Cyber work: Alternative way during the riots in the city<\/p>\n
By Hanny Agustine<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The economic wheel suddenly stopped 10 days ago
\nwhen riots broke out in the city. No business activities were
\nconducted as all stores, markets and offices closed.<\/p>\n
The next few days after the unrest, for security reason, most
\nbusinesses decided to let all employees stay at home. They made
\nthe announcement through radio stations, or did a \"call tree\" to
\ninform employees about the decision. Employees were divided into
\ngroups based on the location of their residency. One person was
\nappointed as head of each group and was in charge of spreading
\ninformation to each group's members.<\/p>\n
Even though offices were closed, for some people, this did not
\nnecessarily mean that there was no work at all. You might get
\nrestless if you had to finish the papers for a presentation and
\nthe files were not with you. If you have a computer at home and
\nsomeone was still in the office, you might be able to get the
\nnecessary files. That's if you were successful in getting
\nconnected to the office' server.<\/p>\n
You could also exchange files with your colleagues through e-
\nmails, thanks to the Internet.<\/p>\n
In fact, two years ago, a similar thing happened. All stores
\nand offices were closed following violent attacks on the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro,
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
So, when Jakarta was in upheaval during the past 10 days, some
\noffices utilized more cyber work.<\/p>\n
In the past, we'd probably never thought about the benefits of
\ncyber work. As a university student, I used to play with Apple
\nIIe. This machine had a macho bulk body, big external disk drive
\nand 5.25\" diskette and rigid keyboard. It looked like the
\nsmartest machine in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
To understand how this machine worked, we were entrenched with
\nASCII code and assembler language, such as STA for store and LDA
\nfor load. It was as complicated as Morse code. For us, this
\nstand-alone PC was very powerful. Now we can find Pentium II 330
\nMHz from Intel, which makes multimedia and file transfer so
\namazing and wonderful with the fastest modem.<\/p>\n
Working with e-mail and also through the Internet changes
\neverything. It changes the way we work and the working culture
\nitself. In electronic communications, we sometimes never
\nphysically meet the people we are dealing with and we never know
\nwhat he or she looks like. We don't care whether he or she works
\nin the kitchen, in bed or in the garden.<\/p>\n
The way we communicate in this electronic communication is
\nalso different. There is a degree of informality. What flows
\nbetween people is not paper or documents anymore but knowledge.
\nKnowledge development requires a free flow of information,
\nfeelings and thoughts. People must be able to express their inner
\nfeelings and have them respected. Lip service can be ignored. In
\nan electronic environment, the important thing is the information
\nitself, not the way we speak to others.<\/p>\n
The other thing is the emphasis of knowledge-authority rather
\nthan position-authority. In an electronic environment,
\nrecognition of people for their contribution is important, not
\ntheir position in the company. Sometimes, in fact, executives do
\nnot divulge their seniority when participating online, nor do
\nthey stifle debate. They get a better picture of what people in
\nthe organization feel rather than through formal hierarchical
\nchannels.<\/p>\n
Cyber working also needs openness of communication and
\nwillingness to share information. The person who comes into a
\nteleconference to gain information but then disappears without
\nany trace, will be quickly ostracized. In the work of knowledge
\nnetworking, people who have knowledge to contribute are expected
\nto contribute it freely. It's a case of give and take. You give
\nyour expertise to someone and someone completely different can
\nreciprocate with information useful to you.<\/p>\n
Experts say coordinating people is the most difficult aspect.
\nCooperation is not competition. Yet, it is not easy to
\ncoordinating different people since there is probably an element
\nof competitiveness in each of us.<\/p>\n
Finally, a strong sense of responsibility to coworkers is a
\nmust. This is where normal team development activities have a
\nrole to play.<\/p>\n
Last but not least, humans are human. It is often discovered
\nthat interspersing networking activities with face-to-face
\nmeetings can greatly improve the degree of mutual understanding
\nand strengthen team cohesiveness.<\/p>\n
In my case, even though I had my presentation approved by my
\nboss, I still called her at home to make sure that she liked it.
\nI needed to hear her voice. This is better than getting an e-mail
\nsaying: \"Good, I loved it.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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