Describing the strategies used for dealing with email interruptions according to different situational parameters.

Interruptions research is heavily reliant on a paradigm involving 'enforced interruption'. Email use however constitutes a special form of 'controlled interruption'. As there is no precedent available in the existing literature to describe what strategies people use to deal with 'controlled interruption', an exploratory first study was undertaken using an open-ended interview design. Twenty-eight email users working within UK organisations were asked about how they dealt with email interruptions, when faced with different situational or task parameters. Qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts revealed a wide range of strategies used for dealing with email in general, and for specific situations in particular, with idiosyncratic differences in application. These findings are consistent with the predictions of Action Regulation Theory [Hacker, W. (1985). Activity: A fruitful concept in industrial psychology. In M. Frese, J. Sabini (Eds.), Goal directed behaviour: The concept of action in psycholoy. London, Lawrence Erlbaunt Associates (Chapter 18); The German Journal of Psychology 18(2) (1994) 91-120] - that people select strategies (action programs) for achieving a task according to the specific parameters of the task or goal. However, the findings go further in highlighting the salience of individual differences in underwriting one's choice of strategy (or action program). Further research is required to understand which strategies are linked to effective performance, and how individual differences influence strategic decision making in multi-goal work environments. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Commute replacement and commute displacement the rise of part-day home working

Working by telecommunication has been the subject of research attention in transportation studies for many years. Particular consideration has been given to occasional working from home (home working) by (full-time, paid) employees who represent a tangible removal of commute trips on days that people work from home. However, little recognition or attention has been given to the fact that home working not only may be undertaken for part of a week but also may be undertaken for parts of given days. This paper focuses particularly on part-day home working. It defines and uses the term "varied spatiotemporal (VST) working" to describe working days in which at least 30 min of continuous working takes place at home accompanied by work taking place at the workplace. Notably, such home working does not remove the commute trips but can temporally displace one or both of them. The research reported in this paper builds on preceding survey work that had established that the number of people who practice VST working and the number of VST days worked appear to be about double those for full-day home working (which has typically been the focus of research attention). The results presented in this paper are based on 25 in-depth interviews with individuals who practice VST working. The aim of the research was to examine more closely and to understand the nature of VST working and the motivations and constraints for its practice and to consider its potential contribution as a transportation demand management measure

Describing the strategies used for dealing with email interruptions according to different situational parameters

Interruptions research is heavily reliant on a paradigm involving 'enforced interruption'. Email use however constitutes a special form of 'controlled interruption'. As there is no precedent available in the existing literature to describe what strategies people use to deal with 'controlled interruption', an exploratory first study was undertaken using an open-ended interview design. Twenty-eight email users working within UK organisations were asked about how they dealt with email interruptions, when faced with different situational or task parameters. Qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts revealed a wide range of strategies used for dealing with email in general, and for specific situations in particular, with idiosyncratic differences in application. These findings are consistent with the predictions of Action Regulation Theory [Hacker, W. (1985). Activity: A fruitful concept in industrial psychology. In M. Frese, J. Sabini (Eds.), Goal directed behaviour: The concept of action in psycholoy. London, Lawrence Erlbaunt Associates (Chapter 18); The German Journal of Psychology 18(2) (1994) 91-120] - that people select strategies (action programs) for achieving a task according to the specific parameters of the task or goal. However, the findings go further in highlighting the salience of individual differences in underwriting one's choice of strategy (or action program). Further research is required to understand which strategies are linked to effective performance, and how individual differences influence strategic decision making in multi-goal work environments. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Personal Life Interrupted: Understanding the Effects of Technology-Mediated Interruptions from Work to Personal Life

This study examines how technology-mediated work-related interruptions affect people’s personal life in terms of the level of work-life conflict they experience and their ability to fulfill the responsibilities of their personal life. Based on interruption source, we differentiate between two types of interruptions that occur in one’s personal life: other-initiated and self-initiated. Drawing on interruption research and micro-role transition theories, we conceptualize distinct effects of the two interruption types on outcome variables. Data were collected through surveys from 137 knowledge workers. The results reveal distinct effects of other-initiated and self-initiated interruptions on personal life. The frequency of other-initiated interruptions is found to be positively associated with work-life conflict and negatively associated with fulfillment of personal life responsibilities, whereas the frequency of self-initiated interruptions does not significantly affect personal life. The results also suggest that the effects of other-initiated interruptions on fulfillment of personal life responsibilities are partially mediated by work-life conflict. The study concludes with implications for research and practice

Language use as an institutional practice: An investigation into the genre of workplace emails in an educational institution

Past studies that examined the genre of email regarded genre as a model by focusing on the content and form alone. However, this study examined the genre as a resource by analyzing the knowledge producing and knowledge disseminating that makes the genre possible in its socio-rhetorical context. The study, in line with critical genre analysis, examined the text-internal and the influences of the text-external elements on language use in email communication at a private higher educational institution in Kuala Lumpur. Using 378 emails, participant observation and interviews, this study analyzed the genre from the ethnographic, textual, socio-cognitive and socio-critical perspectives. To conduct the analysis, a novel integrative methodology that included approaches to text, context and genre analysis was applied. The study revealed that the emails could be categorized into four types of genres that varied in their communicative purposes, intentions, goals of communication, register and generic structures. The discussion email genre, which was used to negotiate issues, mainly included involved production and overt expression of argumentation. Enquiry email genre, which was used as a request-respond strategy, included narrative and nonnarrative discourse while the delivery email genre, which was used to provide files, mainly included informational production and non-narrative discourse. Informing email genre, which was used to notify the recipients about general interest issues, mainly included abstract style and informational production. This study also revealed that the institutional practices and disciplinary conventions of the discourse community influenced language use in the emails. This was reflected in the strategies, mechanisms and linguistic choices made in the four types of genres. The study contributed to the socio-rhetoric perspective and critical genre analysis based on conventionalized practices and procedures in the community of practice in academic management. The integrative approach is also highlighted as an analytical method to examine language use in email communication

Boundaryless Technology: Understanding the Effects of Technology-Mediated Interruptions across the Boundaries between Work and Personal Life

This study examines how technology-mediated cross-domain interruptions affect people’s work and personal life on two aspects: level of conflict between work and personal life and people’s ability to fulfill their responsibilities in each of the two domains. Based on the direction of an interruption, we differentiate between two types of cross-domain interruptions: work-to-nonwork (WTN) and nonwork-to-work (NTW). Drawing on interruption research and work-life interaction literature, we conceptualize distinct effects of the two interruption types on outcome variables. Data were collected through surveys from 137 knowledge workers. Results reveal asymmetric effects of WTN and NTW interruptions on work and personal life. The frequency of WTN interruptions is found to be positively associated with work-life conflict and negatively associated with fulfillment of personal life responsibilities, whereas the frequency of NTW interruptions significantly affects fulfillment of work responsibilities but not work-life conflict. Thus, results point to asymmetrically permeable boundaries between work and personal life. Results also suggest that the effects of WTN interruptions on fulfillment of personal life responsibilities are partially mediated by WTN conflict. The study concludes with implications for research and practice

Classifying computer-mediated communication (CMC) interruptions at work using control as a key delineator

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) interruptions are a common feature of people’s work activity. In studying interruptions, researchers can understand how people manage and co-ordinate their work when faced with multiple, often competing, demands. However, CMC interruptions are characteristically different from each other and impact people’s work performance in different ways. In this theoretical paper we define and differentiate between computer-mediated communication (CMC) interruptions, according to the level of control people are able to exert over an interruption at different points in the delivery timeline. Informed by the extant interruptions literature and Action Regulation Theory, a classification framework is provided, to help researchers and work designers distinguish which types of real-world CMC interruption are more or less disruptive, based on levels of control. Using the developed framework, two key research propositions are made, which we encourage future research to attend to. Unique contributions and implications of this paper are discussed

L’expérience du courriel en situation professionnelle : représentations de l’activité, jugements et affects

L’objectif de cet article est de décrire l’expérience qu’ont les individus de l’usage du courriel en situation de travail. Vingt-cinq entretiens inspirés des techniques d’explicitation et d’auto-confrontation ont été réalisés auprès d’employés d’une entreprise de formation. Les entretiens ont permis de mettre au jour trois aspects de l’expérience des usagers : les représentations de leur activité de traitement des messages, leurs jugements sur le courriel (avantages, désavantages) et les affects suscités par son usage. L’analyse montre que l’expérience négative des participants est liée à trois facettes de la situation d’usage du courriel. Tout d’abord, l’usage du courriel s’accompagne souvent du sentiment de contrôler plus difficilement l’activité de travail. Ensuite, les échanges par courriel sont perçus comme violant les règles de savoir-communiquer. Enfin, les participants ont parfois le sentiment de manquer de compétence dans l’usage de l’outil.The objective of the paper is to describe the experience of email usage at work. Twenty five interviews inspired by “explicitation” and “self-confrontation” techniques were carried out with employees of a professional training company. These interviews allowed us to identify three dimensions of user experience: the representations of email activity, judgments on email (advantages, disadvantages) and the affects elicited by email usage. The analysis shows that the negative experience of users is linked to three phenomena. Firstly, the use of email is often associated with making it more difficult to control work activity. Secondly, email exchanges are seen as violating social and communicative rules. Finally, a lack of self-efficacy is sometimes experienced by users

The Millefeuille Theory Revisited. New Theoretical Lenses to Understand the Millefeuille Effect

Enterprise Social Media (ESM) has gained significant momentum in the workplace and has been presented by both practitioners and academics as the new alternative workplace communications technology to substitute email. However, our knowledge is limited when it comes to explaining how ESM integrates the media portfolio and the extent to which it can or cannot replace email use. Adopting a grounded methodology, we conducted a case study in a large multinational corporation specialized in the beauty and well-being sector, in which we found that ESM superimposes the existing media and thus creates a millefeuille effect. Grounded in our case study, we explain the millefeuille effect in the specific case of ESM over email and develop a revised version of the millefeuille theory. Our findings show that the millefeuille effect emerges from negotiation between the perceived affordances enabled by ESM and its imposed constraints, and from that of email with regard to communication norms and routines and the context of IT use. The results highlight the need for managerial engagement in ESM that goes beyond its sponsorship alone. Our study revisits the millefeuille theory by adopting three theoretical lenses to explain the millefeuille effect: a media portfolio features lens, a norm and communication routine lens, and a context-of-IT-use lens. We contribute to the IS literature by proposing a revised version of the millefeuille theory that integrates the affordance lens. By taking into account the features of the media portfolio and how they are appropriated by users, we gain a clearer understanding of the millefeuille effect. We also come up with some recommendations to help managers deal with media overload and cope with the associated risks related to the millefeuille effect