Chapter seven explores online communication's impact upon corporate culture. While some commentators decry the collapse of an internet "bubble," there is little doubt company practices have irrevocably changed in the wake of networked communications. The authors begin by discussing the role of online communication in corporate discipline, focusing on surveillance and anticipatory conformity on the part of employees along with computer-based research on customer buying habits. The authors then shift to the potential of online communication to increase the amount of innovation in corporate environments. How might computer networks enable workers and managers to communicate new ideas through various channels over time in a social system more efficiently? The chapter concludes with discussion about the instability of online communication meccas and posits four factors necessary for them to endure.

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In this two-day classroom activity, provide students a chance to debate an emerging workplace issue - the use of online surveillance. On the first day, discuss workplace surveillance techniques and anticipatory conformity. Toward the end of the day, invite individual students to collect at least two pieces of research on corporations' use of computer technology to keep an eye on their workers. If possible, point your students to an online full text database like Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe. At the end of class, ask students to consider the following scenario:

Managers at Compu-Global-Hyper-Meganet (a company created by Homer in season nine of the Fox animated series, The Simpsons) are worried that workers are spending too much time at their desks using their corporate internet connections for personal reasons - playing online games, participating in internet auctions, and viewing material that is inappropriate for an office. Responding to this perceived threat to company discipline, management has installed software which records every Internet site visited from their computers, sending a weekly summary of employee web surfing habits. Representatives of the company's labor force respond that this software is invasive, that employee web habits cannot easily be defined as "appropriate" or "inappropriate," and that the system is rife with potential abuse on the part of management. To avoid a confrontation, both sides have agreed to argue their dispute before an impartial jury whose decision will be final. The terms of their debate: Corporate surveillance of employee web surfing habits is an acceptable management practice.

Divide the class into three groups: one is "labor," the second is "management," and the third is "jury." Prior to the next classroom meeting, students representing labor and management should conduct research to bolster their cases and work together via a chatroom or physical meeting to coordinate their cases. Individual members of the jury should craft one-page summaries of their initial response to the scenario. On the next class meeting day, organize the "hearing" in the following manner. Flip a coin to determine order of speakers and then offer opening statements with opportunities for cross-examination, rebuttal statements with opportunities for cross-examination, and closing remarks. If management were speaking first, you might organize the hearing in the following manner:

Management Opening Statements	4-6 minutes
Labor Cross-examination	3 minutes
Labor Opening Statements	4-6 minutes
Management Cross-examination	3 minutes
Preparation Time for both teams	4 minutes
Management Rebuttal	4-6 minutes
Labor Cross-examination	3 minutes
Labor Rebuttal	4-6 minutes
Management Cross-examination	3 minutes
Preparation Time for both teams	4 minutes
Management Closing Remarks	4-5 minutes
Labor Closing Remarks	4-5 minutes

 

Naturally, you may wish to alter some of the time limits, require that the team speaking first also provide the last closing remarks, or alter the scenario in some other way. However, you choose to structure the hearing, you may wish to consider the following guidelines:

(1) Participants should structure their opening remarks along three to five specific and easily summarized points that speak directly to the point in dispute (in this case: Corporate surveillance of employee web surfing habits is an acceptable management practice.)

(2) Judges should privilege arguments supported by specific and credible oral citations of evidence.

(3) Cross-examination is designed to ask questions about inconsistencies or weaknesses in statements. It can also set up questions whose answers may be exploited in forthcoming interactions.

(4) Rebuttals are designed to bolster initial cases that have been damaged through cross-examination and may be employed to add new evidence.

(5) Closing Remarks are not appropriate times for new evidence. They are meant to allow teams to restate and reaffirm their cases.

(6) Regardless of the size of the teams, each member should participate in data collection and oral presentation, even if only asking a question in cross-examination.

After the hearing, allow the jury five minutes to discuss the case and reach a verdict. Each should affix their response (for management or for labor) on a small piece of paper. Collect the responses and announce the verdict. Invite jury members to speak briefly on their findings and upon which arguments affirmed or challenged their initial written responses to the scenario.

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Download a PowerPoint slideshow for this chapter

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To request sample test questions, contact Matthew Smith at <msmith@wittenberg.edu>. [Instructors only. Proof of institutional affiliation will be required.]

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Chaplin, C. (Director). (1936). Modern Times [Film]. Hollywood, CA: United Artists.

This is a film whose timeless humor speaks profoundly about the power of technology to alter the lives of its users. The movie is most notable for the scenes depicting Chaplin as a factory worker who leaves his assembly line for a restroom break. Exiting the factory floor, he's unable to cease the herky-jerky motions implanted within him by the machine. Finally, enjoying some solitude in the bathroom, Chaplin's boss appears on a tele-screen and warns him to get back to work. Devoid of modern effects, Modern Times still manages to speak to contemporary viewers through its all-too-human protagonist and iconic imagery. 

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