Social Proximity and Interaction within the Corporate Structure - Field Notes

1. The trip to Charlieâ??s Steak House: The high command of iMediaChannel decided the take advantage of the rare physical proximity of the employees from one department normally stationed in different parts of the world. The VP decided to hold a social event so that people can get to know each other. On departure, people were aware of each otherâ??s official identities, but they were not able to hold to these restraints through the evening because being in the larger social environment made them forget each othersâ?? official roles the company power structure and protocol.

2. The ice cream outings turned into â??Sammich lunchesâ??:1 People were grouped into building 5 because they did similar jobs and the cube rotation happened to group them together. One individual with resources took the initiative to try and create a community. Some people stuck to each other while others left the group and the company with time. Even after the physical proximity was removed, these individuals are still able to find each other and maintain a culture using rituals and practices like occasional sandwich lunches to keep abreast of each otherâ??s lives. During these meetings, those who work together still maintain a level of respect and restraint that is compatible with their workplace relationship. With time, all the individuals begin to ignore their workplace restraints and even make fun of each other.

3. The end of departmental bowling. Identity base with no culture: During her visit to the Concord office, one of the senior managers decides to take all her employees to a bowling alley so that they can have fun, and interact with each other outside the work environment. This outing did not have any incidents, but it was not successful in achieving its objective because the participants did not continue to gather after the manager left the state. This goes to show that the interaction and apparent socialization observed only happened because an authority mandated it. This is a good example of how formal orders cannot create cultures. Informal cultures are a result of constant multi-directional communication within a group.

4. Birthdays and pre-wedding parties: When people have these seemingly social gatherings within the company environment, there is a limit of what is and is not acceptable. This manifests itself on the messages on the cards that are given. The messages are often vague and because no one wants to express views and make jokes bordering on unacceptable behavior based on company regulations and formal culture. The cards are very impersonal so as to stay within the regulation of the company.

5. Lunch buddies and water fountain chat: The company has a policy that encourages polite casual talk and relationships among employees. This, together with the omnipresent fear of violating company rules creates friendships that are not sincere. People often meet and joke in the common areas, but they are seldom at ease because they are cautious.

6. Annual friendships and ad-hoc friendly calls: Some people try to be friendly to people that they know are useful to them. Or, people try to make friends with their co-workers with whom their have no common interest and their only uniting factor is the workplace that they share. This lends to short-lived and artificial friendships that struggle to exist for as long as the professional contact has to be kept. If/when there is not relationship, neither party has the desire to keep in touch or even attempt to ask for the personal contact information of the other person.

7. Intended but impractical friendships: When people with some kind of proximity try to become friends (age), but this friendship is hindered by another kind of proximity that is lacking (history, race, culture, economic class, social values etc)

8. Networking and friendship: what is the difference and can both exist without compromising each other? Is an attempt to be friends with a highly ranking official a mistake? Should one attempt it or can people be friends only if they are at the same level?

9. Official but cordial business: When does a co-worker or a manager know which relationship to privilege where there is an overlap between a favour that one can give to someone he knows and likes as opposed to keeping quiet and acting in the clear interest of the company. Can your boss hint when you want to buy a new car but your job is not secure? Can he/she know and keep quiet about you looking for a new job?

10. There is more freedom to express ones-self more liberally when co-workers are outside the physical confines of the workplace environment.

- They are more apt to shed artificial corporate rules of silence and express themselves more genuinely

- But one must be careful in saying this because the need to go out of ones way to exercise the freedom can sometimes make people say things that they would otherwise not have a strong disposition to say.

1. - The law does not allow corporations to monitor private phone calls, but it does allow or ignore the monitoring of Internet activity.

- Smalltalk at the water fountain is often OK unless work progress significantly suffers as a result. However, often people know when to stop that because of the perception it may create. But the presence of a manager or boss in the group often legitimizes a conversation and makes it last longer (give example of post meeting chats vs. my lunches with Andrew when I was new)

- How appropriate is it for people to make long phone calls and talk about non-work related things that can often wait. They are not plans that have to be executed on spot or errands and messages that must be passed, but entertaining talk about audio systems or curtains (purple walls, wallpaper, couple gossip, swearing and explicit language that communicates the social brow of the talker even in the closed workplace community)

1. - Having been moved to a less secluded and more social section, the social interaction became a problem. Noise was an issue and four (4) people seating near the problem area purchased headphones. Someone even asked if the company provided the headphones.

 

- The problem was so prevalent that a majority was being taken hostage by a smaller group because of the higher value of perceived harmony among people than the need for order and efficiency.

- Among the culture of quiet studious people, there was talk of the others who either ignored or really did not care about the plight of the others

13 - People tell stories/gossip to explain why things are the way they are: When a layoff or a budget cut takes place, people tell stories that tend to bring them closer to other people in the same situations.

 

- Other groups who budgets have not been cut or whose people have not been laid-off feel left out (justifiably) because they do not have a uniting story to tell. Their success stories may disconfirm or look down on the contrasting group.

14) -The interactions is now beyond the work environment

- Is there and hangover of the restrictions and bounds that were in effect during the workdays?

- In the workdays, was the interaction restricted by social/gender realities that existed outside the work functional environment?

- Does the other person echo these feelings and effects of forces?

- How does my socio-political context affect the building of these silent relationships and in the general reading and understanding of situations that are seldom clearly discussed unless there is a looming conflict or violation of the ambiguous rules?

1 Sammich Lunches: With time, some members of the Ice cream group have left the company, but the relationships have continued to exist. Because of this, there are occasional sandwich lunches at a deli on Main Street Concord. During one of the initial meetings, someone misspelled sandwich in an email messageâ?¦ hence the word â??Sammichâ??.