Communication and Tools

“That’s a good question: How do you communicate? … We are still figuring out what is the best way to communicate. We are growing and it’s hard to communicate all the stuff that needs to be communicated to everyone.” (Jim, 31 years old, US Stat Corp)

In discussing the role of communication and its tools in informational capitalism, my underlying thesis is that communication is important and is getting very complex in current work. Further ICT cannot be considered simply as a tool because it changes the nature of work activities. Existing theories do not capture how ICT shapes the complexity within communication today.

Jim from US Stat Corp differentiated between formal and informal communication, the latter being more important for his daily work process. He describes the standard, formal communication within his company as very organized.

For every milestone the company has some kind of formal communication. Informal communication in his company is more detailed. There is a lot of informal communication among software developers. Informal communication is according to its underlying definition not organized, but the company and more directly the employees organize some aspects of their informal communication via a technical wiki system.⁹⁰ Recently the company implemented a knowledge management system⁹¹ for the entire company that will replace the wiki system. The wiki system was predominantly used by the software developing staff, because they are familiar with the technology. The knowledge management system, which was lauded by my interview partner Jim, is addressed to the entire staff. This is an example of how the way communication is organized and the applications of ICT increasingly interact. Especially for organizing informal communication, the technological systems seemed to be supportive. Therefore, we can observe a formalization of informal communication which is based on technology.

90 A wiki system is an information system with the possibility for users to change the information. It is therefore similar to a content-management-system. It is available online, for example on the World Wide Web.

91 There is a short paragraph on knowledge management systems in chapter 6.

One important reason for the change of communication structures is the growth of US Stat Corp, where formal communication is highly complex today. This fits into the picture that will be described in more detail in chapter 6. Successful start-up companies need to implement more bureaucratic structures in order to handle their growth. The flexible aspect of organization is the interaction between informal and formal organizational structures.

I asked my interviewees to describe the role of modern ICT in their work process. In that context George differentiated between the computer and the Internet. He described the computer clearly as a tool that helps make his work more productive, convenient, and faster. The Internet, however, changes the nature of his work. With the Internet information without interaction with other people is much more available. But there are limitations in the value of the Internet:

“It is too much information available. One can be overwhelmed. You have to be selective. Just find out what information you really need to know rather than spending a lot of time browsing around to get new ideas” (George, 82 years old, US Stat Corp).

This statement by George suggests that direct communication becomes less important because the needed information is provided by the Internet. However, direct communication remains an important aspect in current work processes. Despite email, chat programs and the like the direct contact and exchange with coworkers remains important. This was confirmed by all of my interview partners. George, for example, also commented:

“The contact of coworkers is important, also we could use email and online-chatting, but it’s important to meet them, because we do different portions of a major project.” (George, 82 years old, US Stat Corp)

Another interview partner described email as a tool and emphasized that it does not replace direct communication.

“Email is a tool, but it is not a replacement for direct communication. It’s a crutch. It’s a tool. There are guys I can communicate with email very well, but with some I can’t. Some won’t understand if I say it in an email. In general, it is good to talk to people. It is important to talk to people. You can’t rely on email.”

(Tom, 53 years old, US Trad Corp)

Tom from US Trad Corp expressed how talking to people face to face remains important despite the availability of technology-based communication.

“How important is it to meet with people?”

“Oh, I think it is very important. That is one of the reasons I need to travel is because I need to spent time in front of the customer. You cannot always do

weekly conference calls and expect to maintain the relationship. You need to talk directly.”

“What about the people you work with?”

“I think if you establish a very good relationship personally, then it is easier to maintain the relationship electronically. And you have to maintain that relationship, too. So you do need physical, face-to-face contact - virtual office is nice, but the reality is: You still need a connection.” (Tom, 53 years old, US Trad Corp)

My interview partner Vivek stated that not much project work is done on the Internet. But the learning part of the work, if he needs to search for something to learn about a new technology or if he has a question, is done via the Internet. The Internet is used not only as a one way resource option, but also as two-way communication resource. Overall, the computer as well as the Internet cannot be described only as tools, but they need to be recognized as artifacts that have an impact on the nature of work.

In line with other researchers who argue that a major change within modern labor processes is due to the influence of ICT, the aspect of digitalization is most important for Micheli. He emphasizes the role of a changing communication that comes along with digitalization.

“The digitalization of the raw material of information not only implies velocity and ubiquity - characteristics of the Internet - but also a new language. We are speaking here of the field of communication, and what we find is an economic (labor) transformation linked to a communication transformation. Linking these two characteristics is one of the analytic tasks that will facilitate an understanding of the profound nature of the changes revolving around Internet technology and labor restructuring. ‘Digitalfacture’ is a labor innovation that combines the trajectories of flexibilization and changes in digital technology in the direction of its communicability. ... [W]e have demonstrated aspects of labor evolution that provide the content for the knowledge society, as well as empirical examples of digitalfacture work in which we can observe the link between flexible labor and digital competencies, and the transformation of information to knowledge”(Micheli 2002, 17).

Concerning the direct influence of ICT on labor, Micheli develops a new construct of labor referred to as digitalfacture. The technologic tools and the changing role of communication are reflected within this construct. More specifically, the restructuring of labor is noticeably connected with the development of the Internet.

Communication and its tools play a major role in this development, having direct impact on the actual activities of people engaged in the process of production.