Technology
    Chapter 7
    “Technology is a two-edged sword with the potential to make us more productive,
    or to drain away our time.”
I.    Life in the Digital Age
A.        It’s quicker, cheaper and easier to ship electrons (as in e-mail attachments) than it is to ship atoms and molecules (as in FedEx overnight packages).
   
B.        The way we work and live has changed.  We can find anyone with a cell phone or personal computer in a matter of seconds.
   
C.        Since the advent of PC’s just over 25 years ago, more than a billion have sold worldwide.
   
D.        By 2011, more than 80 percent of all U.S. households had access to at least one personal computer, and 66 percent had in-home access to broadband connections.
   
II.    Communicating Digitally
A.        The means of production are now in our minds, in our hands, and on our desktops.         
B.        For all of the advantages which this new technology brings to our homes, our businesses, and our lives, there are complications.
1.    There is no longer a distinction between work and home.
2.    In the U.S., more than $650 billion a year in productivity is lost due to interruptions and inattention.
3.    Managers rely on fewer nonverbal and visual cues to gather meaning due to working across time zones and with geographically dispersed groups and teams.
III.    Managing Electronic Mail
A.    If you have a problem, admit it.  White collar workers waste an average of three hours a week sorting through junk mail.  If you spend more time than that, you have a problem.
       
B.    Send less. Get less.  If you send less e-mail you’ll reduce the volume of return mail in your inbox.
C.    Escape the endless reply loop.  Finish a message with “No reply needed,” or follow a request with “Thanks in advance.”   
D.        Check the “To” field before you click “Send.”
E.        Don’t copy the world.  Think twice about the people you put on your “cc” list.
F.        Pick a subject, (almost) any subject.  Crafting a relevant subject line will prompt people to open your messages and act on them quickly.
G.        Think before replying.  If you respond to e-mail messages immediately, you establish the expectation in your readers’ minds that you will always respond quickly.
H.        Think again before replying.  If you’re angry, upset, or irritated at something you’ve just read in an e-mail message, give yourself a day – or at least a few hours – to cool down before responding.  You may end up saying something you’ll regret.
I.        Be careful with criticism.  E-mail eliminates virtually all of the important nonverbal cues we’re accustomed to seeing and hearing as we judge a message sender’s intent.
J.        Handle each message just once.  If it’s unimportant or irrelevant, hit the delete key.  File each message you want to keep in a folder as it comes in.
K.        Don’t check your e-mail constantly.
L.        Don’t ignore the conventions of correspondence.  You should not write to people in all lower case letters, ignore punctuation, or abandon conventional spelling.
M.        Avoid abbreviations and cyberjargon.  You can’t assume everyone is familiar with the endless acronyms circulating out there.
N.        Try to keep messages under two or three paragraphs.
O.        Make URLs Useful.
P.        Be cautious about attachments.  Don’t attach documents, pictures, or spreadsheets to your messages unless you’re certain the recipient wants or needs to see them.
Q.        Include a signature file.
R.        Check your time/date stamp.
ignore the waste behind youS.        Get help when you need it.
IV.    Privacy and Workplace Monitoring
A.        Why Do Employers Monitor?
1. Security. Every business has information that it wants kept confidential.
        2.      Productivity. More than one-third of all lost productivity is attributed to Internet abuse at work.
3.    Protection. Many companies faced with costly lawsuits are monitoring e-mail, voice mail, and other communication systems to uncover and discipline workers who harass or intimidate others in the workplace.
4.    Industry Regulation. State and federal regulatory agencies have published numerous rules requiring businesses of many sorts to hang onto all of their e-mail, just as they would retain their paper-based correspondence.
   
B.        Does an Employee Have a Right to Privacy?
   
1.      No federal law covers all aspects of an employee’s right to privacy on the job.  Instead, a patchwork of federal and state laws regulates everything from electronic monitoring to visual surveillance, drug testing and locker searches.

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