The impact of the Internet on the managers' working life. (Commentary).

Chit Sieng, Johnny Wong

This paper examines the impact of the Internet on Singaporean and Australian managers' working life. It encompasses the managers' views of the impact of Internet on their communication, productivity, customer service, efficiency, motivation, time management, work culture, and geographical differences.

It was found that electronic mail, being the most common communication medium on the Internet, did improve the surveyed aspects of managers' working lives. However, the same level of responses was not found in the use of the Internet to conduct their other daily activities. The key reason suggested by the responses was its low usage for work-related activities and respondents were not active participants in E-commerce.

Introduction

Studies and reports have shown that the Internet is a phenomenon which will continue to grow in importance to both companies and individuals. For example, the global Web population is expected to reach 502 million in 2003 (The Industry Standard, 20 September 1999). Gupta and Tan (1999) reported that they expect the number of Asian Internet users to reach 202 million by 2003, as shown in Table 1.

It should also be noted that Asia will account for approximately 40 per cent of the global Internet population.

Further, global business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (E-commerce) spending is expected to reach US$1.3 trillion in 2003 (The Industry Standard, 20 September 1999). In his report for the International Data Corporation (IDC), Jaffe (2001) predicted that Asia Pacific E-commerce will sell more than US$61 billion by the end of 2002. The same report also predicted that by the end of 2002, Australia's B2B E-commerce is expected to sell US$11.7 billion while Singapore's is US$3.8 billion.

Examples of companies that have benefited from E-commerce participation are plentiful. For example, Andel and Witt (2000) reported that IBM re-engineered its entire supply chain, moving its procurement process to the Web. This move has resulted in savings of US$270 million, arising from the reduction of paper invoices. In Singapore, similar enhancements are frequently reported in the local media. For example, United Overseas Bank's B2B portal provides its small business customers with the capability to set up a virtual store front to display their wares and source goods. Payments by their respective clients will also be settled through the bank hence providing end-to-end B2B E-commerce services (Benchmark Communication Ltd and IDG Communications Ltd, July 2000). Another example is the introduction of a new financial portal, which allows corporate treasurers to look up the best rates from banks to decide where they should invest their funds (Straits Times, 18 July 2000).

It can be seen from the above-mentioned report (Jaffe, 2001) that Australia's level of B2B E-commerce is much higher in value compared to Singapore. We found from checking the Web site of the Australian National Office for the Information Economy (2001) that between June 1998 to June 2000, the percentage of Australian businesses accessing the Internet increased by 93 per cent. Moreover, the percentage of businesses with a Web site increased by 167 per cent over the same period. An example of a successful Australian B2B E-commerce story is that of Australia's Allied Express Courier service which makes full use of the Internet as an information conduit to conduct its business. Its business customers are able to access their Website to book its services, track the status of their shipments and more (Benchmark Communications Ltd and IDG Communications Ltd, July 2000).

A survey of eight Asian countries (Asiaweek, 21 July 2000) revealed the following patterns of Internet usage: Electronic mail 59 per cent News/current affairs 43 per cent Company information 43 per cent Technical queries/software downloads 33 per cent Financial information/data 26 per cent

Based on such reports, one will generally conclude that working life will be very much affected or even altered by the introduction of the Internet; and that workers will be highly productive and efficient, compared to those of the "old" working world. However, there are also others who differ from this common perception. For example, there are still many CEOs who do not believe that they need to read their own E-mails, let alone surf the Web! (Businessweek--Asian Edition, 22 March 1999).

According to Goldstein (1999), a survey by Pitney-Bowes revealed that the average United States office worker sends and receives 52 phone messages, 36 E-mails, 36 pieces of mail, 14 faxes and eight pager messages--all within a day. Although we have not come across similar surveys for Singapore or Australia, we expect office workers to face the same situation. It is generally perceived that the advent of the Internet will benefit the workforce and help to enhance worker productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. However, there seems to be a lack of information on the impact that the Internet has had on the working life of managers in particular.

Research Methodology and Design Research Approach

We took an inductive research approach (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p 87) as we intended to collect the data and draw our conclusions about the topic after data analysis. For reasons explained in the following sections, quantitative data was collected and we used some elements of the deductive approach too (ibid, p 91).

Our research strategy was based on a survey to collect primary data as this strategy lends itself well to an inductive research approach (ibid. p 94) for the following reasons:

* a reasonably-sized population of data can be collected in a highly economical way,

* it is most often questionnaire based,

* it allows easy comparisons, and

* it is perceived as authoritative by people in general.

There are three reasons for this project to focus on managers. Firstly, in order to make the project manageable in terms of size, a subset of the workforce was identified (rather than the whole workforce). Secondly, all team members are managers, and are interested to explore other managers' perception of the impact of the Internet in their workplace. Finally, we felt that managers play a pivotal role in facilitating work in all organisations. Therefore, if the Internet is found to be of positive impact to their daily work life, it will also be of benefit to organisations as a whole.

Two industry types were surveyed: the service industry (in particular, tourism and banking) and the manufacturing industry. There were two reasons for choosing these industries:

* Firstly, a literature search revealed that these industry sectors have not been surveyed with these specific objectives in mind. This means that this study could potentially reveal new information.

* Secondly, we decided to survey industries that we have networks with. This will enable us to obtain a substantial sample size. This approach was proven correct as we did have sufficient responses.

Data Collection

The survey was conducted as a cross sectional study. The selection of the sample took place on a non-probability sampling basis (subjective by nature), since we were not able to obtain a large enough sample of managers to conduct random sampling.

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire was developed with reference to two existing Internet questionnaires (International Data Corporation, 2000, and Teo T and YC Rae Lai, 2000). It consisted of closed questions and three open-ended questions. The closed questions consisted of qualifier questions, rating questions, and yes/no questions. An explanation of the terms used in the questionnaire was provided in the cover letter included with each questionnaire. This ensured that respondents from all countries rated the same factors using the same language (Bartol et al, 1996).

Online or E-mailed questionnaires were not utilised for two reasons. Firstly, they may decrease the response rate, as not all respondents may know how to fill out an on-line questionnaire. Secondly, they create a bias, as we would be utilising a research instrument that is part of the research topic.

A small pilot test was carried out (three managers were surveyed in each country) and respondents of the pilot test were excluded from the subsequent survey.

Research Findings

Table 2 provides a summary of the mail outs, responses, and an indication of the response rates received.

Overall we received a 21 per cent response rate, which is deemed acceptable since a 20 per cent response rate is the expected minimum for a quantitative survey. To make the results statistically significant, all the responses have been consolidated--rather than reporting the results by industry and by country. There was very little difference in the results between Singapore and Australia.

Females made up 54 per cent of respondents and males the remaining 46 per cent--the same for Singapore and Australia. Over half of the respondents were in the 31-40 years age group. 22 per cent were in the 41-50 years age group, and the rest were in the 'up to 30 years' age group.

Impact of Electronic Mail on Managers' Work Life

Respondents were asked to outline the impacts of using E-mail on internal and external communication, productivity, customer service, efficiency, motivation, time management, and work culture. In summary, all respondents felt that E-mail had a positive impact on these facets of their work.

a) Communication

With regard to internal and external communication, around 80 per cent of respondents thought both had either improved or substantially improved through the use of E-mail. However, E-mail could have a negative effect on the personal aspect of communication, as two Australian respondents pointed out: "It creates a lack of interaction between personnel and departments" and "Unfortunately it promotes non-personal communication". Singaporean respondents indicated that "E-mail can reduce conflict when talking face to face," and "E-mail can be efficient and facilitate communication. However, it is not to replace direct and personal service to customers." Figures 1 and 2 provide a graphic overview of the responses received.

b) Productivity at Work

Over 80 per cent of respondents rated that E-mail had improved or substantially improved their productivity at work (Figure 3). Respondents felt that E-mail was so efficient it saved time, which allowed them to focus on other matters, and hence get more work done.

c) Customer Service

Figure 4 shows that nearly 70 per cent of respondents indicated that Email had improved or substantially improved their customer service. This mainly related to efficiency in getting documents to customers, rather than personal communication with customers. In summary, E-mail was not to replace the personal customer relationship, but rather make the working relationship more efficient.

d) Efficiency

As shown in Figure 5, around 80 per cent of respondents felt that E-mail had made their work more efficient. This was backed up by comments such as "E-mail is so fast and saves time--rather than printing documents, then faxing them, etc--that the old days..." and "I can just send documents around the world within seconds--it still amazes me.

e) Motivation

Interestingly, as shown in Figure 6, 42 per cent of respondents thought that the use of E-mail made no difference on their motivation for work. Australians felt stronger about this than Singaporeans (58 per cent versus 35 per cent). Nearly 45 per cent thought E-mail had improved their motivation. Here, Singaporeans felt stronger than Australians (49 per cent versus 33 per cent).

f) Time Management

Even though respondents indicated that E-mail had made their work more productive and efficient, some felt that E-mail had diminished their time management (12 per cent) or made no difference at all (32 per cent), as shown in Figure 7.

Interestingly, those respondents who received the least number of Emails per day, indicated that it had impacted negatively on their time management. Just over 30 per cent felt E-mail had made no difference, and 54 per cent thought it had in fact improved or substantially improved their time management. Australians felt more strongly about the decline in time management than Singaporeans, maybe because Australians also complained more strongly that there were many junk E-mails.

g) Work Culture

The majority of Australians (52 per cent) thought that E-mail made no difference on their company culture and the majority of Singaporeans (49 per cent) thought it had improved the culture. This is shown in Figure 8.

Impact of the Internet on Managers' Work Life

Respondents were asked to outline the impacts of using the Internet with the same factors as for E-mail. In summary, all respondents felt that the use of the Internet had either made no difference or had positive impact on these facets of their work. There were no differences in ratings or comments between Singapore and Australia.

a) Communication

It can be seen in Figures 9 and 10 that nearly 40 per cent of respondents felt that the Internet made no difference in their internal and external communications. Just over 30 per cent thought it had actually improved both internal and external communications. Only a few respondents (less than 3 per cent) thought it had declined communications.

b) Productivity

The use of the Internet had improved productivity for nearly 52 per cent of respondents, (Figure 11). This was supported by a number comments such as "helps look what competitors are doing" and "I can do some basic research without having to ring around".

c) Customer Service

Around 30 per cent of respondents felt that the Internet had made no difference to their customer service and another 35 per cent felt it had improved their customer service (Figure 12). 20 per cent felt that the use of Internet was not applicable to customer service.

d) Efficiency

It can be see from Figure 13 that over half of the respondents felt that the Internet had improved their efficiency at work. It enabled them to do things that would otherwise consume vast amounts of their time, including researching, product updates, and ordering equipment. One respondent stated that the Internet "assists in research and helps to be aware of global issues and updates on general topics".

e) Motivation

It appeared that the use of the Internet at work made little difference to the respondents' motivation for work, as 40 per cent indicated in Figure 14. On the other hand, 35 per cent of respondents felt that it had improved their motivation.

f) Time Management

In Figure 15, it can be seen that the majority of respondents indicated that the Internet made no difference to their time management, and another 37 per cent stated that it had improved theirs.

Comments included "Internet is useful and makes my job much easier" and "Internet has helped me very much in recruiting people".

g) Work Culture

It can be seen from Figure 16, the use of the Internet seemed to make no difference to their work culture for half of the respondents. Only 26 per cent thought it had actually improved their work culture.

Summary and Conclusion

Table 3 illustrates the overall results of the survey. It shows that more than half of the respondents indicated that their work life, with regard to communications, productivity, customer service, efficiency, time management and work culture, has improved with the use of electronic mail.

More notably, 80 per cent of respondents indicated improvements in the factors of communications, productivity, and efficiency. This is consistent with Mintzberg's (1973, p 170) research findings that the manager's role is essentially one of communication and the electronic mail as basically a communication medium. Moreover, electronic mail, supported by Internet tools/networks has a global reach and therefore helps to improve the managers' communications capabilities, hence their work life.

Although the percentage of respondents who indicated that their work life had improved as a result of using the Internet was not as high as that for electronic mail usage, half of them reported seeing improvements in productivity and efficiency in their work life.

In order to better understand the reasons for the differences in the reported improvements, we analysed the responses relating to the respondents' usage pattern, training on the use of the Internet and electronic mail, and objectives for their use. Tables 4 and 5 provide a summary of the aforementioned findings for electronic mail and Internet usage.

It can be seen from Table 4 that the respondents were very regular users of electronic mail for both internal and external communications. Moreover, 69 per cent of respondents have been using electronic mail for more than three years, indicating that usage of the technology is at a matured level. On the other hand, the responses on Internet usage patterns is the reverse of that for electronic mail:

* a low percentage of respondents use the Internet for work related functions (checking out the competition, research, product information search, etc), and

* a low percentage of respondents participate in E-commerce.

The survey responses suggests that the basic difference between electronic mail and Internet usage is that E-commerce and the use of the Internet for work related functions are still at an early stage of development in the industries surveyed. However, the fact that 52 per cent of respondents reported seeing improvements in their productivity points to the potential benefit of using the Internet to their working life.

Moreover, the responses in Table 5 suggest that complexity of the Internet, or a lack of training/encouragement by their organisations to use the Internet are not the reasons for the lack of improvement in managers' working life.

Based on the survey findings, we can conclude that managers' working lives with regard to communications, productivity, efficiency, customer service, motivation, time management, and work culture, will be positively impacted by the use of the Internet and its supporting tools like electronic mail. Usage of the Internet will depend largely on the pervasiveness of the deployment of Internet technologies and their organisations' participation in E-commerce.

Implications for Future Research

We believe that managers will benefit from more studies relating to quantitative impacts of the use of the Internet on managers' lives. We recognise that our empirical study is limited in the following aspects:

* geographical spread of the surveyed organisations (only two countries),

* sample size,

* types of organisations/industries surveyed (not all organisations may be active users or participants in E-commerce), and

* time span covered during the survey.

We hope that this study will generate interest for further research into this very important and ever-growing phenomenon. Further research could therefore be targeted at industries or organisations that have implemented E-commerce fully. This will shed light on the experiences and benefits that the organisation have gained. Moreover, case studies concerning the implementation issues during the introduction of E-commerce in organisations will help managers to take proactive steps to ensure that mistakes others make will be avoided and the advantages that others gained from their implementations will also be experienced by them.

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[FIGURE 3 OMITTED] Figure 4 E-mail Effects on Customer Service Declined 6 No difference 14 Improved 52 Substantially improved 19 Not applicable 11 Note: Table made from bar graph

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[FIGURE 11 OMITTED] Figure 12 Internet Effects on Customers Substantially declined 2 Declined 2 No difference 32 Improved 35 Substantially improved 8 Not applicable 20 Note: Table made from bar graph

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[FIGURE 16 OMITTED] Table 1 Estimated Number of Internet Users by the Year 2003 Estimated Internet Users Country (million) Australia 8.4 Malaysia 1.9 Singapore 1.5 Hong Kong 3.0 China 80.5 India 70.0 South Korea 17.7 Taiwan 13.1 Indonesia 1.5 New Zealand 1.7 Philippines 1.1 Thailand 1.5 Vietnam 0.4 Total: 202.1 Source: IDC, GS estimates Table 2 Summary of Mail Outs and Responses Mail out Return Response rate Per cent Singapore Service industry 250 36 14 Manufacturing industry 250 72 29 Australia Service industry 250 52 21 Manufacturing industry 20 0 0 Total mail out 770 160 21 Table 3 Comparison of Survey Responses between Internet and Electronic Mail Usage Percentage of respondents who indicated seeing improvements in their work life Factor evaluated Electronic Mail Internet 1. Communications 80% 30% 2. Productivity 80% 52% 3. Customer service 70% 35% 4. Efficiency 80% 50% 5. Motivation 45% 35% 6. Time management 54% 37% 7. Work culture 55% 26% Table 4 Electronic Mail Usage: Background Factors Per cent 1. Have used E-mail for more than three years 69.0 2. Use internal E-mail (sending) at least daily 99.4 3. Use internal E-mail (receiving) at least daily 99.4 4. Use external E-mail (sending) at least daily 98.6 5. Use external E-mail (receiving) at least daily 99.0 6. Trained to use E-mail 34.2 7. Encouraged to use the E-mail at work 80.0 Table 5 Internet Usage: Background Factors Per cent 1. Use Internet for browsing regularly 45.3 2. Use Internet for checking competitor's Web sites regularly 19.8 3. Use Internet to check work related product information regularly 27.3 4. Use the Internet to conduct work related research 32.9 5. Use the Internet to perform work related transaction processing, that is, E-commerce 19.3 6. Use the Internet for personal purposes 41.0 7. Trained to use the Internet 24.9 8. The Internet is complicated to use 23.5 9. Encouraged to use the Internet at work 77.0

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Gan Kong Guan, Richard is Engineering Manager of APDO do Hewlett Packard Far East Pte Ltd, Kiong Ping is Senior Business Development Executive of Pacific Internet Limited, Koh Liang Kin, Johnny is Manager at Creative Technology Limited and Wong Chit Sieng is Chief Principal Consultant of S1 Corporation Asia Pacific & Japan.