Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

What is different about human communication in business organizations when it takes place via the new communication technologies like electronic mail? The most distinctive quality of these new technologies is that they are interactive in nature, in that they allow the participants in a communication process to have control over, and exchange roles in, their mutual discourse. Interactive commu nication technologies usually spread among the members of a system rather slowly until a critical mass of adopters is reached, as the case of Internet illus trates. After the critical mass occurred, the rate of adoption of Internet took off suddenly. Interactive communication provides a relatively high degree of flexi bility, which in turn allows the user to have a high degree of control over the technology and the communication that takes place via the new interactive technologies.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barker, J.R. (1993). Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 408-437.

Contractor, N.S. , & Eisenberg, E.M. (1990). Communication networks and new media in organizations. In J. Fulk & C. Steinfield (Eds.), Organizations and Communication Technology (pp. 143-172). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Fulk, J. , Schmitz, J. , & Steinfield, C.W. (1990). A social influence model of technology use. In J. Fulk & C. Steinfield (Eds.), Organizations and Communication Technology (pp. 143-172). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Granovetter, M.S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Sociological Review, 78, 1360-1380.

Greengard, S. (1994). Making the virtual office a reality. Personnel Journal, 73(9): 66-77.

Innis, H. (1951). The Bias of Communication. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.

Leslie, J. (1994, March). Mail bonding: E-mail is creating a new oral culture. Wired, 42-48.

Pappa, W.H. , & Pappa, M.J. (1992). Communication network patterns and the re-invention of new technology. Journal of Business Communication, 29, 41-61.

Rafaeli, S. , Sudweeks, F. , & McLaughlin, M. (Eds.). (in press). Networks and netplay: Virtual groups on the internet. Cambridge, MA: AAAI/MIT Press.

10.

Reardon, K.K. , & Rogers, E.M. (1988). Interpersonal versus mass media communication: A false dichotomy. Human Communication Research, 15, 284-303.

11.

Rice, R.E. , & Love, G. , (1987). Electronic emotion: socioemotional content in a computer-mediated communication network. Communication Research , 14, 85-108.

12.

Rice, R.E. (1989). Issues and concepts on computer-mediated communication systems. In J. A. Anderson (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 12 (pp. 436-476). Newburry Park, CA: Sage.

13.

Rice, R.E. , & Danowski, J.A. (1993). Is it really just like a fancy answering machine? Comparing semantic networks of different types of voice mail users. Journal of Business Communication, 30, 369-397.

14.

Rogers, E.M. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press.

15.

Rogers, E.M. (1986). Communication Technology: The New Media in Society . New York: Free Press.

16.

Rogers, E.M. , Collins-Jarvis, L. , & Schmitz, J. (1994). The PEN project in Santa Monica: Interactive communication, equality, and political action. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45(6), 1-10.

17.

Rogers, E.M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). New York: Free Press

18.

Schmitz, J. , Rogers, E.M. , Phillips, K. , & Paschal, D. (in press). The Public Electronic Network (PEN) and the homeless in Santa Monica. Journal of Applied Communication Research.

19.

Seabrook, J. (1994, January). A reporter at large: E-Mail from Bill . The New Yorker, pp. 48-61.

20.

Sproull, L. , & Kiesler, S. (1991, September). Computers, networks and work. Scientific American, 116-123.

21.

Sproull, S. , & Kiesler, S. (1992). Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

22.

Williams, F. , Rice, R.E. , & Rogers, E.M. (1988). Research Methods and the New Media. New York: Free Press.

Interactive Communication Technologies in Business Organizations

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References