Presence and Absence in Global Virtual Team Meetings : Physical, Virtual, and Social Dimensions
Global virtual work is commonly organised around virtual meetings. As virtual team members often belong to multiple groups in their work, finding time for global team meetings may be challenging due to competing priorities and roles as well as different time zones and schedules. Furthermore, social presence does not automatically emerge based on physical or virtual presence. Therefore, the notions of being physically, virtually and socially present or absent in global team meetings are important, and affect the collaboration of global work groups. These different dimensions of presence and absence and their nature as fluctuating phenomena have not yet been scrutinised in virtual work litera…
Ammatti-identiteetin merkitys toimittajien työn ja muun elämän rajanhallinnalle
Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan suomalaisten toimittajien ammatti-identiteettiin liittyviä käsityksiä sekä niiden merkitystä heidän työn ja muun elämän rajanhallinnalleen. Rajanhallinta määritellään vuorovaikutusprosessiksi, jossa työn ja muun elämän rajoista neuvotellaan. Lähestymme tutkimusaihetta laadullisen tutkimuksen menetelmin. Aineisto koostuu suomalaisten toimittajien sekä heidän itsensä nimeämien työ- ja yksityiselämän henkilöiden puolistrukturoiduista haastatteluista (N=32). Temaattisen sisällönanalyysin myötä käsitykset toimittajien ammatti-identiteetistä jäsentyvät kahdeksi yläteemaksi, joita ovat toimittajuus elämäntapana sekä toimittaju…
Employees' perceptions of relational communication in full-time remote work in the public sector.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous changes in society. This paper aims to understand how the abrupt transfer to remote work is reflected in employees' perceptions of relational communication at their work. Our research question is as follows: What kinds of perceptions and profiles regarding relational communication can be found among full-time remote workers? A sample of 1, 091 Finnish public sector employees with virtually no previous experience in remote work completed an open-ended survey during the first wave of the pandemic. The findings present 17 aspects of relational communication that the respondents mentioned as having changed because of moving to remote work. These …
Spacing and Organizing: Process Approaches to the Study of Organizational Space
In the past several decades, the research on space in management studies has moved from being an implicit idea to becoming an important generative force in organizational theory. Through this turn, space no longer surfaces as a stable container in which organizing occurs, rather it is a process for enacting organizing. Even with the growth of studies on organizational space, only a modicum of work exists that aims to distill and theorize the notion of space as organizing. This paper sets forth a typology of process studies on organizational space linked to two dimensions and five approaches for conceiving of space as organizing. In offering this typology, it not only provides an overview of…
Vuorovaikutus, viestintäteknologia ja identifioituminen hajautetuissa tiimeissä
Työnteko eri toimipisteisiin tai maihin hajautuneissa tiimeissä on arkipäivää monissa organisaatioissa. Tällaisissa työryhmissä jäsenten viestinnällä on keskeinen merkitys tiimi-identiteetin rakentamisessa, toteaa Anu Sivunen. Sivunen tutki väitöskirjassaan eri toimipisteisiin tai maihin hajautuneiden tiimien viestintää haastattelemalla tiimien jäseniä ja havainnoimalla heidän vuorovaikutustaan erilaisten viestintävälineiden kautta. Tiimit käyttivät hajautettuun työskentelyyn paljon sähköpostia ja puhelinta, mutta myös pikaviestimet ja erilaiset sähköiset keskustelufoorumit ovat yleistyneet selvästi. The goal of this study is to explore team members’ social interaction, communication techno…
Digital communication environments in the workplace
Digital communication environments consist of various kinds of communication technologies and collaboration platforms. These enable employees to communicate through text, audio, video, and graphics, often in an open and networked way. Complementing the popular stand-alone communication tools regularly used in workplaces, such as email and instant messaging, digital communication environments enable the sharing, editing, and storing of information publicly within the organization and sometimes externally among its stakeholders. This chapter reviews and analyzes digital communication environments as well as their affordances and constraints for communication and social interaction in the work…
Creativity and Innovation in Technology-Mediated Journalistic Work : Mapping out Enablers and Constraints
This qualitative study examines creativity and innovation in dispersed, journalistic teams. Specifically, we study the factors enabling and constraining creativity and innovation in journalistic work in technology-mediated settings and explore how technology shapes these phenomena in dispersed journalistic teams. The study is motivated by the media industry’s heightened need for creativity and innovation as well as the changing nature of working life where an increasing amount of work is done via information and communication technologies. By closely examining two journalistic teams and their idea sharing and development processes, this study finds that successful creative work and innovati…
Process studies of organizational space
The past decade has experienced an increase in the number of studies on organizational space or where work occurs. A number of these studies challenge traditional views of organizational space as a fixed, physical workspace because researchers fail to account for the spatial dynamics that they observe. New technologies, shifting employee-employer relations, and burgeoning expectations of the contemporary workforce blur boundaries between home and work, connect people and things that historically could not be linked, and extend workspaces to nearly everywhere, not just office buildings. Research on these transformations calls for incorporating movement into the physicality of work. Thus, org…
Factors influencing adjustment to remote work: Employees’ initial responses to the covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted when, where, and how employees work. Drawing on a sample of 5452 Finnish employees, this study explores the factors associated with employees’ abrupt adjustment to remote work. Specifically, this study examines structural factors (i.e., work independence and the clarity of job criteria), relational factors (i.e., interpersonal trust and social isolation), contextual factors of work (i.e., change in work location and perceived disruption), and communication dynamics (i.e., organizational communication quality and communication technology use (CTU)) as mechanisms underlying adjustment to remote work. The findings demonstrate that structural and contextual fac…
Understanding stressor-strain relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic : The role of social support, adjustment to remote work, and work-life conflict
This study investigates how the transition to remote work during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is experienced by employees. We investigate to what extent perceived work stressors relate to psychological strain through perceptions of social support, work-life conflict, and adjustment to remote work. The findings expound the mechanisms underlying psychological strain in the context of sudden organizational change. Specifically, this study shows that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have negative impact on adjustment to remote work, whereas hindrance stressors are more strongly negatively related to social support. The study further demonstrates that there is hardly any…
Organizational Media Affordances : Operationalization and Associations with Media Use
The concept of affordances has been increasingly applied to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizational contexts. However, almost no research operationalizes affordances, limiting comparisons and programmatic research. This article briefly reviews conceptualizations and possibilities of affordances in general and for media, then introduces the concept of organizational media affordances as organizational resources. Analysis of survey data from a large Nordic media organization identified six reliable and valid organizational media affordances: pervasiveness, editability, self-presentation, searchability, visibility, and awareness. Eight media scales base…
Communicating across the borders: managing work-life boundaries through communication in various domains
Communicating work issues at home and home issues at work, also known as across-the-border (ATB) communication, is a part of everyday work and family interaction. This study focuses on the concept of ATB communication, using Work/Family Border Theory, according to which the boundaries between work and private life are seen as negotiated and shaped through social interactions and practices. We argue that through ATB communication, and especially by focusing on what is shared and how, employees can manage boundaries and achieve work-life balance. Altogether, 32 informants, comprising journalists (N = 16) and their relational others (N = 16), were interviewed to investigate the role of ATB com…
Visibility in Open Workspaces : Implications for Organizational Identification
This study takes an affordance perspective to examine visibility in open workspaces and its relationship to organizational identification. Spatial visibility—the possibility for members’ behaviors to be visible to others in organizational space—was investigated in a Finnish organization following a transition to open workspace. Interview and survey data revealed that spatial visibility highlighted similarities among workers’ facilities and enhanced exposure and company branding, making attachment to the organization more salient. Visibility also afforded perceptions of inequality by exposing some workers’ space limitations and other constraints in the sociomaterial context, diminishing thei…
Investigating the impacts of team type and design on virtual team processes
While much is known about virtual team processes and outcomes, the literature relies on a variety of team configurations and types (including student versus organizational samples, short-term versus long-term teams, functional versus project-based teams, and teams with various task types) yet has not systematically examined how these differences impact team processes. This is important because much of the virtual teams research has been based on student samples, which are easier to access and control, with the implicit assumption that the findings from student samples will generalize to organizational virtual teams. This manuscript reviews the last 15 years of research on virtual teams and …
Nuoret ja viestintäteknologia : nuorten käsityksiä viestintäteknologiasta perheessä
Organizational Media Affordances: Operationalization and Associations with Media Use
The concept of affordances has been increasingly applied to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizational contexts. However, almost no research operationalizes affordances, limiting comparisons and programmatic research. This article briefly reviews conceptualizations and possibilities of affordances in general and for media, then introduces the concept of organizational media affordances as organizational resources. Analysis of survey data from a large Nordic media organization identified six reliable and valid organizational media affordances: pervasiveness, editability, self-presentation, searchability, visibility, and awareness. Eight media scales base…
How pedagogical agents communicate with students: A two-phase systematic review
Technological advancements have improved the capabilities of pedagogical agents to communicate with students. However, an increased use of pedagogical agents in learning environments calls for a deeper understanding of student–agent communication to assess the effectiveness of pedagogical agents in learning. This study is a two-phase systematic review of scientific papers on pedagogical agent communication research published between 2010 and 2020, including review papers and original research papers. In the first phase, this study analyses literature reviews and meta-analyses to find the status and research gaps. The findings indicate that pedagogical agents' characteristics and impact on l…
An analysis of fear factors predicting enterprise social media use in an era of communication visibility
PurposeThe benefits associated with visibility in organizations depend on employees' willingness to engage with technologies that utilize visible communication and make communication visible to others. Without the participation of workers, enterprise social media have limited value. This study develops a framework to assess what deters and drives employees' use of enterprise social media.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 753 employees of a global company using an online survey. The response rate was 24.5%. The authors used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized framework.FindingsThe results show that various fears by workers may deter or motivate enterprise …
Knowledge Brokering in an Era of Communication Visibility
This study presents an analysis of the extent to which enterprise social media (ESM) use enhances visibility of content (message transparency) and connections (network translucence) in organizations, and how this affects knowledge brokering. The findings support the theory of communication visibility by demonstrating that ESM use is associated with perceptions of message transparency and network translucence. Furthermore, the findings suggest that employees, regardless of their position within a network, are provided with a vision advantage and thus have the ability to engage in knowledge brokering. Future work needs to examine the impact of network characteristics on these effects. This ar…
Twitter – viestinnän vai vuorovaikutuksen alusta?
Kirja-arvostelu teoksesta: Pekka Isotalus, Jari Jussila & Janne Matikainen, 2018. Twitter viestintänä - ilmiöt ja verkostot, Vastapaino, 296 sivua. nonPeerReviewed
“I Am Your Fan; Bookmarked!” Members’ Identification Development in Founder-Led Online Communities
In this study, we present the findings from an inductive and interpretive case study of a founder-led online community (OC), exploring how members’ identification develops within the community over time. Using a longitudinal study of an OC that was founded by a reputable individual, it is shown that members were first attracted to the OC through their affective and cognitive identification with the founder; however, over time, they developed identification through social interaction with other members. The findings show that this transformation was enabled by the founder’s communication behavior, which not only led to inspired and engaged members but also to the emergence of new leaders who…
The impact of remote work and mediated communication frequency on isolation and psychological distress
A massive shift towards remote work practices has presented many organizations and employees with acute challenges associated with multi-locational work. This shift underscores the need to reconsider isolation as one of the focal challenges of organizations in an era of increasingly dispersed and mediated work practices. This study relies on a three-wave survey among Finnish workers to investigate how remote work practices and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) have impacted perceptions of isolation during the global health pandemic, and whether these relationships have an effect on psychological distress. The findings indicate that facilitating the use of ICTs may he…
Knowledge Brokering in an Era of Communication Visibility
This study presents an analysis of the extent to which enterprise social media (ESM) use enhances visibility of content (message transparency) and connections (network translucence) in organizations, and how this affects knowledge brokering. The findings support the theory of communication visibility by demonstrating that ESM use is associated with perceptions of message transparency and network translucence. Furthermore, the findings suggest that employees, regardless of their position within a network, are provided with a vision advantage and thus have the ability to engage in knowledge brokering. Future work needs to examine the impact of network characteristics on these effects. This a…
Benefits and drawbacks of communication visibility : from vicarious learning and supplemental work to knowledge reuse and overload
Purpose This study aims to examine some of the benefits and drawbacks of communication visibility. Specifically, building on communication visibility theory, the authors study how and why message transparency and network translucence may increase knowledge reuse and perceived overload through behavioral responses of vicarious learning and technology-assisted supplemental work. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on survey data obtained from 1,127 employees of a global company operating in the industrial machinery sector, the authors used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized model. Findings The results demonstrate that the two aspects of communication visibility yield somew…
Työelämän teknologiavälitteisen vuorovaikutuksen tutkimus
Uuden professorin juhlaluento, 7.12.2016, Jyväskylän yliopisto
Aiemmin omasta työstä kerrottiin työkavereille palavereissa ja kahvipöydässä : nyt työstä viestitään somessa ja etänä, ja se vaatii uusia konsteja
Etätyössä työntekijät ovat joutuneet opettelemaan uusia keinoja osoittaa sitoutumistaan työhönsä. Aiemmin sitoutuneisuutta osoitettiin istumalla työpaikalla yhdeksästä viiteen. Nyt useimmat tietotyöntekijät tekevät työtään ainakin osan aikaa viikosta etänä. Siksi on tärkeää puhua siitä, millä tavoin työntekijät viestivät työyhteisönsä muille jäsenille omasta työstään, asiantuntemuksestaan ja verkostoistaan, kirjoittaa viestinnän professori Anu Sivunen. nonPeerReviewed
Why people engage in supplemental work: The role of technology, response expectations, and communication persistence
Supported by various collaboration technologies that allow communication from any place or time, employees increasingly engage in technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW). Challenges associated with managing work and non-work time have been further complicated by a global pandemic that has altered traditional work patterns and locations. To date studies applying a TASW framework have focused mainly on individual uses of technology or connectivity behaviors, and not considered the potential team and social pressures underlying these processes. This study provides clarity on the differences between technology use and TASW and sheds light on the drivers of TASW in a work environment charac…
The dialectics of spatial performances: The interplay of tensions in activity-based organizing
Navigating organizational workspace is often plagued with tensions that emerge from the interplay of intended designs with organizational activities and lived experiences. These tensions are evident in research findings, such as inconsistencies in the ways that employees react to new workplace designs. They call on scholars to rethink organizational space, not as a concrete, static, or ready-made ‘thing’, but as a set of ongoing performances that enact particular practices, clashes among opposites, and organizational tensions. Based on research in a Nordic company, this study reveals how tensions and responses to them in an activity-based office generate creative alternatives that enhance …
Exploring the discursive construction of subgroups in global virtual teams
The global teams literature has increasingly documented challenges due to demographic faultlines. While this literature tends to assume that faultlines are fixed and produce negative outcomes for teams, organizational communication scholars have long regarded team processes as dynamic and fluid. Drawing on a CCO perspective, we offer a re-conceptualization of subgroups as dynamic and discursively constructed. This study draws on an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of two global virtual teams to examine the discursive construction of subgroups and the role they play in team dynamics. Through a multi-method analysis of a corpus of 839 emails and 16 interviews with members of two global project…
Future Directions in Workplace Communication
Various utopias and dystopias regarding the significance of human communication in the future workplace have been presented. Artificial intelligence (AI) will undoubtedly be one of the most remarkable influences on future work, and employees must prepare themselves to have social robots as coworkers. Partly as a result of the increased use of AI, various forms of self-employment will gain ground. Lifelong occupations and professions will be less common, and the value of one’s ever-evolving skills and knowledge, applicable to diverse work contexts, will consequently receive more emphasis. Knowledge work will increasingly take place in digital communication environments, and telework and othe…
Managing collapsed boundaries in global work
Global workers have long contended with the challenges of working across geographical, temporal, and cultural boundaries enabled by communication technologies. However, the global work research has rarely intersected with the literature on work–home boundary management—which has been brought to the forefront due to the forced move to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on a qualitative field study of 55 in-depth interviews with global workers from a large organization headquartered in the Nordics, we found that global workers drew on sociomaterial affordances to manage both global work and work–home boundaries through strategies of boundary support and boundary collapse. Altho…
Boundary communication: how smartphone use after hours is associated with work-life conflict and organizational identification
This study investigates how boundary communication mediates the effects of smartphone use for work after hours on work-life conflict and organizational identification. It draws upon boundary theory, work-family border theory, and a structurational view of organizational identification. The research site was a large Scandinavian company operating in the telecommunications industry, with 367 employees responding to a survey at two time periods. In contrast to many studies, the use of information and communication technologies (here, smartphones) for after-hours work was not associated with work-life conflict, but was positively associated with organizational identification. However, communica…
Teknologiavälitteinen vuorovaikutus ja identifioituminen hajautetuissa tiimeissä
Lectio praecursoria puheviestinnän väitöskirjan ”Vuorovaikutus, viestintäteknologia ja identifioituminen hajautetuissa tiimeissä” tarkastustilaisuudessa Jyväskylän yliopistossa 8.12.2007. Vastaväittäjänä tilaisuudessa oli dosentti Jukka Lipponen (Helsingin yliopisto) ja kustoksena professori Maarit Valo.
Teoreettinen kehys viestintäteknologioiden käytön hallinnasta: toimijuus ja osaaminen tietotyössä
Erilaisten viestintäteknologioiden käytöllä on keskeinen rooli tietotyöntekijöiden arjessa. Erityisesti etätyössä, kun yhteydenpito tapahtuu pääosin teknologiavälitteisesti, yksittäiset työntekijät ovat enenevässä määrin vastuussa siitä, missä, miten ja milloin työtä tehdään. Viestintäteknologioiden käyttö tuo mukanaan monia mahdollisuuksia, mutta myös haasteita, sillä esimerkiksi keskeytykset, jatkuva tavoitettavuus ja monisuorittaminen voivat olla yhteydessä lisääntyneeseen stressiin ja heijastua näin ollen hyvinvointiin. Onkin perusteltua kysyä, kuinka tietotyöntekijät hallitsevat viestintäteknologioiden käyttöään tehdäkseen siitä mahdollis…
Organizational information and communication technologies and their influence on communication visibility and perceived proximity
This study investigates the relationships between the use of various organizational ICTs, communication visibility, and perceived proximity to distant colleagues. In addition, this study examines the interplay between visibility and proximity, to determine whether visibility improves proximity, or vice versa. These relationships are tested in a global company using two waves of panel survey data. ESM use increases communication visibility and perceived proximity, while controlling for prior levels of visibility, proximity, and the use of other organizational ICTs. The influence of ESM on network translucence and perceived proximity is generally stronger than the impact of other technologie…
Enablers of and constraints on employees' information sharing on enterprise social media
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the various enablers of and constraints on employees' information sharing on an enterprise social media platform. It draws on two theoretical perspectives, communication privacy management theory and the technology affordance framework, as well as on empirical data in an attempt to paint a comprehensive picture of the factors shaping employees' decisions to share or not share information on enterprise social media.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative field study is based on semi-structured interviews and enterprise social media review data from a large Nordic media organization.FindingsOn an enterprise social media platform, privacy …