Disadvantages of Wireless Technologies
Physical:- Studies have shown that Radio Frequency Radiation (exposure from cell phones, antennas, cordless phones wireless routers) may have biological and health effects such as cancer, disruptions to cell functions, neurological, psychological and behavioral effects (Fawcett, 2008).
Communications in a Virtual Office:- Intangible rewards such as praise and recognition cannot be given as casually, especially for internally motivated employees.
- Organizations will need new ways to socialize new employees due to less face to face communication and reduced opportunities to develop natural camaraderie.
- Management of virtual teams can be complex and chaotic. As with virtual monitoring, employees may feel loss of independence, loss of freedom of mobility and a feeling that "someone is always looking over my shoulder".
- Continuous connectivity to work leads to employee burnout.
- Informal communications are not possible, ie) conversations at the water cooler.
- Discussions on difficult or controversial topics may be curtailed and resolution of conflicts which require confronting and negotiating would be difficult (Hamilton & Rupp, 2007).
Other:- Home monitoring and workplace interventions require close attention to issues of privacy and confidentiality.
- Poor design of wireless technologies can detract from features such as mobile messaging, automated documentation and decision support systems.
- Staff resources: who is responsible for broken or lost equipment, who will provide ongoing training, how will the system interface with current information systems, how will this affect workflow?
8 comments:
I am concerned about one of the disadvantage of wireless technologies. You mention risk of cancers. Our youth are attached to wireless technologies 24/7 these days.
I just purchased a cell phone for my son for Christmas. He is the only one of his friends without one (so he says). What are we exposing our kids to anyway????????
cindy
Hi Cindy,
I agree with you, its scary to think of what health issues may arise for our children later down the road. Wireless technologies such as cell phones and their correlation with cancers is a controversial topic. Major health agencies in North America, including Canada continue to state that there is not enough evidence to support this. Fawcett's (2008) article noted that because there is a stronger public health tradition in Europe there is stronger pressure to take action unlike Canada and the U.S.
There is an interesting blog on CNN,that you should check out which discusses this very topic.
What caught my eye, was the fact that many of the studies that dismissed the correlation of cell phones and cancer were on people who only used their phone a few times/week. Very different from the length of time a typical teenager might use. Also it was noted that some studies only followed participants for a short time (3 years)which is hardley comparable to what our kids are using now and into the future.
Thanks,
Jennifer
References:
Fawcett, J. (2008). Health risks of wireless technologies. Alive: Canadian Journal of Health Nutrition. April (306). 154-157.
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/
...there's also been some media information lately about parents who track their teen's whereabouts through GPS-enabled cell phones...the travel patterns of teens and monitoring their location can all be tracked by wireless devices...
I'm not sure if this is an advantage or a disadvantage...
Laura
Wiehe, Sarah E., Carroll Aaron E., Liu, Gilbert C., Haberkorn, Kelly L., Hoch, Shawn C., Wilson, Jeffrey S.,& Fortenberry, Denis J. (2008). Using GPS Enabled Cell Phones to track the travel patterns of adolescents. Int. J.Health Geogr. 7-22.
The main disadvantage that I see in using wireless communication is that the personal contact between individuals is lost. Many people (not just teenagers, either) now use text messaging and e-mail as their sole means of communication. The non-verbal cues are lost, as is the camaraderie that you mention.
Heather
One of the greatest drawbacks to wireless technology is a decrease in job satisfaction. As you mentioned in your blog, there can be little or no face to face or office/workplace relationships. For me, personally, one of the greatest things about my job is the people that I work with. I worry that if this element of the work environment is taken away, would there be increased job turnover and therefore, perhaps a decrease in the quality of care/services?
Renee
I agree with you all in that the wireless way of the world now a days definatley decreases the time spent face to face with one another. The interpersonal relationships seem to be less and less personal. With all new technology there are downfalls or disadvantages and I think it is important for us to recognize them and work harder to avoid them. Educating ourselves on the risks associated with wireless methods of communication, ie: cell phones and cancer risks. Although it seems everything today is a cancer risk. Things like tracking our children through GPS, and text messaging, can potentially work for our benefit. My little girl is 6 and my little boy is 1 and I am terrified of what technological advances will be made by the time they are teenagers! I once felt so in the know when it came to this stuff, to only realize that I am so not!!! Thanks for the info. Cathy
The increasing use of wireless technologies will definitely change the way we do things at work. A co-worker and I had to laugh one day as we were in the midst of a discussion through back and forth emails, only realizing we were in offices across the hall from each other!
On another note: the constant connectivity to work that can make employees available 24/7 of the day. The advantage of tracking our children through GPS has been noted, but how about when its the employer using this to track your whereabouts at every moment of the day?
Jennifer
I think another disadvantage is the constant obsolescence of the equipment and technology. No sooner do you learn how to operate a system than it is replaced with something newer, faster, smaller, more complicated, and so on. Sometimes you are still struggling with one system and it is changed. It feels like I would imagine a rat on an exercise wheel must feel - constantly moving but never getting there. I often just want to jump off - and retire to the beach/woods/country/you name it.
- Madeleine
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