Many people, from teens to their 40s, work and play virtually while being accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social networking websites.
How Texting Savvy Are You? (answers below)
Subject: JM2C
Message: BON NALOPKT John sees this as a CLM.
DAMHIKT
SOTMG
Sally
The question is: How much work can "hyper-socializing" employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with others via text-messaging or obsessively checking social networking sites?
The answer is: They can accomplish a great deal in today's 24/7 virtual environment. The Gen Xs and Ys have a gift for multitasking (because they have integrated technology into their lives) and now have the ability to remain connected to each other and thus serve themselves and their employers well.
While older colleagues waste time holding meetings or engaging in long phone conversations, technically savvy Gen X and Y people have an ability to sum things up in one-sentence text messages. "They know how to optimize and prioritize. They will call or set up a meeting if it's needed. If not, they text," says Ben Bajarin, 32, a technology analyst at Creative Strategies, a consulting firm in Campbell, CA.
Younger workers spend more time than older workers socializing via their devices or entertaining themselves online. In a 2008 survey for Salary.com, 53% of those under age 24 said this was their primary "time wasting" activity while at work, compared to just 34% for those between ages 41 and 65. However, older worker managers are being advised by consultants to accept the changed dynamics, so long as young employees are doing good work and meeting deadlines.
As the Gen Y generation now enters the work force, managers must adjust to the new ways they socialize and communicate. For instance, past generations accepted that corporations were hierarchical. There were supervisors, managers and senior managers, and you communicated your questions to your immediate superior. Unfortunately, this takes time and delays decision making. Group meetings to engineer consensus consume time and interrupt the normal flow of person-to-person work relationship communication that is necessary to get things done.
"Young people today want accessibility," says 41-year-old Holly Gallagher, a human resources manager. "If they have a problem or suggestion, they'll email or text senior managers, or even the CEO. They don't have the old-school notion that there are appropriate communication models. They've grown up in a freedom-of-information era."
Actually, the constant text messaging among today's teens can serve as good preparation for workplace interactions. "In a lot of corporations, if something goes wrong, it's because so-and-so didn't talk to so-and-so." Ms. Gallagher says. "But with young people, simultaneous conversations are always happening. This reduces the chances of not reaching success because the right people didn't connect."
Perhaps, it is time to revise the old corporate hierarchical structure and provide texting language classes to older employees in order to grease the skids of communication between individuals and teams of people at work...
Source: Moving On, The Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2009
Answers to your texting savvy message above:
JM2C - Just my 2 cents, BON - Believe it or not, NALOPKT - Not a lot of people know that, CLM - Career limiting move, DAMHIKT - Don;t ask me how I know that, SOTMG - Short on time, must go