1. Using IM at Workplace MWAIS May 18-19 2007 Wyatt Ditzler, Brian Stillfield, and Te-Wei Wang University of Illinois at Springfield

2. The Objectives Learn more about the Role of IM at workplace. What are the adoption patterns of IM at workplace? What are the

3. IM History and Distinct Characteristics Instant Messaging Services Zephyr (a protocol) from MIT (1988) ICQ (1990) AIM Yahoo Messenger Windows Live Messenger Skype Special Characteristics (Compared to other communication technologies) Near-Synchronous communication Presence awareness

4. The Trend of IM: Integration What can IM do today? Video Conferencing Voice over IP File Exchange/Sharing Photo Exchange Online Gaming Integration With Cell Phone With Blog Twitter

5. Using IM in Workplace 90% of large US organizations using IM (Osterman, 2003) Enterprise IM systems are usually used (not the public IM services). A communication tool (Vos et al., 2004) Not a main tool Clarification Coordination & Scheduling Informal meetings Socializing

6. Advantages IM Control over interruption compared to Phone and Face-to-face coversation. No sense of obligation to respond Ignorance is not an offense Opportunity for multi-tasking communication Enhanced Social Connection among Co- Workers (Presence Awareness) Cost saving in communication

7. What Promote IM Usage (Adoption)? Official Introduction of IM by the organization. (De Vos et al., 2004) Experience of IM use in the pass. Perception of Usefulness Low Self-Efficacy leads to less use of IM Peer Pressure from co-worker.

8. Conflict with Other Communication Methods Conflict 1 IM is not and will not substitute other communication methods at workplace. (De Vos et al., 2003) IM reduced the use of other forma of communications including e-mail, voicemail, telephone, teleconference, pager and face to face. (Muller et al., 2003) Conflict 2 Use of IM tend to switch to other form of communication in the middle of IM conversation. (De Vos et al. 2003) Use of IM does not usually lead to other form of communication ((Isaacs et al, 2002) Interesting Fact: at workplace, IM is less used for social talk. Work-related issue is the main topic

9. Validation Through Examples We want to verify the advantages and perceived benefit of IM. We want to further explore the conflicts in the literature. Online Survey is used Two organizations A Software Development Firm A middle school

10. Demographics CategoryCountPercentage Sex Male1130.6 Female2569.4 Total36100 Age 18-2538.3 26-30822.2 31-35513.9 36-4038.3 41-45411.1 46-50719.4 51-55411.1 56-6025.6

11. IM Usages CategoryCountPercentage IM Software Used AOL Instant Messenger1850.0 Yahoo! Messenger513.9 MSN Messenger1747.2 Gaim00 Trillian00 ICQ00 Other*12.8 *Windows Messenger12.8 IM Software Uses Text Messaging3494.4 Video Conferencing38.3 Audio/Video Communication411.1 File Transfer513.9 White board38.3 Screen Sharing12.8 Other00

12. Presence Awareness CategoryResultCountPercentage Use IM to see if colleague is at workYes2775 No925 If colleague is present do you…IM them1747.2 Telephone them25.6 Meet face-to-face00 E-mail them25.6 Depends on what needs to be communicated 1438.9

13. IM Affect other Communication Methods CategoryResultCountPercentage When IM is available I use the telephoneLess often2160.0 More often13.0 IM has no impact on telephone use 1337.0 When IM is available I use face-to-face conversations Less often1233.3 More often12.8 IM has no impact on face- to-face conversations 2363.9 When IM is available I use e-mailLess often2060.0 More often00.0 IM has no impact1540.0

14. Reasons of Using IM CategoryResponseCountPercentage Use IM software to… Get a quick response3288.9 Socialize1541.7 Schedule impromptu meetings1233.3 Avoid the telephone1438.9 Avoid face-to-face conversation 616.7 Get answers to simple questions 2877.8 Discuss detailed work items822.2

15. Multi-Tasking? CategoryResponseCountPercentage While using IM software I also… Have instant messaging conversations with others 2261.1 Have telephone conversations with others1233.3 Have face-to-face conversations with others925.0 Perform other work2980.6

16. IM User Feeling CategoryResponseCountPercentag e How do you feel when you do NOT receive a reply Indifferent1748.6 Slightly Annoyed1337.1 Annoyed411.4 Greatly Annoyed12.9 Do you feel obligated to respond to messagesYes2877.8 No822.2

17. IM Distract Work? CategoryResponseCountPercentage How often do you feel distracted from work by instant messaging Never616.7 Infrequent2158.3 Somewhat freque ntly 616.7 Frequently38.3

18. IM & Work Performance CategoryRespons e Coun t Percenta ge Overall, do you believe instant messaging is an effective means of communication? Yes3391.7 No38.3 Overall, do you believe instant messaging makes you more productive? Yes2261.1 No1438.9 Is instant messaging essential to performing your jobYes925.0 No2775.0

19. Observations Most findings from literature are consistent with this study. Presence Awareness is essential reason of using IM. IM does have substitute effect on other communication methods. IM does promote multi-tasking Users do have bad feeling if messages are not replied. User also feel obligate to reply.

20. Future Study Identify possible theories to support the finding in previous slides. Larger sample, more rigorous methods should be used for future study. Thank you.