Introduction
Domestic violence is a problem, which plagues developed as well as under developed countries through out the world. Despite the fact that on average the literacy rate and the rate of civilization in the world has been increasing in the past few decades, the statistics for domestic violence have been increasing on an exponential level. “The precise incidence of domestic violence in America is difficult to determine for several reasons: it often goes unreported, even on surveys; there is no nationwide organization that gathers information from local police departments about the number of substantiated reports and calls; and there is disagreement about what should be included in the definition of domestic violence.
“One study estimated that more than 3% (approximately 1.8 million) of women were severely assaulted by male partners or cohabitants over the course of a year, while other studies indicate the percentage of women experiencing dating violence, including sexual assault, physical violence, or verbal and emotional abuse, ranges as high as 65%.”” (Newton, 2001)
Domestic violence management is the growing segment in organizational management. For all domestic violence organizations, information becomes the raw material of leadership work. The daily activities of managers involve the processing of information. In order to arrive at decisions within domestic violence organizations, managers interpret the external environment, co-ordinate internal activities. With the introduction of new communication technologies the basic economic laws of information processing are changing (Moore, 200).
The ability to unbundle information from its physical carrier is having an impact on the trade-off between ‘richness’ and ‘reach’ Richness refers to the amount of information that can be transferred and its ability in changing human understanding – for example, voice mail is less rich than face-to-face communication, since it does not allow for visual cues. The increasing standardization of communication technology, and more specifically its use, is changing the quantity, quality and means of production and distribution of information.
Thesis In the next five years, I will need strong communication tools, excellent knowledge of information technologies and communication technologies which penetrate the world of business and everyday life.
Vision
Awareness of the crime has resulted in numerous cases being brought to light and the victims being salvages. In this context the domestic violence organizations play a major role in the society. Shelters provide temporary place of residence to domestic violence and abuse victims, while providing them assistance in transitioning to a better life. For children they specifically provide education as well as play based psychological therapies, while for the men, the domestic violence agencies provide programs based on workshop and groups therapy sessions, whereby the abusers are made aware of their actions, while educating them on being more responsible and caring for their families.
In five years, two of the most important factors leading to such a communication environment within domestic violence organizations are the spread of new communication technologies and the exploding information base available through these. Although most domestic violence organizational members are aware that information is essential within a business context, the appropriate use of new communication technology to manage the business context remains a challenge. Despite the fact that new communication technologies may threaten productivity, there are a number of positive impacts that have to be recognized (Ahmed et al 2001).
Since communication technology is a strategic enabler of one of the most basic tasks within domestic violence organizations, namely information processing, it has to be viewed as a unique technological tool for domestic violence organizations. This uniqueness implies that communication technology not only has an impact on domestic violence organizations, but transcends all organizational activities. Although the technological impact perspective provides insights into the determining aspects of technology, the actions of humans in developing, accepting and changing technology have largely been ignored by this group of researchers (Moore, 200).
The emergent perspective posits that the use and consequences of communication technology are a result of complex social interactions between the institutional framework and the actions of individuals. Because of the dynamics of organizational settings, the frequently changing preferences of individuals and the adapting organizational context, neither the intentions of managers nor the technological environment within the organization can fully predict the outcome of communication technology employment within domestic violence organizations (Ahmed et al 2001).
The interplay of time, objectives, given institutional frameworks, individual preferences and choice processes are the central concepts of the emergent perspective. The increase in electronic communication will not offset the decrease in face-to-face communication. As visual displays through new communication technology increase, groups replace face-to-face communication with new technology to interrelate time and task activities so that the different knowledge workers’ perceptions of tasks and the activities they are likely to perform correspond.
A risk in reducing face-to-face interaction lies in providing fewer opportunities for casual conversation, which allows individuals to assess a person’s communication trustworthiness in social settings. It is therefore, important to encourage knowledge workers to treat opportunities for casual contact as an important part of their work. In five years, new communication technology may lead to a partial increase in communication linkages, particularly an increase of electronic communication. Another explanatory factor for the increase in participation could be the reduction of status influence through the use of computer-mediated communication (Macdonald and Oettinger 2002).
This can have two effects on communication within domestic violence organizations. The increase in participation by organizational members could lead to delays and stalemates, as an increase in the number of individuals may neither contribute to decision quality nor to decision acceptance. It could, however, also lead to greater commitment by organizational members in pursuing a particular course of action.
The role of the director would encompass creating a brand image and position of the organization in the society in terms of the support and aid it provides, while depicting the organization as a progressive company which helps the victims builds new lives for them. The director in this case would have to forge contacts and relationships with the state and government organizations who deal with law enforcement and regulation in the region.
Moreover beneficiaries and benefactors need to be contacted by the director who is responsible for arranging funds and finances for the organization on a strategic level to support the aid and assistance programs for the victims of domestic violence.It is important to take into account that the world will change and innovative and virtual communication technology will have an impact on lateral communication in a limited number of situations (Macdonald and Oettinger 2002).
For brainstorming tasks, communication technology increases participation in decision-making, yet for consensus tasks, participation in decision-making decreases. Communication technology has an inconclusive effect on conflict resolution. The biggest impact of communication technology is in situations where organizational members have to exchange information across time and space. In this context, communication technology can lead to a less formalized organization (Ahmed et al 2001).
Assessment
The main skills I will need in five years will be influenced by the richness of a medium is defined by
- the ability to provide rapid feedback;
- the ability to communicate multiple cues;
- the ability to convey personal feelings; and
- the ability to use natural language (Macdonald and Oettinger 2002).
Based on these four features, the authors developed a scale whereby face-to-face communication is the richest medium, followed by telephone, personal written text (letters or memos), formal written text (documents or bulletins), and formal numeric text (data). In general, oral media are believed to be richer than written media, since they provide for immediate feedback and convey multiple cues (Ahmed et al 2001).
Global computer and media networking carries risks, even if these risks are easily exaggerated. Television networks are conduits through which foreign interests can wage psychological warfare using a mix of traditional propaganda, manipulation of truth by human and technical means, and even the exploitation of micromedia (e.g., specialized cable channels, mailing lists, or Web sites) to set one part of a target population against another. The increased use of communication technology reduces the costs of communication, since the technologies are frequently less time-consuming (Owens and Wilson 2006).
Another aspect is the increased connection between people and machines, leading potentially to widespread access of information to people in domestic violence organizations caused by the rise in communication bandwidth, with more information moving simultaneously to different people in a combination of text, voice and graphics. The integration of various computing technologies allows information to be stored so that organizational members can retrieve the information from the collective database. Since the environment and social interactions vary between domestic violence organizations, media selection varies between organizational contexts (Laudon and Laudon 2005).
In five years, it will be crucial to management information at the fastest possible rates. The urgency of the task associated with communication is another important criteria in media choice. Urgent tasks are more likely to lead to a response with media that have a real-time, synchronous response capability. Electronic mail is an example of a medium that qualifies when an urgent response is required.
Empirical studies have found that, for urgent tasks, knowledge workers are willing to trade-off rich media, since it is more important to complete the task than to acknowledge the need for social presence. In these situations, new communication technologies are expected to rank higher than old communication media (Laudon and Laudon 2005).
Goals
I need to master good knowledge and skills including managerial skills and computer literacy skills. In situations of high uncertainty, I will have to use and adapt to new technology, particularly voice mail and electronic mail, for information distribution and the creation of awareness within the organization. For information acquisition and synthesis, I would prefer to use traditional rich media, particularly face-to-face meetings and telephone. In situations of high ambiguity I would prefer to use rich media to acquire information, distribute information, create awareness about information in the organization, or synthesize information.
Electronic mail is, viewed as the medium of second choice for information distribution (Laudon and Laudon 2005). Creating awareness in the organization is achieved through face-to-face meetings, telephone, voice mail and electronic mail. For information synthesis, managers will show the clearest preference for rich media. In situations of high task urgency, I would generally prefer to use rich media when possible, yet when the communication partner is not available voice mail and electronic mail would be used in order to complete the task. The uniqueness of this research lies in the investigation of a multitude of media for different information-processing tasks (Owens and Wilson 2006).
Technology may change the marginal costs of retrieving embodied information and thereby facilitate the exchange between two domestic violence organizations. When domestic violence organizations are interdependent they need to retrieve and transfer embodied information and control for opportunism. Rather than reducing interdependence, domestic violence organizations should retrieve and transfer embodied information, which leads to more problem-solving between organizational members. Communication technology can support the establishment of cooperative arrangements by helping to bring organizational members together to solve problems (Kucza and Komi-Sirvio 2001).
A typical example where this becomes useful is for joint research and development cooperations. Essentially, technology will enable domestic violence organizations to be structured independent of geography, where people are grouped together within one unit for the purpose of supervision and co-ordination. My goals is to be ready to new technologies and be able to adapt to new environments and situations which are difficult to predict and foreshadow.
The main challenge is that technology links knowledge across spatial and temporal boundaries, and thereby redefines the traditional boundaries of domestic violence organizations. The increasing use of communication technology will be found to lead to a decrease in firm size, a decrease in vertical integration, an increase in diversification particularly in related diversification, and an increase in cooperative activities (Kucza and Komi-Sirvio 2001).
In this age of technology, individuals who contribute value by acquiring, distributing and interpreting information are knowledge workers. They use communication technology, such as electronic mail, to acquire information from the outside, distribute information and interpret information that has been distributed through a wide range of communication technologies (Kucza and Komi-Sirvio 2001). As knowledge workers become more accustomed to the use of communication technology, their demand for the use of it increases, and the tasks that are completed based on communication technology change. By increasing the number of knowledge links, the potential for distributing knowledge throughout the organization is enlarged (Owens and Wilson 2006).
Strategies
The main strategies which help me to achieve my goals are training, theoretical knowledge and creativity. As time passes, rational choices will develop for new communication technologies, since participants are interdependent, therefore adopting more intimate and socially rational behavior. Knowledge about areas where efficient communication technology is employed will become part of the organizational patterns of use – for example, new technologies maybe better suited than short-turn meetings to longitudinal interaction (Kucza and Komi-Sirvio 2001).
The benefits of communication technologies have to develop over time when organizational members are working in long-term associations, such as in teams. Individuals have to make use of the technology in order to realize its benefits. In summary, as new communication technologies are adopted, media use patterns will change. Eventually, old communication technologies are likely to be substituted for new communication technologies when the perceived benefits are realized by the users.
It can thus be concluded that training programs influence computer anxiety directly and increase an individual’s knowledge about computers, thus reducing anxiety and creating a positive attitude towards computer-based communication technologies. Training increases confidence in a person’s ability to master and use communication technology for work purposes. Since attitudes are linked directly to use, training programs provide a good starting point in ensuring the success of communication technology implementation (Dennings, 200).
Creativity is a critical element of domestic violence work because making adaptations to communication technology use become increasingly difficult as the technology becomes embedded and routinized within a given user environment. An opportunity to rethink the implementation of a new technology arises when a disruptive event such as a change in Director of domestic violence organization, a change in project requirements, the breakdown of the technology itself, or an outside event, occurs. These events can lead to advances in communication-technology implementation for the purpose of learning at later periods (Owens and Wilson 2006).
For example, if the technology has already found its place in the organization, a change in Director of domestic violence organization threatens to disrupt the habits and procedures, and thus presents a window of opportunity for making adaptations. Since these windows occur episodically, triggered by discrepant events or new discoveries on the part of the user, Director has to encourage adaptation of the technology by framing the interruptions as noteworthy. Rather than ignoring these instances, managers have to make a conscious effort in actively using the opportunities from disruptions to enable the use of communication technology as learning tool (Moore, 2001; Data-Driven-Decision Making 2004).
Conclusion
Creating the willingness to use communication technology effectively for the purpose of acquiring, distributing, interpreting and storing information involves designing incentive systems. For a Director, these incentive systems should reward individuals and teams who use communication technology for the purpose of developing the organizational knowledge base. Measurement instruments which may serve this goal are performance evaluations (Dennings, 200).
By incorporating the extent to which individuals use communication technology for the purpose of developing the organizational knowledge base into the performance evaluation instrument, individuals and groups are likely to actually develop knowledge (Moore, 200). This raises substantial questions for the theoretical understanding of domestic violence organizations, since information is at the core of co-ordination within domestic violence organizations. With an increased number of communication technologies available and the expanded complexity within domestic violence organizations, their management becomes an increasingly difficult task.
References
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- Data-Driven-Decision Making. (2004). T.H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 31, 32.
- Dennings, P.I. (2001). The Invisible Future: The Seamless Integration Of Technology Into Everyday Life. McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition.
- Kucza, T. Komi-Sirvio, S. (2001). Utilising Knowledge Management in Software Process Improvement – The Creation of a Knowledge Management Process Model. ICE.
- Laudon, K. C. & Laudon, J. P. (2005). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, 9th Edition.
- Macdonald, M.S., Oettinger, A.G. (2002). Information Overload: Managing Intelligence Technologies. Harvard International Review 24 (1): 44.
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