Communication Offline or Communication Online?

Abstract

About the communication it has been said and wrote a lot of volumes and it seems that the subject is far to be exhausted, the specific problem of this domain instead of being restricted, it extends from a day to another. The technological boom brings along other and other discussion subjects and review for the communication experts. From the natural communication by talking to the one mediated by the computer or other devices, today we are in the situation of choosing not the most expressive way of communication, as hundreds of years ago, but the fastest, most efficient or surest way. This article shows the results of the study over the online and offline communication inside some organizations in the south of Romania.

Headnote

Abstract

About the communication it has been said and wrote a lot of volumes and it seems that the subject is far to be exhausted, the specific problem of this domain instead of being restricted, it extends from a day to another. The technological boom brings along other and other discussion subjects and review for the communication experts.

From the natural communication by talking to the one mediated by the computer or other devices, today we are in the situation of choosing not the most expressive way of communication, as hundreds of years ago, but the fastest, most efficient or surest way.

This article shows the results of the study over the online and offline communication inside some organizations in the south of Romania.

Keywords: communication,

JEL Classification: H110

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)

Introduction

The informational era in which we live and in which the internet has a very important role by offering us information quickly and by helping us to gain access to almost everything, forced the organizations to be transparent regarding their intensions, actions, even with the products and/or the services they offer (Chaffey et all., 2009:3). So it became very important that the organizations build a clear image both online and offline. One of the ways through which it can be done is the use of the symbolism: the logo, slogan, colors and other elements (Van den Bosch et al., 2005), another one is the creation of an emotional connection with the brand, both online and offline (Clauser, 2005), and the most important is the communication because the way the organization communicates can severely affect its image.

A natural question appears about the transformation of the way we communicate: will we give up at the face to face dialogue for the electronic communication services? Even if, apparently the online communication is more easy, it hides dangers which it seems we don't know, as for example the fact that through the computer mediated communication we risk to reveal ourselves more easily than through the face to face communication (Nguyen et all., 2012:103), one of the motivation being the need of affiliation (Park et all., 2011) or the desire to develop the virtual relation (Steijn, Schouten, 2013). The researchers of the phenomena discovered that there is a paradox of the online communication: even if the use of the internet for communication grows continuous, the perception of the users to this kind of communication is that they feel it less benefic than the communication face to face and it associates it with the decrease of the satisfaction sensation (Schiffrin et al., 2010).

Are these risks or some alike and in the case of the business communication? Is the online communication good for the organization's interests? These are only two of the questions to which we seek answers in this article.

1. Knowledge backgrounds

The business communication with its two areas, the internal communication and the external one, assumes knowledge, professionalism, dedication and it represents the instrument through which it can be obtained the reach of the organizational objectives.

More than 35 years, the researchers worked at the establish of the organizational objectives theory, searching among others which is the role of the communication in supporting the changing (Locke, Latham, 2006), which are the effects of the communication over the organizational performance (Hargie, Tourish, 2009), which are the communication's functions in the organizations (Cheney et all., 2004; Miller, 2009), which is the communication's role in the working relations (Myers 2009), the importanc e of the individual differences in the communication (Sias et all., 2002) and others, searching to understand and include the complexity of this process.

In business, the communication assumes the transmission of the message through countless ways of communication, as the internet, radio, TV, print, billboard or even the face to face communication. Even more, any organization needs that even us, the individuals, to exchange opinions, information, to convince, explain, remember or recall messages, directly or indirectly, so that the activity to take place in optimum conditions. All these needs of the organization have a very simple explanation about the members of the organization - the human, whose well known characteristic is the need of paper, telephone, radio or TV, but with the appearance and extension of the internet and of the new technologies, the communication knew new dimensions.

The organizations' performances are today influenced by the use of the electronic communication that have an important role in the internal communication, in developing and consolidation of the relations with the interested publics, in all the aspects regarding the supply and distribution chain. The internet and the cloud computing are the instruments that will change the way the businesses are working.

The main reason of the development of the online communication seems to be the time economy which is made by using the online communication instruments. Not any other way of communication can get so fast together so many people from so many and different places of the earth, with so low prices (Stephenson, Mintzer, 2008:416). The face to face communication became word-of-web and/ or word-of-mouse and it can be made through blogs, chat, electronic mail, social networks, file sharing services, wikis and so on (Groeger, Buttle, 2014).

Regarding the online communication of the organizations from different domains of activity, it is now clearly that they understood quickly the opportunity that the online medium offers them to strength the image or the brand and that they can use the social networks for disseminating the message they want to send (Trusov et all., 2009) or for studying the consumers' behavior (Zhu, Zhang 2010). Another aspect of using the online is regarded to the facility of the managerial communication, by using the online forums and so being brought together the interested parts for discussions (when there isn't possible a meeting in the same space) or for real time briefings (Gillis, 2011).

The communication that regards an organization or its products/services covers the same issue either it is online or offline communication; people discuss, in general about the quality, variety, prices and the way there are served the offered products, about the notoriety of the organization or of its brands, about the transactions security and its Internet site (Goyette Isabelle et all., 2010). The given trust to the received online information represents another important aspect that the researchers studied and concluded that this is closely related by the web design and by the previous experiences of the consumer (Urban et all., 2009) these forcing the organization to honesty and seriousness.

2. Case study

For an organization to survive the fierce competition, characteristic of the globalized economy and of the informational era, must continuous upgrade its communication management.

The organizational communication in the modern society is conditioned by transparency, efficiency and responsibility to the community, and that assumes a double way dialogue, a constant preoccupation for the offered feedback by the interested publics and by the opening of the organization for the real needs of the humans and of the society, so that everything to be long lasting, not only profitable.

The identified problem that made us proceed to a research theme is due to the finding that it exist a trend of use mainly to the online communication.

The quantitative empirical research presented in this article represents a part of a more ample research, which results will be included in the doctoral dissertation that I prepare.

3. The research methodology

The subject of our research is the identification of the managers' references for the online or offline communication.

The purpose of this research is to determinate the way the managers decided to use the online communication, starting from the premise that the efficiency in communication can decide that the organization's activity to take place without any problems

The study had as objectives:

- The identification of the managers' preoccupations for the efficiency of the communication in their organizations;

- The identification of the knowledge level and of the interest regarding the modern communication channels.

The hypotheses of our research are:

- the online communication is fructified in the organization's activity by its managers;

- the online and offline communication are part of the general strategy of the organization;

- the organization's management is preoccupied with the alignment of the communication with the new technologies.

The research method was the sociological investigation, made through surveys.

The data have been collected through interview, using as an investigation technique, the face to face investigation.

The data collecting data instrument was the questionnaire, which beside the identification data, contained a number of 23 questions.

For the research it was used the semantics differential, the five steps way.

The processing of the collected data was made with the help of Excel program.

To obtain a more exact image regarding the communication situation in the knowing situation, the questions have been grouped in three analyze domains, as it follows:

- Identifying the way of the used communication channels in the studied organizations;

- The communication with the help of the new technology;

- Relevant questions.

The sample used for our analysis was represented by 242 managers of an organization from the south of Romania.

The observation unit is represented by the organization no matter of the activity domain.

The study unit is established as being the person with a lead function, no matter of the gender.

The period of the data collection was between 07/12/2014 and 08/30/2014.

The study was made using a simple, random sample scheme.

The appreciations for each answering version to the questions contained by the questionnaire were evidenced by calculating the medium score after the weighted average formula:

...

where: xi = is relative frequency,

ni = is the grade given to the answer and

zi = is the total answers to the analyzed question.

There have been applied 308 questionnaires, from which 242 were validated. To establish the size of the representative sample regarding the obtaining some significant statistical data, it has been used the Taro Jamane formula, a method that starts from the total population's volume, without calculating the population's characteristics and it is recommended for small collectivities. The total number of the persons with leading functions inside the studied organizations is 308.

...

where: e = is the maximum admitted error,

N = researched community size

The maximum admitted error degree is 3%.

The medium obtained scores after the analysis of the obtained answers from the respondents represent the values on which we made the interpretations of the received answers from the questioned sample in this study.

The average score and the global score, obtained after analyzing the received answers from the respondents, represent the values on which base we made the interpretations of the received answers from the questioned sample in this study.

4. The results of the research

For all the 242 respondents that responded to our solicitation, we created three different segmentations, as follows: medium age, gender and level of studies.

Our respondents have a medium age of 49. The distribution regarding the gender shows a predominance among the male gender, where 146 are men. The female gender is represented by 96 females. The proportion is 60.33% men and 39.67% women.

Regarding the studies of the respondents, 69.14% have university studies and postgraduate 16.21%. Only 14.65% of them have medium studies.

Grouping the contained questions in the sample, the study followed to analyze of the following interest domains:

- identifying the way of the used communication channels in the studied organizations;

- the evaluation of the interest for communication with the help of the new technologies;

- relevant questions.

Identifying the way of the used communication channels in the studied organizations

The communication channels actually represent a choice that can make the message that can be transmitted to reach its target. Developing the communicational technologies and the appetite of the people for using one of them is a reality of which any good manager must take in consideration. We will not choose the sending to the consumers an informing letter as long as we can use safer, faster, and why not more attractive channels.

According to the medium obtained scores, the interest for choosing the communication's channels in the studied organizations situate from the lack of interest to the incertitude.

Three of the five online communication channels brought in the attention of our respondents seem to them not important: the blogs (average score=1.48), the social networks (average score=1.39) and the sponsored links (average score=1.2).

Not important seemed to them the offline channels, each of the one that have been purposed obtained medium scores between 1.52 and 2.5: street billboard (average score=2.5), radio (average score=2.3), press (average score=2.15), fairs and exhibitions (average score=1.57) and television (average score=1.52). In the same category they included and one of the online channels: company website (average score=2.44).

It seems that the only communication channel over which they seemed undetermined is the email, which obtained a medium score of 3.01.

The interest's evaluation for the communication with the help of the new technology

The technological revolution and the new technologies based on communication are the base on which it is build the society based on knowing. The relation between science and technology produced deep transformations from which result the immaterial economy whose principal resource represents the knowledge that can produce economical grow.

Using new communication technologies are the result of the way the leaders of an organization succeed to mobilize and stimulate the organization's members in the development of communication. This supposes the use of the technologies that are loved by the organization's members, but it also means the stimulation of the use of proper technologies for the organizational activity.

Inside our study we let the respondents to appreciate which of the communication ways with the help of the new technology are important from their point of view (Chart 2).

The obtained results after the evaluation position the average score of each knowledge transfer instrument presented by us, at a distance between two and 4 hundredths, from 1.96 for video conferences, to 2.35 for an efficient informational flow. Inside this interval is situated and the communication with the help of social media and the communication by intranet, each of them offering the possibility of live communication, including through interpersonal communication, for an almost unlimited number of users.

The expressed opinions of the questioned managers show that no matter of the type of communication technology that got their attention, these consider it unimportant.

Relevant questions

To find out what is the real opinion of our respondents about the studying subject, we chose to present them few questions of the answers that we are targeting in this study and to check the hypothesis from which we left.

The received answers show that regarding the preoccupation for the efficiency of the communication in the organizations that they rule, the managers are mostly undecided, six of nine aspects through which they can efficient the communication obtained medium scores between 2.91 and 3.46.

Very decisive were about the sustaining of the employees' initiatives, which they consider unimportant (average score=2.34) and with two aspects they appreciated as being important: the efficient delegation of the tasks (average score=3.51) and the promotion of the mutually respect (average score=3.53).

The respondents' interest regarding the domains of this study

The medium obtained scores by the checked interest domains and which are between 1.96 and 2.24, show that our study's subject is unimportant for the respondents (Chart 4).

The average score obtained by one aspect, 3.15 - relevant questions, succeeded to bring the respondents in the situation of being undecided.

Over all, the all three interest domains targeted by the made study, that obtained a global score of 2.45, proved to be for our respondents, unimportant.

Conclusions

The main conclusion after this study is that there is no interest for promoting and using the online communication, the one that is so much appreciated by the public.

The study reached its objectives by identifying the managers' preoccupations for the efficiency of the communication in their organization and by identifying the knowing level and of the interest regarding the modern communication channels.

As for the assumptions from which we stated in making this study, we can say that:

The first hypothesis - the online communication is fructified in the organization's activity by its managers - rules out.

The received answers prove that the persons with leading functions from the organizations that formed our sample, are far away of our expectations.

In proportion of 78.55%, the respondents don't understand the role and importance of the communication in the implementation and practice of the management, their answers being between lack of importance (6.63%), unimportant (15%) and so and so (56.92%).

These persons that have leading functions, have no manager talent and more than sure neither the required studies, proofing that they rather remain stationed in a world they knew and don't want to leave even if the reality crossed those temporary borders.

The second hypothesis - the online and offline communication is a part of the general strategy of the organization - rules out.

Without interest for the communication's efficiency it is obvious that this is not a part of the general strategy of the organization.

The third hypothesis - the organization's management is preoccupied by the alignment of the communication with the new technologies - rules out.

The studied organizations' managers are not interested of the communication's importance for the smooth of the organization, using the new technologies obtaining a medium score of 2.24.

Most of the organizations are based on survival actions in a hard tried economy by the crisis, the political factors, and the unclear or burdensome legislation. The preoccupation for communication does not, yet, takes part in the interest area of the managers' majority, as an exception being those whose activity takes place in multinationals.

References

References

Chaffey D., Ellis-Chadwick F., Johnston K., (2009), Internet marketing: Strategy, implementation and practice, 4 edition, Prentice Hall

Cheney G., Thoger C.L., Conrad C., Lair D.J., (2004), Corporate rhetoric as organizational discourse, p. 79-103 in David Grant, Cyntia Hardy, Cliff Oswick, Linda L. Putnam, (eds), The sage handbook of organizational discourse, SAGE Publications Ltd.

Clauser R.C., (2001), Offline rules, online tools, The Journal of Brand Management, vol. 8, no. 4/5, p. 270-287

Gillis Tamara L., (2011), The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership, 2 edition, Jossey-Bass

Goyette I., Ricard L., Bergeron J., Marticotte F., (2010), e-WOM Scale: word-of-mouth measurement scale for e-services context, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, vol. 27, no. 1, p. 5-23

Groeger L., Buttle F., (2014), Word-of-mouth marketing influence on offline and online communications: Evidence from case study research, Journal of Marketing Communications, vol. 20, no.1-2, p. 21-41

Hargie O., Tourish D., (2009), Auditing Organizational Communication: A Handbook of Research, Theory and Practice, 2 edition, Routledge

Locke E.A., Latham G.P., (2006), New directions in goal-setting theory, Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 15, no. 5, p. 265-286

Miller K., (2011), Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, 6 edition, Cengage Learning

Myers K.K., (2009) Workplace relationships and Membership Negotiation, p. 135-156, in Smith Sandi W., Wilson Steven R., eds., New directions in interpersonal communication research, SAGE Publications

Nguyen M., Yu Sun Bin, Andrew C., (2012), Comparing online and offline selfdisclosure: A systematic review, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 103-111

Park N., Jin B., Seung-A. Annie Jin, (2011), Effects of self-disclosure on relational intimacy in Facebook, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 27, no. 5, p. 1974-1983

Schiffrin H., Edelman A., Falkenstern M., Stewart C., (2010), The associations among computer-mediated communication, relationships, and well-being, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol 13, no.3, p. 299-306

Sias P.M., Krone K.J., Jablin F.M., (2002), An Ecologhical Systems Perspective on Workplace Relationships, p. 615-642, in Knapp Mark L., Miller Gerald R., eds., Handbook of interpersonal communication, 3 edition, Sage Publications, Inc.

Steijn M.P., Schouten A.P., (2013), Information sharing and relationships on social networking sites, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 16, no.8, p. 582-587

Stephenson J., Mintzer R., (2008), Ultimate Homebased Business Handbook: How to Start,Run and Grow Your Own Profitable Business, 2 edition, Entrepreneur Press

Trusov M., Bucklin R.E., Pauwels K., (2009), Effects of Word-of-Mouth Versus Traditional Marketing: Findings from an Internet Social Networking Site, Journal of Marketing, vol. 73, no. 5, p. 90-102

Urban G.L., Amyx C., Lorenzon A., (2009), Online Trust: State of the Art, New Frontiers, and Research Potential, Journal of Interactive Marketing, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 179-190

Van den Bosch Annette L.M., De Jong Menno D.T., Elving Wim J.L., 2005, How corporate visual identity supports reputation, Corporate Communications: an International Journal, vol. 10, no. 2, p. 108-116

Zhu Feng, Zhang Xiaoquan (Michael), 2010, Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Sales: The Moderating Role of Product and Consumer Characteristics, Journal of Marketing, vol. 74, no. 2, p. 133-148