Understanding Instant Messaging in the Workplace

摘要

In the workplace, effective communication plays a vital role. Many work tasks require communication which includes planning, organizing, motivating and controlling. Communication establishes relationship between superiors and their subordinates, and it determines the quality of relationship between colleagues. Currently, computer mediated communication such as Instant Messaging (IM) is used in complimentary to or as a replacement of e-mails to complete tasks. This paper discusses how IM has evolved and being adapted at work. Reviews conducted from previous studies show the impact and how people practice IM in workplaces to create a better communication and relationship in areas such as education, health care, business and others. Research shows that communication through IM applications can support or improve the quality of communication, work task and the relationship between colleagues. Based on the current trend of IM usage is the workplace, the paper proposes a qualitative method to study WhatsApp mobile application usage in the workplace. This approach will be used to observe how IM is adapted in WhatsApp group conversation in the workplace. The goal of this proposed study is to observe the use of WhatsApp at work using the existing framework, develop an IM usage model at the workplace and test and validate the IM model to make it more workplace-friendly that encourages to full implementation as a medium of communication in the workplace.