Social status often has an impact on decisions in face-to-face communication groups, with high-status members exerting more influence than low-status members. These status inequalities appear to be reduced when decisions are made by electronic mail. Computer-mediated (electronic) communication has grown dramatically over the past decade with the development of the Internet and LANs (local area networks) within and between organizations.

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether more equal participation and influence occurred in groups communicating via computer versus communicating face-to-face. In Experiment 1, 59 business students worked in face-to-face groups over two weeks to make two ethical decisions. In Experiment 2, 105 business students worked at computerized workstations networked into three-person groups and completed the same two ethical decisions. In Experiment 3, another 105 business students completed three ethical evaluations of the conduct of a computer professional in a hypothetical situation. The modes of communication were varied over the three tasks by group.

In sharp contrast to previous research, these experiments found that high-status members participated more in group communication than low-status members. This finding held for both face-to-face and computer-mediated communication, regardless of computer technology; for high-status minority as well as high-status majority groups; and for groups in which members were known to each other as well as anonymous to each other. Hence, computer-mediated communication does not appear to eliminate the effects of status difference in groups.

SOURCE: S. P. Weisband, S. K. Schneider, and T. Connolly, "Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Information: Status Salience and Status Differences," Academy of Management Journal 38 (1995): 1124-1151.

ORGANIZATIONAL REALITY

No Barriers at Oticon

Oticon is a highly successful company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has revolutionized the hearing-aid industry. Panasonic and Siemens are among its multibillion-dollar competitors. Oticon is a $100 million company whose profits have increased fivefold since 1991 and that set an industry record of 30 percent return on sales. Rather than mass production of conventional hearing aids, Oticon's competitive edge has been its first-to-market obsession and its cutting-edge products, which combine state-of-the-art technology with fashion design. Hence, the sharing and exploiting of knowledge and information is a vital competitive advantage for Oticon, a company that relies on very open, no-barrier communication.

CEO Lars Kolind has neither an office nor a permanent desk, which is true for all Oticon employees. The company does have desks, each equipped with a computer and a telephone, yet none are proprietary. All Oticon's incoming mail is scanned into its computer database and all employees have access to everyone's mail, including Kolind's, as well as their calendars. Project teams are encouraged to tap the database as needed. Each employee, including Kolind, has a personal mobile caddie cart, which is his or her personal filing cabinet on wheels. Armed with his or her personal cart and any desk in Oticon, an employee is ready to go to work. After returning from one two-week trip, Kolind was informed by a clerk that her team had moved his cart to another floor because they needed the desk he had been using. Well, that's life at Oticon . . . no barriers, no doors, and no hierarchical power games.

SOURCE: O. Harari, "Open the Doors, Tell the Truth," Management Review 84 (1995): 33-35. Reprinted with permission of The Wall Street Journal, © 1996 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved.

ORGANIZATIONAL REALITY

Beijing's Version of the Internet

China Internet Corp. is a small Hong Kong company run by James Chu, a computer scientist educated at UCLA. Mr. Chu is being financially and morally backed by Xinhua News Agency, the official news agency of the People's Republic of China. As the Internet soared globally through cyberspace, slicing across international boundaries, the Chinese became seriously concerned about the insidious threat of barbaric information. Hence, the recruitment of the China Internet Corp. to help screen out undesirable information while keeping what is good on the Internet.

Mr. Chu is pioneering the "intranet," which is an insulated, though not isolated, corner in cyberspace. He is doing this by working to create a for-profit network within the Internet. China Internet Corp.'s ultimate success remains to be seen.

Beijing lives with a real paradox as it seeks to advance in the age of information and communication. On the one hand, it actively seeks out the very latest computer and information hardware, such as in biofeedback equipment for stress management and computers for information processing. On the other hand, it appears almost to avoid the software which is the powerful platform for the Internet. Mr. Chu is attempting to help China live with this paradox by allowing in only what Beijing considers desirable while firewalling that which Beijing considers undesirable.

SOURCE: J. Kahn, K. Chen, and M. W. Brauchli, "Chinese Firewall: Beijing Seeks to Build Version of the Internet That Can be Censored," Wall Street Journal, January 31, 1996: A1, A6.

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