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Study Finds Instant Messaging Helps Productivity

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the you-gotta-be-kidding-me dept.

MojoKid writes "Researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California, Irvine conducted a telephone study by randomly surveying individuals employed full-time who use computers in an office environment at least five hours per week. They netted 912 respondents, of which 29.8 percent claimed to use IM in the workplace 'to keep connected with coworkers and clients.' Neither occupation, education, gender, nor age seem to have an impact on whether an individual is an IM user or not. The study theorizes that using IM enables individuals to 'flag their availability.' Doing so can limit when IM interruptions occur. Even if an IM interruption comes when it is not necessarily convenient to the recipient, it is 'often socially acceptable' to ignore an incoming message or respond with a terse reply stating that the recipient is too busy at the moment to properly respond." Also another study recently found that water is wet, and a third study found that most studies waste money.

13 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Not So Obvious to Many in Corporate America by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also another study recently found that water is wet, and a third study found that most studies waste money. Well, just yesterday you ran a story speculating that technologies like instant messaging make us stupid.

    So while you may dismiss this as the painfully obvious, at least I'll have something to shut down the baseless claims that a lot of good useful tools today "make us stupid." It's still possible for something to make us both more productive and stupid but at least there's some evidence supporting instant messaging in the workplace.

    Waste of money because the sample size was too small? Maybe. Blatantly obvious? Not even close. I personally know several people at my company that still view it as a waste of time instead of a useful tool. It's sad that so many great software tools get bad reputations because there are fringe cases of abuse.
    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Not So Obvious to Many in Corporate America by jeiler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's sad that so many great software tools get bad reputations because there are fringe cases of abuse.

      Get me percentages of business use vs. abuse before you start claiming these are "fringe cases." Claims like yours make for nice rhetorical arguments, but don't add any actual substance to the discussion.

      --

      If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.

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    2. Re:Not So Obvious to Many in Corporate America by wattrlz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Productivity and stupidity are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Plenty of moderately successful individuals are in the position they are now because they lack the excess brainpower to waste on ethics, logic, and other considerations that might hinder their productivity. eg: I'm sure many of us could churn out more code if we weren't smart enough to get bored.

    3. Re:Not So Obvious to Many in Corporate America by fictionpuss · · Score: 3, Insightful
      There's a very thin line between anecdotal evidence and obviousness. Statistics don't play a part in that when they confirm what practitioners already know from their experience in the field.

      It sounds like the problem you are describing is not one with your knowledge, but your personal frustration with your bosses who don't trust you at your word that employing technology X,Y, or Z will reap benefits. Bosses who will continue to waste your time until statistics and studies are conducted which will likely happen after we're already swimming in the sea of obviousness.

      You need new bosses. Projecting your frustration upon the OP is misleading.

  2. Doesn't follow. by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only result of this study is the knowledge that a percentage of the people who use IM believe it to be "productive". It has no actual proof that the activity of IM actually increases productivity in a measurable way.

    I've dealt with a lot of people who think IM makes them productive, and I tend to disagree.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    1. Re:Doesn't follow. by poopdeville · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When all you need is a quick yes/no answer when you're in the middle of some work, having to drop everything and move on to another project or leave your desk to physically find the person is a real pain.

      (To my QA guys:) Maybe the fact that we're not available for your "quick yes/no" questions means we're in the middle of some work.

      --
      After all, I am strangely colored.
  3. _Not_ a waste of money by samael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just because it's obvious to you, that doesn't mean that everyone knows it.

    Hell - just because it's obvious to you, that doesn't mean it's true!

    --
    My Journal
    1. Re:_Not_ a waste of money by mh1997 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I can't find anywhere in TFA that proves productivity was actually increased.

      The perception of increased productivity is not proof just as the perception of decreased productivity is not proof.

      Just because you were not interrupted does not mean productivity increased - you can be chatting all day with your significant other and not consider that an interruption. Hell, I am wasting time at work posting on slashdot and not being interrupted - BECAUSE I AM NOT WORKING. Work would interrupt me.

  4. Definitely helps me! by antdude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have speech and hearing impediments (born with them), so verbal communications in person and on telephone is sometimes impossible. IMs (and e-mails) are life savers. I am not sure how I would be able to work if I didn't have these technologies (same for the Internet -- addicting too!).

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  5. No Thanks by karvind · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I am less productive when I get interrupted every 10-15 min from a pop window. Just because you can ask, people don't spend time thinking or looking for it themselves. One can argue for and against such a thing and it depends on your work. Analogy holds that online books are good for manuals (instant search), but when I want to read a novel, nothing beats a physical paper. Similarly if you working which requires more thinking and analysis, you are better off with less interruption.

    I have also limited checking emails to 3 times a day. If there is an emergency, there is a phone and you can stop by my cube.

  6. IM'ing in line-of-sight by FozE_Bear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hell, I even IM the guy in the next cube when he's on the phone. It seemed odd at first, but for important issues with simple yes/no answers, it can be really effective.

  7. Short answers drive me nuts by failedlogic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I like the idea of instant messaging but I prefer e-mail to IM. Reasons? Overuse of IM lingo, short answers to complicated questions and the non-business tone of the exchange.

  8. More of a survey by jonnythan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is more of a survey than a study, isn't it?

    I mean, they just asked people if it made them more productive. People aren't really going to have much of an idea about their productivity rates.

    A "study" would be if they actually quantified and examined the effects on productivity with and without instant messaging.