Question

Workplace Messaging and Texting

Answer 1

Answer:

The questions are in three parts, so I will group them accordingly and only write out the checked answers.

Part 1: What benefits will you mention to your supervisor? Check all that apply.

IM enables real-time communication anywhere in the world

IM is a convenient alternative to the telephone

Part 2: Which option is the best practice to avoid security issues?

Do not send confidential or sensitive information via IM or text

Part 3: Which texting guidelines does Jeanne ignore in this situation? Check all that apply.

Alert the sender when the sender has sent you a message by mistake

Don't text in inappropriate situations

Explanation:

Part 1: Instant Messaging (IM) enabling real time communication means that communication can be done without delay in delivery, and this is of advantage in a workplace especially one that is large and has sub-units because the barrier of distance is breached. For example, if a member of the team is not present at work and an information is needed urgently from him/her, using IM that person can be reached easily and a response gotten immediately.

Also, IM is a convenient alternative to the telephone because it is a cheaper alternative, more information can be passed and communication can take place at a lower cost. Besides this, it ensures the maintenance of a more serene environment at work because it is a non-audible form of communication as opposed to telephone, which is an audible form of communication and can cause noise pollution in the work place if a large number of workers are talking at the same time and if they are talking loudly too. Thirdly, because it is a visual form of communication, discrete and personal information can be passed without the other workers hearing or knowing about it.

saying that IM allows for speedy recovery of lost documents may not be helpful in this situation because first of all, the supervisor will have a sense that using IM will promote carelessness, because of the ease to recover lost documents and it is not entirely true that IM can be used to recover lost documents, it is mainly for communication and uses text messages.

Part 2: IM like every other virtual forms of communication is easily prone to security mishaps, because a glitch in the transmission channel can lead to sensitive information being lost or exposed to inappropriate audience, hence as a best practice to avoiding security issues, sensitive or confidential information should be as much as possible not be sent using IM or text.

The other options; respecting receivers by using good grammar and proper spelling and making oneself unavailable does not have anything to do with improving security so they remain unchecked.

Part 3: guidelines are made to prevent abuse and misuse, the same applies for texting especially in the workplace. From the scene described in the third part, Jeanne, knowing that the sender sent the wrong message should have prompted the sender on this because this could have easily been avoided if the information was passed person-to-person, since the sender is seeing the receiver so he/she knows which particular Jeanne to talk to, so, responding to a message that is not meant for you is a default in the use of texting. Secondly, Jeanne was in the middle of a conversation when the text came in, since the situation was not urgent, she could have finished with the conversation with her supervisor before responding to the text message so she violated another texting guideline. Now just imagine that you were Jeanne's supervisor, how would you feel when she abruptly pauses your conversation to respond to a text message.

The first option is actually true, sad news or sensitive business matters are not passed via text messaging but it does not apply in the context described, while not expecting instant reply is not a guideline.