Introducing instant messaging and chat in the workplace

Abstract

We report on our experiences of introducing an instant messaging and group chat application into geographically distributed workgroups. We describe a number of issues we encountered, including privacy concerns, individual versus group training, and focusing on teams or individuals. The perception of the tool's utility was a complex issue, depending both on users' views of the importance of informal communication, and their perceptions of the nature of cross-site communication issues. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of critical mass, which is related to the features each user actually uses. More generally, we encountered a dilemma that imposes serious challenges for user-centered design of groupware systems.

Understanding the Determinants of User Acceptance of Enterprise Instant Messaging: An Empirical Study

“…Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Prior research [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] have identified the key features of IM as follows: (1) presence awareness, (2) immediate closed loop communication, (3) multi-party collaboration, (4) anytime, anywhere access, (5) opportunistic interaction, (6) broadcasting of information or questions, (7) negotiation of availability for interaction, (8) within-medium polychromic communication, (9) ''pop-up'' recipient notification, (10) silent interactivity, and (11) ephemeral transcripts. These unique characteristics make IM a powerful new tool for business communication by means of revamping employee productivity and efficiency in the workplace, even though IM is somewhat similar to email and the telephone in terms of text-based communication and interactivity and intrusiveness, respectively.…”

“…Consequently, EIM has become a core competency in which enterprises are willing to invest. As the current IM-related research is generally investigated with concentration on PIMrelated issues, such as gender for college students [21,22], workplace [11,13,14,21,23], teen life [4], and information security and monitoring [24,25], there is little research focused on EIM adoption in the workplace. Therefore, this research endeavors to contribute to the IS community by employing a variety of theoretic lenses to understand the EIM adoption in enterprises.…”

Privacy Considerations in Awareness Systems: Designing with Privacy in Mind

“…Lee et al [Lee, Girgensohn et al 1997] suggest that in addition to the need for privacy control users also desire a lightweight mechanism to address it. As Herbsleb et al [Herbsleb, Atkins et al 2002] discovered, the lack of such mechanisms increases setup time. Grinter and Palen [2002] illustrate (albeit with teenagers) that users adapt system capabilities to their own ends.…”

“…For instance, Lee et al [Lee, Girgensohn et al 1997] found that when privacy was desired, users of their Portholes video system preferred to simply turn their cameras off since fiddling with other privacy options, such as blurring the video, was too cumbersome. Herbsleb et al [Herbsleb, Atkins et al 2002] found it difficult to attain substantial usage of their chat system due to the fact that its default settings were too private. The system imposed significant initial setup efforts on its users to be able to provide awareness benefits.…”

Local Virtuality in an Organization: Implications for Community of Practice

“…Thus, while message-media fit theory is not refuted by the observations at KME, it needs to be expanded to include other relevant dimensions. 24 In many organizations employees are now collaborating via IM, either as a complement to email or a replacement Herbsleb, Atkins, Boyer, Handel, & Finholt, 2002;Poe, 2001). …”