Workplace Messaging and Texting

Instant messaging (IM) and texting have become powerful communication tools. Both are used to quickly exchange short messages and can be sent by handheld devices. Understanding the proper protocol for IM and texting in the workplace will increase your professional credibility and improve your communication.

IM allows you to (with e-mail/ asynchronously/ in real time?) and is like a (memo/text telephone call?).

Consider the scenario, and then answer the question.

Your supervisor is considering allowing you and your coworkers to use IM. He is interested in how IM works and asks you to identify the benefits of using IM in the workplace.

What benefits will you mention to your supervisor? Check all that apply.

IM allows for the speedy recovery of lost documents.

IM enables real-time communication anywhere in the world.

IM is a convenient alternative to the telephone.

Instant messaging and texting can save time and simplify communication with coworkers and customers. Before using either on the job, however, be sure you have permission. If your organization does allow IM or texting, you should follow best practice guidelines.

Which option is the best practice to avoid security issues?

Respect receivers by using good grammar and proper spelling.

Make yourself unavailable when you need to complete a project or meet a deadline.

Do not send confidential or sensitive information via IM or text.

Read the following scenario, and answer the question.

Jeanne is one of two employees of the same name at her company. One day while she is talking to her supervisor, she receives a text message that she knows is not meant for her but for her colleague of the same name. The message asks her whether she thinks her team is ready to move forward with a new design project. She stops the conversation with her supervisor to respond to the message with the following text: "I don't really know, but my guess is that the team needs to further analyze the project before moving forward." She then resumes her conversation with her supervisor.

A few minutes later, Jeanne sees that she has not received a response to her message, so she sends another message that says, "Hello? Did you get my response?"

Which texting guidelines does Jeanne ignore in this situation? Check all that apply.

Don’t use text messages to notify others of sad news or sensitive business matters.

Alert the sender when the sender has sent you a message by mistake.

Don’t text in inappropriate situations.

Don’t expect an instant reply.

The questions are in three parts, so I will group them accordingly and only write out the checked answers.

Part 1: What benefits will you mention to your supervisor? Check all that apply.

IM enables real-time communication anywhere in the world

IM is a convenient alternative to the telephone

Part 2: Which option is the best practice to avoid security issues?

Do not send confidential or sensitive information via IM or text

Part 3: Which texting guidelines does Jeanne ignore in this situation? Check all that apply.

Alert the sender when the sender has sent you a message by mistake

Don't text in inappropriate situations

Explanation:

Part 1: Instant Messaging (IM) enabling real time communication means that communication can be done without delay in delivery, and this is of advantage in a workplace especially one that is large and has sub-units because the barrier of distance is breached. For example, if a member of the team is not present at work and an information is needed urgently from him/her, using IM that person can be reached easily and a response gotten immediately.

Also, IM is a convenient alternative to the telephone because it is a cheaper alternative, more information can be passed and communication can take place at a lower cost. Besides this, it ensures the maintenance of a more serene environment at work because it is a non-audible form of communication as opposed to telephone, which is an audible form of communication and can cause noise pollution in the work place if a large number of workers are talking at the same time and if they are talking loudly too. Thirdly, because it is a visual form of communication, discrete and personal information can be passed without the other workers hearing or knowing about it.

saying that IM allows for speedy recovery of lost documents may not be helpful in this situation because first of all, the supervisor will have a sense that using IM will promote carelessness, because of the ease to recover lost documents and it is not entirely true that IM can be used to recover lost documents, it is mainly for communication and uses text messages.

Part 2: IM like every other virtual forms of communication is easily prone to security mishaps, because a glitch in the transmission channel can lead to sensitive information being lost or exposed to inappropriate audience, hence as a best practice to avoiding security issues, sensitive or confidential information should be as much as possible not be sent using IM or text.

The other options; respecting receivers by using good grammar and proper spelling and making oneself unavailable does not have anything to do with improving security so they remain unchecked.

Part 3: guidelines are made to prevent abuse and misuse, the same applies for texting especially in the workplace. From the scene described in the third part, Jeanne, knowing that the sender sent the wrong message should have prompted the sender on this because this could have easily been avoided if the information was passed person-to-person, since the sender is seeing the receiver so he/she knows which particular Jeanne to talk to, so, responding to a message that is not meant for you is a default in the use of texting. Secondly, Jeanne was in the middle of a conversation when the text came in, since the situation was not urgent, she could have finished with the conversation with her supervisor before responding to the text message so she violated another texting guideline. Now just imagine that you were Jeanne's supervisor, how would you feel when she abruptly pauses your conversation to respond to a text message.

The first option is actually true, sad news or sensitive business matters are not passed via text messaging but it does not apply in the context described, while not expecting instant reply is not a guideline.

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