Are there new technologies or material changes that transform businesses’ or companies’ expectations and the way they interact? Have you had any experience with a business or company that introduced new technical systems to do things? What other kinds of changes did they stimulate? How did people react differently?
Michael Hooker wrote an interesting article called, “The Transformation of Higher Education,” he explains that education is changing because of technology and of two forces one of which is cyclical and the other which is structural and both are changing the future of education in high speed ways. He states, “One force is the information revolution, which is driving the shift from an energy-based to a knowledge-based economy. The other is the management revolution, which itself is being driven partly by changes in our capacity to use information” (Hooker, 2012). People today expect to get answers quickly and with the use of technology we get to be together as a class but live very far from each other. Even people who go to the school and live in the same state may never meet each other just because of the fact that we set certain relationship boundaries, that may seem strange if one was to meet another. I know someone who lives about two hours from me who I met at Ashford, she is really nice and is probably done with her master’s program and we chatted all through class, but I am not going to meet her. It makes the relationship different and may be uncomfortable if you drive for two hours and not have anything else in common, what do you think?
Answers to questions can be posted very quickly, reviewing our work before we send it only takes a quick tap on your mouse to check spelling and then moments after that you can pass in your work. When things like errors come up people get frustrated when we cannot get through and for some reason I try over and over again and still get the same error and when that happens I feel nervous. On Monday I could not log in after 5:30 PM, I had passed in my paper during the day and had finished my responses so I knew I had done enough work for the week, it was just disappointing that I could not show up for the last class. Multiple classes are given at the same time to people all over the United States (and a few out) and we can be learning the same things as hundreds of others at the same time without evening realizing it. I believe one of the reasons why my admissions advisor calls me every couple of weeks is that she wants to make sure I am OK and that if I am not she can be a source for help. Has anyone had several calls from people in admissions to be there for support?
When I worked at AT&T we had a timekeeping, scheduling system called Work Force Management it was hard for us to get used to doing and it felt like the managers were watching our every move. This job was great and people were nice so we felt micro-managed at first but we liked our jobs so it became the norm and we had to follow the rules, if we were late for a break we would email our manager and then we would not be in trouble. It felt normal, my boss was nice and he did not hound me too much and he told me to be aware of things he noticed as far as clocking in and out.
Susan Campbell states that, “Monet Software blog offers call center management three ways to simplify call center scheduling, including focusing on a more accurate forecast, involving your agents in the process and automating repetitive tasks. By closely focusing on these simple elements, call center management can make their jobs and the operation of their centers a bit easier”. So in reality what happens with this type of technology managers can do many things, set schedules for people when there is an expected call volume, like last Monday was busy and with Passports being needed for winter travelers so we must be ready to man the phones. I worked at The Passport Information Center and we had a flip sheet that posted how many calls we would get in one day. We would also know the peak times for calls, they would schedule meetings during the slower parts of the day and we could see when our friends were taking their breaks because we would get a big spreadsheet with each employees listed on it.
Campbell, S. (2011, November 17). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/call-center-management/articles/238730-call-center-management-benefit-from-tips-effective-scheduling.htm
Hooker, M. (2012, January 19). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/seminars/Hooker.asp
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