Discussion: How does multitasking affect your productivity? Would you welcome software that alerted you to truly important messages, or would you ignore it? How can you be more respectful of others’ time?

Source: Jackson, M. (2008, June 23). May we have your attention, please? BusinessWeek, p. 55.

Brainstorming Thwarts Creativity?

Despite the conventional wisdom that brainstorming fosters thinking outside the box, the popular idea sessions might actually frustrate creativity in the corporate setting.

Management consultants Patricia Gorman Clifford and Reneé Dye say that few people excel at generating ideas without guidance or boundaries. They explain that brainstorming sessions tend to be dominated by “pushy” members, which silences others in the group.

Although the mantra of “there are no bad ideas” dominates brainstorming sessions, few ideas that come out of these meetings are taken seriously primarily because they are bad. Clifford and Dye say that managers arrive at their best ideas when asked specific questions; this way people can be creative within limits, and ideas are kept more realistic. The best questions to foster creativity should ask managers to view their product or business from an unconventional angle and should be carefully phrased.

The consultants recommend breaking up large meetings into smaller groups of four to encourage quiet individuals to participate.

Discussion: How might you improve your participation in groups? Have you been in a group that discouraged your input? How can active listening help in a group setting?

Source: How brainstorming can frustrate creativity. (2007, November 11). The Wall Street Journal, p. B5.

Grammarian Grad Student Grouses on Blog

A language-loving graduate student has taken aim at the incorrect use of quotation marks, making her own mark on the Internet with a popular grammar blog.

Bethany Keeley, a communications student with a specialization in rhetoric at the University of Georgia in Athens, has attracted attention to the use, misuse, and overuse of quotes on The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, which she has subtitled Misinterpreting Bad Punctuation Since 2005.

The blog highlights incorrect usage of quotation marks that Keeley finds particularly offensive, such as:

Keeley has attained Internet fame and up to 3,000 hits a day on her blog, but says, “I never thought when I was a small child that I’d be a punctuation celebrity.”

Discussion: In which situation are quotation marks always required? How does an employee’s poor grammar reflect on a company? How do you react when you see an obvious typo or grammar error?

Source: Noveck, J. (2007, September 24). Blogger: Stop 'unnecessary' quote marks. Washington Times. Retrieved June 11, 2008, from http://www.washingtontimes.com

Egregious E-Mails Lead to the Axe

E-mail policy violations are causing employees to be fired, according to a recent report from e-mail security provider Proofpoint.

Forrester Consulting conducted the survey of 300 large businesses and found that although nearly all had e-mail policies in place, many did not provide regular training to familiarize employees with the rules. Not surprisingly, nearly 28 percent of the companies had fired a worker for e-mail policy abuse; almost half had disciplined an employee for e-mail offenses.

Those transgressions were as minor as sending a personal e-mail and as major as leaking confidential information or using profanity.

Proofpoint’s Keith Crosley summed up safe e-mail use: “If you wouldn’t want the whole world to read it, don’t put it in an e-mail,” he said. He added that the huge volume of e-mails makes violating policy—whether intentional or not—all too easy.

Discussion: Why would a company be concerned about an employee sending personal e-mails? What kinds of information should never be sent in an e-mail? How would you decide whether an e-mail was inappropriate?

Source: Survey: E-mail violators may get the boot. (2007, November/December). Information Management Journal, 22. Retrieved June 3, 2008, from EBSCO database.

Instant Messaging at Work

The use of instant messaging is likely to become a more commonplace and accepted form of business communication in the very near future.

Teens and young adults have been using IM for several years. But according to Gartner analyst David Smith, 95 percent of employees will use IM as their primary communication tool for voice, video, and text chatting within the next five years.

About 25 percent of businesses today use IM, and companies are scurrying to codify the risks and best-use practices of the often informal form of communication.

"The footprint of IM is definitely smaller than that of e-mail," Smith said. "One of the barriers is the insecure nature of the public networks AOL, MSN and Yahoo! and I think that companies need to figure how best to use IM and increase the usefulness of it."

Discussion: How would you change your IM practices for business use? How do you foresee IM being used as a business tool? What potential risks exist for using IM in a business setting?

Workplace Behavior Dos and Don’ts

Many young workers need pointers about acceptable on-the-job conduct. Attorney Shanti Atkins offers five tips to help youthful employees.

1. Do learn about the company. Examine a firm’s annual reports and learn about the industry before beginning a job. Use social contacts to become aware of a firm’s corporate culture. Adjust your behavior to fit the needs of the company.

2. Don’t dominate or exaggerate. You’re not the boss! Don’t charge into a job thinking you’re going to change policies. Listen and learn. And never lie on a résumé. Employers check.

3. Do be prompt and professional. Work isn’t a lecture hall; be on time! Workers who are consistently late run the risk of losing their jobs. Always act in a professional manner, especially if you go out for drinks with colleagues. Integrity is highly valued in our scandal-ridden world.

4. Don’t take “Casual Friday” too literally. Those low-cut jeans and T-shirts with profane sayings that passed muster on a college campus may not fly at work, even on Casual Fridays. Err on the side of conservatism.

5. Don’t expect online privacy. While at work, never use company equipment for personal correspondence. Don’t forget that your employer can trace every Web site you visit!

Discussion: What kind of Web use should you avoid at work? Why would some co-workers find revealing clothing inappropriate? How might continued tardiness affect others in the office?