This article from business week describes how you can employ the same leadership practices you use at home to the workplace. It discusses how kids obsession with technology distracts them from what really needs to be done and offers them some instant gratification which is analogous to employees constantly checking email and so on. The article says that leaders most model the behavior they want from their employees. Sometimes it is necessary to turn off all electronics to deeply focus on what one is doing. Leaders need to set an example and show employees that your best work is done when you shut everything off and can concentrate uninterrupted for a period of time.
Farah
Interesting article. I agree that leaders in the home and the office must lead by example but in the internet age the examples we seek to set are very different in those two locations. In the office we want to portray efficiency and dedication (which often corresponds with endless hours of email checking and internet usage) and at home we want to teach our children how to interact with other individuals and engage their minds sans technology. In addition I do wonder if the internet and email as distractions in the workplace have simply replaced "the water cooler". The term procrastination did not appear in conjuntion with the internet. In the past, when an employee wanted to avoid a task they would take a walk to the water cooler and engage in discussions with a colleague. With the advent of the internet, employees can now appear to be furiously working when they are simply instant messaging their friends or searching for a new dress for their Saturday night out. While I do believe that technology has altered the way in which we do business and has made children of the internet generation expect instant gratification in all aspects of life, I'm not so sure that it has impacted employees as much. I think it may have just altered the way in which we avoid our work.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Talty
You make a very good point. People who are easily distracted will find a way to be distracted no matter what. However, I do think that such easy access to distractions can increase ones amount of procrastination. I associate the idea with that of going to the library to study. Most people who go to the library to study are looking for a way to minimize distractions, such as tv. They are also looking for a way to be around others who are being studious. Although, the very idea of what the library is for has now been compromised by the computer too.
ReplyDeleteFarah
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ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. While it is important to note the age difference and goals with each group, I can see why they are being compared. The point of the article is to set an example for your employees just as you would set them for your kids.
ReplyDeleteI can speak for myself that the Internet interrupts a lot of my work. Even the times that I tell myself "Angie, for the next hour you will not check your gmail.” It doesn't necessarily work. If you walk around my office and peek into managers’ workspaces most of them are doing their own version of “gmail-ing”. Some play solitaire, others work on the New York Times crossword puzzle, and most are watching You Tube videos. This is not to say that we all don’t need a little distraction but researchers say that the best way to break up your workday is by getting up and walking around. Maybe the real question is why work is so unstimulating? I suppose it is inevitable considering a lot of may not necessarily enjoy their work.
If I had to make suggestions to a manager that sees this as an issue at his workplace I would say that he should meet with all staff and hold an informal session on ways to simplify your workday with suggestions similar to these. I think a meeting like this will get the message across that he may be noticing unpleasant habits in the workplace using the human resources frame. His research for this informal meeting addresses his own frustrations with his distractions as well as offers an understanding in regards to his employees. Friends tell me that their managers handled their Internet distraction in a way I classify under the political frame which is to cut the Internet altogether.
--Angie
I would have to agree with Angie. Some time ago, I saw a news article that addressed the amount of distractions related to internet usage during the workplace. According to the news station (which I can not remember what it was at the present moment), a study had been done with one group having their internet usage completely blocked, while the other group had unrestricted use of their internet capabilities. The organization conducting the study found that even though the group that had their internet restricted at their workplace had completed more work assignments than their counterparts, they also resulted in suffering from more work-related stress than the group that had the ability to surf the web while at work. If you all remember when discussing the Human Resource frame, Chris Argyris stated that work-related frustrations can lead to discontentment at work, upon which employees would start to withdraw--physically or psychologically, resist, form alliances, and of course, case in point, teach their children to believe that work is unrewarding and that hopes for advancement are slim. At the end of the day, children are going to learn from our daily actions and routine. I would much rather prefer they learn to love what they are doing (regardless of the technological distractions) than to hate and stress over work assignments.
ReplyDelete~Janet Echeverry
Nucleus Research wrote a report about Facebooking at work and its impact on employees' performance. Some interesting findings are provided:
ReplyDeletehttp://nucleusresearch.com/research/notes-and-reports/facebook-measuring-the-cost-to-business-of-social-notworking/
* Percentage of workers with a Facebook account: 77%
* Percentage of total workforce accessing Facebook
at work: 47%
* One in every 33 workers built their entire Facebook profile during work.
But;
The average company allowing access to Facebook loses 1.5 percent of total
employee productivity across the organization.
Although Nucleus recommends that companies evaluate their Facebook policy and the
cost to the organization in allowing access to Facebook to avoid this 1.5 percent loss in productivity, I agree with Janet, it would result some lack of motivation -which is not as easy to measure as it is to calculate the minutes that each person is not actually working but having a break from work.
Isil