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“Invisible Whispering”: Restructuring Meeting Processes with Instant Messaging

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Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation

Part of the book series: Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation ((AGDN,volume 4))

Abstract

Instant messaging (IM) is an increasingly prevalent workplace communication tool that enables near-synchronous text exchanges on a variety of devices. In an interview study of IM use in two organizations, we explored the use of IM during face-to-face and telephone meetings, a practice we call “invisible whispering.” We introduce Goffman’s characterization of social interaction as dramatic performance, differentiable into “front stage” and “backstage” exchanges, to analyze how invisible whispering alters the socio-spatial and temporal boundaries of meetings. Using IM, workers were able to participate concurrently in “front stage” and “backstage” interactions, to carry on multiple “backstage” conversations, and to influence “front stage” activities through “backstage” conversations. This type of interaction would be either physically impossible or socially constrained without the use of IM. We discuss the potential implications of these changes for meeting effectiveness and group dynamics, raising questions for further study. We also suggest that the analytic lens and vocabulary we use to analyze the social consequences of invisible whispering offer a new point of entry for future studies of IM and for computer-supported group decision and negotiation more generally.

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts,

– Shakespeare, As You Like It.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A MUD (Multi-User Domain) is multi-player, online, role-playing, game environment. MUD originally stood for Multi-User Dungeon, but has been revised in common usage to include role-playing game environments that are not set in the traditional MUD fantasy world of elves, dwarves, monsters, and so on.

  2. 2.

    All names are pseudonyms.

  3. 3.

    Several study participants mentioned “embarrassing” IM experiences including having confused IM conversation windows and directing comments to the wrong conversation partners.

  4. 4.

    The interview scenario, where all participants presumably have access to the same information, may not be typical of the “hidden profile” problem, but the participants’ differing expertise, age, and gender would be expected to result in unique perspectives on the same information.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Panoramic Perspectives, Austin, TX, 78755, USA

    Julie A. Rennecker

  2. Department of Information Systems, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Alan R. Dennis

  3. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Sean Hansen

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  1. Julie A. Rennecker
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  2. Alan R. Dennis
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  3. Sean Hansen
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Correspondence to Julie A. Rennecker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier University, University Ave. W. 75, Waterloo, N2L 3C5, Canada

    D. Marc Kilgour

  2. Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0QU, United Kingdom

    Colin Eden

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Rennecker, J.A., Dennis, A.R., Hansen, S. (2010). “Invisible Whispering”: Restructuring Meeting Processes with Instant Messaging. In: Kilgour, D., Eden, C. (eds) Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation. Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9097-3_3

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