Question

With so many workers habituated to using mobile devices for so much of their work, should company management develop apps for influencing subordinates? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

Answer:

This is not a yes or no answer.

The action of leadership/management would depend on their assessment of the impact of the habit on the results being delivered by the workers.

The questions to ask are:

1. Does the use of the mobile phone for their work reduce or increase productivity?
2. Does what are the advantages? are there disadvantages?
3. What would developing an app achieve for management?

Explanation:

In trying to influence workers who are already habituated or accustomed to a particular way of doing things, it is best practice to study the culture and establish what its advantages are. This can then be compared to its demerits. If the demerits clearly and consistently present risks that make of no relevance the advantages, the leader(s) must move to correct such a risk.

So assuming that using mobile phones makes ICT risks (such as loss of company data, loss of company data, risk of unauthorised access etc) even more pronounced, whether or not the app is the best solution will depend on the total cost of that solution to the company weighed against other options.

Other options could simply be

- looking for an already existing app

- banning the using of mobile phone for office work using etc

- re-establishing the use of laptops as the preferred work tool

In any of the above scenarios, the leadership will succeed in influencing its workers positively if it:

• plays its part well as a cultural shift role model
• becomes an arbiter of the policies modifying changes affecting work style
• encourages the new workstyle by rewarding those that embrace it openly
• manage change by ensuring that there is a training platform that helps ease the transition into the new work style.

Cheers