I never knew an organization existed just to teach those above the age of 55 how to use computers -- that's great! Box 11.3 discusses the changes that the organization SeniorNet must cope with. Any change in society affects organizations and people and everyone must make adjustments. I think ever since technology took over, all organizations and people have been forced to rapidly adjust and adapt to all these new technologies. Technology has changed many things in organizations; employees and managers alike must be open to these changes. There are still people that insist on doing things the "old-fashioned way" and it's not beneficial for the organization because there are more efficient ways of doing things now. For example, one of my co-workers still insists on filing everything as hardcopy papers instead of scanning and saving. It's a waste of time to go through her files and dig out documents. So I think in cases like this, companies should step in and make a rule and insist that the new method be adopted.
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I get frustrated with people who won't adopt new technologies that are in common use in an organization. It took years to get everyone in my department using email. The chair finally said that if faculty wanted new computers, they had to use email--he would no longer print out memos for the 2 or 3 who refused to use email. There's a lot of resistance to online classes and the use of any new technologies in classes at SJSU. So the use of blogs, wikis, listservs, and discussion boards--even as supplements to in person classes--isn't all that common. "New" isn't always the best way, but can offer alternative ways for organization members to communicate and to share information.
It is interesting how some employees are still so resistant to technologies. And sometimes this resistance comes from employees we never thought could have a hard time adjusting to those technologies.
Today my work team attended a meeting where the HR VP was talking about the goals for 2009. At some given point along his speech he stated how much he enjoys in person meetings rather than videoconference meetings. His justification for such preference is that he likes seeing people’s expressions, what they are doing while he is speaking. Whereas, he has no idea what people are doing when they are participating on a videoconference.
While I understand his viewpoint, I can not deny that his revelation took me by surprise. In my opinion people who hold high titles within an organization preferred using technologies for the sake of saving time. I was wrong!
Sometimes change is difficult and it is hard for us to let go of what we have grown accustomed to. I for one am guilty of doing this. I had a very hard time letting go of Windows 2000 OS and eventually had to upgrade to Windows XP OS. With my most recent laptop, I had the option of XP or Vista but I just could not bring myself to re-learn the functions and features all over again. Maybe I'm lazy or maybe I'm just sticking with what I know. Either way, I probably won't change my OS again until I buy another new laptop or am forced to upgrade. However, with most other things I can easily adjust and move on.
For example, one of my co-workers still insists on filing everything as hardcopy papers instead of scanning and saving. It's a waste of time to go through her files and dig out documents.
It's been a couple of years since I had an admin position, and let me tell you, I would have killed for a reliable document scanning and storage system. The companies I worked for had equipment that probably could have handled it, but it was relatively new and cumbersome technology and nobody seemed to understand exactly how the networked file storage worked, nor did they have any inclination to learn. So we kept burying ourselves in more and more paper.
Reading that, and thinking of the things that changed just in the time I was an admin, I wonder how different things will feel when I return to the workforce, particularly since I will be aiming to work for more technologically advanced companies (never again with real estate if I can help it). I am a huge technophile in certain areas, but I might need to adjust to a different way of doing things, and I've already caught myself becoming more resistant to change. In particular, I've found myself cursing at Microsoft frequently when using Office 2007, when I can't find a simple command that I knew instinctively how to find in previous editions.
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