Introduction to Digital Work

Lecture 6 - Digital work in teams

Communication

Introduction to Digital Work
Introduction to Digital Work

Learning objectives:

  • Explain the selection of appropriate communication technologies based on media synchronicity theory
  • Describe the role of situational awareness in communication settings
  • Appreciate different facets and practical consideration related to communication in teams
Introduction to Digital Work

GitLab: work where you want, when you want

Read the case of Choudhury et al. (2020) and answer the following questions:

  • What are the main challenges that need to be addressed in all-remote companies?
  • What are the key organizing principles at GitLab?
  • What are the boundary conditions for all-remote approaches?
Introduction to Digital Work

Communication and media selection

Key question: which communication media are the most effective ones, or should be selected for a task at hand?

Media richness theory (Daft and Lengel, 1986):

  • Communication is essential in organizational information processing to reduce uncertainty and equivocality.
  • Communication media differ in richness, e.g., video calls transmit richer information including gestures and body language.
  • Richer communication media are generally more effective for communicating equivocal issues in contrast with leaner media.

Media synchronicity theory (Dennis et al. 2008)

  • There are different communication tasks:
    • Conveyance refers to the transmission of information.
    • Convergence refers to the process of mutually agreeing on the meaning of information.
  • Communication media differ in their ability to support synchronicity, depending on their transmission or processing capabilities.
  • Communiation performance, essentially, depends on the fit between communication processes, media synchronicity, and appropriation factors.
Introduction to Digital Work

Communication processes and characteristics

center

Introduction to Digital Work

Communication system and media capabilities

center

Introduction to Digital Work

Media synchronicity theory (MST)

center

Introduction to Digital Work

MST: examples and application

  1. Shared whiteboard in videoconferences: how does it change the media capabilities?
  2. It was a misunderstanding, but one that escalated quickly. Why can asynchronous textual communication (such as email or chat) be problematic in such settings?
  3. When sending out invitations to the weekly video-conference, your colleague emphasizes that he looks forward to seeing you in the call, and greets participants who share their video with a "nice to see you". Do you see any connections to MST?
  4. Take a minute to review the features offered by the Zoom AI assistant. How do they relate to MST?
  5. Consider a setting in which you would like to help your colleague with a challenging programming task. Your colleague works remotely. Which technologies would you select, and how could your choice be connected to MST?
Introduction to Digital Work

Communication and situational awareness

Endsley's cognitive model of situational awareness provides a useful framework to think about communication.

Situational awareness involves three levels:

  • Perception of data and elements of the environment (communication partners)
  • Comprehension of the meaning and significance of the situation (communication goals)
  • Projection of future states and events (potential communication outcomes)

Decisions and actions (related to communication) create a feedback loop, affecting communication partners, and awareness of changing situations over time.

Introduction to Digital Work

center

Introduction to Digital Work

Situational awareness: examples

Examples of situational awareness in practice:

  • "At what times do you focus, at what times are you available for calls?"
  • "Are you green?"
  • "You have been quiet. What is your view on the issue?"
Introduction to Digital Work

Practice: Communication at GitLab

Take a few minutes to examine the communication section in GitLab's handbook and take notes on

  • The different communication settings
  • Best practices (potential challenges to keep in mind)

Major items to cover:

Additional items (select the ones you are most interested in):

Introduction to Digital Work

Summary

  • Discussed media selection and synchronicity
  • Covered the role of situational awareness in communication settings
  • Considered different facets and practical consideration related to communication in teams
Introduction to Digital Work

References

Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design. Management Science, 32(5), 554-571. doi:10.1287/mnsc.32.5.554

Dennis, A. R., Fuller, R. M., & Valacich, J. S. (2008). Media, tasks, and communication processes: A theory of media synchronicity. MIS Quarterly, 32(3), 575-600. doi:10.2307/25148857

Endsley, M. R. (1995). Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors, 37(1), 32-64. doi: 10.1518/001872095779049543

Moorman, C. and Hinkfuss, K. (2023). Managing the cultural pitfalls of hybrid work. MIT Sloan Management Review. link

(e.g., conflict, interruption, inclusion). - Distinguish synchronous from asynchronous communication settings. / Distinguish forms of synchronous and asynchronous collaborative content creation and select appropriate technologies.

--- # Break

https://is.theorizeit.org/wiki/Media_synchronicity_theory

don't start with media richness theory (maybe a bit too challenging/differences to MST are more difficult to understand) Task: too broad -> MST: communication processes at a micro-level Media synchronicity theory (Dennis, Fuller, and Valacich, 2006): - An influential theory in IS (citations, best paper awards) - The theory explains communication (and task) performance based on the fit between media synchronicity, communication processe, and appropriation factors **TODO : start with the fit aspect** [[DennisFullerValacich2006]]

# MST: Communication processes - Introduce the elements step-by-step: - Communication processes: conveyance vs. convergence, which are more specific/smaller than tasks (MRT). also distinguish transmission from processing # MST: Media synchronicity - Media synchronicity: synchronous vs. asynchronous (definition) # MST: Media synchronicity requirements - Media synchronicity requirements for different communication processess (table 1, proposition P1) -> importance of **fit** # MST: Appropriation factors - Appropriation factors (**fit**) # MST: Examples I - **TODO : short exercise for the main concepts (communication processes, media synchronicity, appropriation factors, fit and communcation performance)** # MST: Media characteristics - Media characteristics: transmission and processing capabilities: construct figure 2 step-by-step (starting with the simple sender - medium - receiver model and then adding the different elements) # MST: Examples II - TODO : exercise: rate different communication media... # MST: Summary - refer back to HwangKettingerYi2015 and point out that DennisFullerValacich2006 stop at the hypothesis generation step (no empirical study) - Derive implications - TODO : application / exercise (short descriptions of scenarios, such as a team rejecting a certain application) - TODO : collect and discuss best practices (e.g., signalling availability - are you red/orange/green?) / analyze based on MST (?) / don't cover conflict etc. too much - they are in lecture 7 https://convergencelabs.com/blog/2018/01/the-four-cs-communication-coordination-cooperation-and-collaboration/ https://coachbetter.tv/the-difference-between-communication-cooperation-coordination-collaboration/ # Homework Read [external communication](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#external-communication)

whiteboard: expands the symbol set, e.g., allowing participants to develop sketches or mathematical models. also increases parallelism (audio, video of participants, and video of whiteboard) Video: increase symbol set (visual cues, gestures, reactions) - especially when meetings aim to converge on particular items. Appropriation factors: familiar with the challenges, perhaps even trained to increase video-use, could be due to past experiences, or even norms in the team or organization. AI assistant: several features to transcribe, summarize, or sub-title meetings - improves reprocessability (during and after the meeting) coding: Convergence requires high synchronicity, especially wrt. the symbol set of collaborative coding (synchronous) - e.g., [Visual Studio Live Share](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/de/services/live-share/) https://www.zoom.com/en/products/collaboration-tools/features/

What can the communication outcomes be? e.g., reduce ambiguity, rally support for a project, foster inclusion and trust, discover private information, make decisions, prevent and resolve conflicts Individual and task/environment factors at play (stress/complexity/technology) Key message: - Communication media and practices should be adapted to the situtation (many facets to consider, many potential outcomes to anticipate) - Theories of fit may be particularly suitable, as exemplified by Media Synchronicity Theory propositions...

- we have a short explanation video for that - should we reschedule? should I brief you after the meeting?

In small groups (2-3),

https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#smart-note-taking-in-meetings https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#types-of-meetings

Homework: read the product-development workflow in the gitlab handbook # Exercise and homework Preparation: do a git tutorial (provide short/longer and interactive ones) - be prepared for the in-depth session next week (have your questions ready) # Materials - [ ] TODO check: Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success TBD: communities-of-practice (e.g., wikipedia on CSCW: awareness) alternative exercise: TBD: maybe give students 2-3 cases, have brief discussion, have them read different papers (MRT,MST,interruptions,conflict,team-leadership,learning/onboarding), and then discuss the cases from the perspective of different theories Note: possible extensions: - zoom-fatigue (what are the different forms of labor that make videoconferences exhausting?) - Virtual impression management: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01492063231225160