Cyberculture: Society, Culture, and the Internet - The Internet And Work Culture

THE INTERNET AND WORK CULTURE

The Internet has greatly changed the nature of work in connected segments of the world. For instance, work increasingly is performed outside of the traditional work place—a central office or factory—and more often in homes and other remote locations. The most cybercultured companies, moreover, more or less do away with the physical models of work, and are little more than interconnecting networks rather than physical, hierarchical organizations. Telecommuting allows workers to adjust their schedules to their own convenience and perform work in the comfort of their home offices. Critics point out, however, that this isn't always the liberating force that proponents chalk it up to be. Telecommuting may indeed allow greater flexibility and some convenience, but it also signals work's encroachment into the personal lives of workers. By blurring the line between work time and personal time, critics contend, the Internet and business cyberculture foster a model of living in which employees are, in a sense, always "on call," potentially eroding the quality of personal time.

The cyberculture of business presents particular problems for established firms looking to remain competitive by adopting e-commerce. At the most basic level, embracing the Internet's technologies, not to mention its culture, can be disorienting if it subverts established traditions. The process of foregoing old supply chains for the efficiencies of the Internet must be carefully negotiated to avoid disintermediation, or losing business by being cut out of a supply chain altogether. Meanwhile, the internal culture of a firm, less easily quantified with statistics and difficult to transform with a new technology, may clash with the style of interactivity fostered by the Internet. Intra-nets largely undo direct top-down lines of communication in favor of a more complex web of interaction between individuals and departments, workers and managers. The Internet also fosters a greater dispersal of information among company members than was normal in traditional company models, where managers were more likely to monopolize information and coordinate plans in a traditional hierarchy. With e-mail lists and electronic message boards available, employees may view such managerial behavior as alienating. Finally, cyberculture in the business world encourages the practice of thinking outside of existing paradigms, and thus businesses hoping to build a strong Internet presence need to encourage innovation and novel ideas among all their employees.