Employers should restrict the use of e-mail, instant messaging, and internet use at work due to the fact that these instruments are questionable when used for the purposes of work itself, which means personal use is evidently unproductive and costly for the employer. Employee job performance and effectiveness are dictated by their executive attention (Jiang et al., 2021). Unlike involuntary attention, executive attention is a deliberate one. A study suggests that personal use of technology at work or PUTW can have both negative and positive impacts on job performance, which is substantiated by the arguments regarding executive attention draining or replenishment (Jiang et al., 2021).
The latter is directly related to job satisfaction and performance, where PUTW can either reduce the workload and work-related mental fatigue by replenishing executive attention or decrease productivity by time waste, resource waste, executive attention cutting, as well as mental energy waste. However, it should be noted that the problem of excessive workload can be effectively dealt with through other strategies and approaches, such as increasing employee size to reduce the load on an individual employer or integrate technology to automate routine processes.
Moreover, work-related use of the internet, especially social media, can be disruptive and highly unproductive. It is stated that “employees seem more likely to be burdened by the use of social media for work than benefit from it, but managing one’s responsiveness can help” (Van Zoonen & Rice, 2017, p. 228).
In other words, when social media is used for work-related purposes, it might help with autonomy, but an increase in work pressure and stress makes the use unbeneficial in general. Therefore, if social media is questionable and often unproductive for work-related purposes, personal use certainly renders the practice even more unproductive and harmful to the work. Thus, employers should be interested in limiting and restricting the use of email, instant messaging, and the internet, especially social media, at work since they are distracting and unproductive for the employees as well as costly and wasteful for the employers.
Teamwork is an essential and integral part of many tasks and work, which is why understanding the underlying mechanisms and incorporating correct strategies are critical to ensure the maximization of a team’s productivity. On the basis of my previous experiences working in team environments, it can be stated that in the majority of cases, teammates possess or express a varying degree of interest and involvement in team interaction, communication, and other efforts. It is stated that there are a number of key factors, which affect a team’s performance and productivity, and these “6 factors (interesting team task, the team’s openness to ideas, learning from experience, respect in the team, team unity and team autonomy). These factors are crucial for productivity and satisfaction of a team” (Cerneviciute & Strazdas, 2018, p. 513).
In other words, in most scenarios, some members of a team are engaged more than others, and usually, one individual naturally becomes a team leader. Although some teams performed well without a particular leader figure, whereas others thrived under inspiring leadership, one of the most universally important elements of teamwork are mutual respect, the openness of communication, and team unity alongside autonomy (Cerneviciute & Strazdas, 2018). In other words, team members respecting each other always resulted in a more desirable outcome compared to cases where there was some form of conflict and disrespect.
However, there is still much space for improvements, particularly in the area of planning and proper role allocations. It takes a certain degree of self-awareness and an additional degree of openness for each team member to admit their own weaknesses and recognize the key strengths of others. Therefore, my team’s planning and role allocation efforts could have been drastically improved if some members admitted that they were less competent in certain tasks than others, which is why these objectives should have been assigned to a more experienced individual.
In order to avoid disrupting a vulnerable and fragile attitude of mutual respect, some teammates took on tasks in which they had little to no knowledge or competence. For example, my team had an individual, who was outstandingly proficient at presentation designs, but other members, who did not know or acknowledge his skills, took on these responsibilities, which resulted in subpar presentation. Thus, it is evident that teamwork can greatly impact productivity depending on whether or not a team is capable of allocating responsibilities through an accurate recognition of each member’s individual strengths and weaknesses.
I learned from this experience that being open and self-aware is critical to harness an environment where mutual respect is preserved despite one’s competence levels. In the future, I am motivated to work in team environments in order to maximize the possible output and productivity of a team unit since teams, under a correct setup, can achieve massive results and high levels of productivity. I am highly interested in learning about effective communication strategies, which could be implemented at the very beginning of the team’s collaboration, where openness and self-awareness could be elaborated upon in regards to their importance.
References
Cerneviciute, J., & Strazdas, R. (2018). Teamwork management in creative industries: Factors influencing productivity. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 6(2), 503-516. Web.
Jiang, H., Siponen, M., & Tsohou, A. (2021). Personal use of technology at work: A literature review and a theoretical model for understanding how it affects employee job performance. European Journal of Information Systems, 1, 1-15. Web.
Van Zoonen, W., & Rice, R. E. (2017). Paradoxical implications of personal social media use for work. New Technology, Work and Employment, 32(3), 228–246. Web.