Communication Technologies in Corporate Settings

Over the past three decades, computing has become integral to the operation of nearly all large organizations. Communication among employees is one of the many areas where computing technologies have introduced significant change-change that scholarly research is just beginning to assess. The workplace of the late twentieth century offers employees a bewildering selection of communications media. Beside face-to-face communication in meetings, cafeterias, and hallways, beside ubiquitous paper-memos, status reports, company newsletters, policy statements, etc.employees can select among many different communication technologies, some well-established, some in the process of emerging. This essay examines the variety of these communication technologies, provides a brief overview of current research, and offers questions for further exploration. I also offer a perspective based on personal experience gained as a product manager for networking products for NCR Corporation and as a computer industry consultant. While I devote the most space to computer networks-as a case in point for the theoretical and research issues that surround all of these communications technologies-also included are discussions on voice mail, fax, hypermedia, and several &dquo;new&dquo; technologies. In keeping with one theme of this special issue, I have emphasized the social or cultural implications of these technologies.

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