended message to be conveyed accurately. In educational activities the choice of media can be influenced by many factors. Some of which include, technology availability, time constraints, familiarity with the technology, task appropriateness of the technology and desired outcomes of the learning activity. 

In situations where information exchange is the desired outcome, leaner media types can sometimes offer more efficiency than richer media types. Examining the hierarchy in the table above it should be noted that synchronous media types tend to be richer than asynchronous media types. But synchronous by its very nature, requires that all communicating parties be available and attending to the communication activity at the same time. Because of this, synchronous education activities tend to be harder to coordinate and accomplish than activities using asynchronous technologies. Asynchronous technologies do not require all participants to be available at the same time.

The importance of being competent at intercultural communication using electronic channels of communication

Most professionals would agree that the Internet has enabled us to communicate more effectively with our professional colleagues, both locally and overseas. The ease, the speed and the convenience of email, bulletin boards, chat systems and instant messaging have revolutionized our professional practice. But there is one area of concern that gets overlooked: how does online communication affect intercultural communication? Does our Western, informal and very direct use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies conflict with the way other cultures use these technologies? Or has the whole world become a homogenous community, each country indistinguishable in terms of their online communication behavior?

Five thousand years of civilization cannot be changed by a mere decade and a half of Internet usage. Enthusiasm for online communication can sometimes be naïve and misplaced when it comes to communicating with members of other cultures. With vastly increased opportunities for communication to take place, we believe that there is an equivalent increase in the amount of miscommunication that is occurring between cultures. However, we cannot be certain of this, because there is very little research that has studied the intersection of communication technology and intercultural communication.