Communication in Mobile and Virtual Work

1. COMMUNICATION IN MOBILE
AND VIRTUAL WORK
Mervi Varhelahti, Lecturer
Marjatta Rännäli, Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Business, ICT and Chemical Engineering
In working life we use mobile and virtual communication for networking, learning, and innovation (Waldeck et al., 2012).The new workplace has become
increasingly volatile, multicultural and -lingual (Lam et al. 2013; Huhta, 2010, Lönnblad &Vartiainen 2012) and managers and employees are demanded new
communication and language skills as well as digital and multicultural skills (Lönnblad &Vartiainen 2012).
To build a deeper understanding of new ways of communication, the project CoMoViWo (Communication in Mobile andVirtual work) was established.
CoMoViWo focuses on the new language and communication practices in the context of virtual and mobile work. Funding for the project is provided byThe
Education,Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) under the Erasmus+ programme.
METHODOLOGY
A survey was conducted by the project to determine:
What are the current practices in virtual
communication in working life?
• virtual communication platforms used for business interactions
• the communicative skills required at work when using English as a
lingua franca.
A multiple choice survey with some open questions was conducted
among SMEs and large companies in Spain, UK, Finland, Poland and
Germany.
Altogether, approximately 273 answers from working life were
gathered.The answers were analysed and the results will form a
framework for developing communication skills in working life.This
framework and description of skills needed in mobile and virtual
work will play an important role in the curriculum design in Higher
Education.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The most frequently used virtual communication
tool is email, with 64% using it always, whereas the
corresponding figure for social networking e.g. blogs,
Facebook,Twitter is only 8%.
Altogether, 70% manifest their difficulties in developing
conversations (small talk, greetings starting and closing
conversations).A total of 70% feel their handling of negotiations in
English requires more strategy training in order to improve their
skills. Especially skills in knowing how to agree and disagree, or how
to persuade without being pushy, and how to be assertive without
being aggressive need improvement.
Table 1 Virtual communication in English at the workplace
Never Occasionally Sometimes Frequently Always
Document sharing platforms 21% 15% 20% 18% 26%
Email 3% 7% 10% 16% 64%
Forum 35% 21% 25% 11% 8%
Instant Messaging 26% 17% 21% 18% 18%
Social Networking 38% 17% 20% 17% 8%
Teleconferencing 22% 15% 28% 17% 18%
Table 2 Strategies needed to develop virtual communication
Developing conversations (small talk, greetings starting and closing conversations) 70%
Giving virtual presentations 49%
Handling complaints 24%
Handling negotiations (agreeing and disagreeing, persuasion techniques, being assertive) 70%
Managing and/or hosting virtual group interactions 42% 42%
Handling requests and refusals 44%
Results show that e-mail is by far the most common communication tool in virtual
business interactions. However, virtual networking requires using interactive virtual tools
as well.The limited use of the other communication tools might be explained by the
fact that the respondents thought that their skills related to virtual negotiations needed
to be developed.
References:
Lönnblad, J., &Vartiainen, M. (2012). Future Competences–
Competences for NewWays ofWorking. Publication series B, 12.
Waldeck, J. & Durante, C. & Helmuth, B. & Marcia, B. 2012. Communication
in a ChangingWorld: Contemporary Perspectives on Business Communication
Competence. Journal of Education for Business., 87:4, 230-240.
Lam, P.W., Cheng,W., & Kong, K. C. (2014). Learning English through workplace
communication:An evaluation of existing resources in Hong Kong. English for
Specific Purposes, 34, 68-78.
Huhta, Marjatta (2010). Language and Communication for Professional
Purposes. -
Needs Analysis Methods in Industry and Business and theirYield to Stakeholder.
Tuotantotalouden väitöskirja. Helsinki: Helsingin teknillinen yliopisto.
This project has been funded with support from the European
Commission.This publication reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.