Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, recently commented
about the use of new communication channels. He specifically
mentioned the use of social networking and the growing importance
of Web 2.0 tools:
As my kids became teenagers, I started looking at Facebook a
little more closely. It was a significant amount of collaboration.
There was open understanding. They didn’t have a problem
sharing their status. Nothing seemed to be secret, and they were
living their lives very openly, and friends were commenting on
each other and it was working. Here is my generation, which is
very security-conscious and privacy-conscious, and I thought,
what are the differences? This is the generation coming to work
for us. It’s not my generation. So we started having people
make their presentations and record them for our internal website.
We open that for review to a 360-degree workshop, which
means your subordinates will review it. Your managers will
read it. Your peers will read it, and everybody will comment
on it. I will be, or your manager will be, one of the many who
read it. So, every presentation was reviewed by 300, 400 people.
What happened? There were two very interesting lessons
that I learned. One, because your subordinates are going to see
the plan, you cannot lie. You have to be honest. Two, because
your peers are going to see it, you are going to put your best
work into it. Third, you didn’t learn from me. You learned by
reviewing somebody else’s presentation. You learned from the
comments somebody else gave you. For the 8,000 people who
participated, there was a massive collaborative learning that
took place.25
Based on Nayar’s comments and your own experiences, answer the
following questions:
A. What are the potential personal and group benefits from using
Web 2.0 communication channels?
B. What are some of the differing attitudes between generations
about online expression? What impact might these differences
have on workplace communication?
C. In what ways do online communications lead to more honesty
and higher-quality work?
D. In what ways might online communications lead to less honesty
and lower-quality work?
“8.3 Social Media, Online Expression and Collaboration” case on page 260 of your textbook.
Instructions:
The following sections should be included. You may add other sections, if needed. Be sure to use subheadings to help your reader navigate your report.
This is not a term paper. This case will test your critical thinking skills.
Introduction – Briefly describe the communication issue and give some background information about what happened. State the important details about Nayar’s comments.
Questions – Answer each of the 4 questions under the Nayar case. Letter each one for clarity A, B, C, D.
Conclusion –Write a brief conclusion about what you learned reading this issue. You may state your opinion of this case also.
Style: No format style is required. Critical thinking is the goal in these case studies. Write this as a simple business report with a diverse target audience of staff, employees, clients, potential customers, etc.
The final draft of the Case Study Report should be a minimum of 750 -1,000 words in length. Each Report should not be a simple summary of the case. The focus of the report should be an analysis of the issues and recommendations that are grounded in organizational communication theory
