Aspects analyzed:
- The change in the perception of time and space of the subjects in the communications of an organization New forms in the cultural construction in the organizations generated from the communication of virtual spaces
The turn of the century has brought with it a series of changes that, seen from the point of view of today, seem to be the most obvious consequence after witnessing (living) that new starting point that the technical and technological developments of communication tools symbolized.; and from those who looked from the past, as the great goal to achieve as far as communication is concerned.
It is not the first time that humanity has experienced a change / acceleration in the dynamics with which they live their daily lives due to the development of these technologies. At some point, tools such as television, radio, and printing in turn managed to modify the relationships between subjects, and of these with their environment.
With this I want to indicate that technological development is as inevitable as the changes that it brings about in societies. For better or for worse, these are present and from the point of view of communication professionals it must be observed from two parallel situations: to what degree people are modified and restructured from the use of technology, and the way in which we can approach this phenomenon to study them; without falling into the error of observing each one from a segmented approach instead of seeing them as a whole.
Regarding the first situation, the use of ICTs has changed something bigger than information flows. I take Paul Virgilio at his word when he affirms that a change has been generated in the perception of time and space, where “the layout of the territory, time counts more than space, but it is no longer about local and chronological time, but rather of a world time that opposes both the local space and the world space of the planet ”.
The detachment of the subject from what Virgilio understands as "time" has been the cause of one of the realities that we face after the use of technological tools to communicate and, in turn, the relationships in terms of communication in companies; the creation of a timeless time called "virtuality" in which we share a common space without territory.
Consequently, we live in a world where people do not sleep, and where the immediacy (flag of ICTs) in the information flows brings up a new situation in which the barriers between the local and the global are eliminated, allowing the constant information (on) and comparison (with) of production on a planetary scale. This situation has business repercussions at the local level.
On the one hand, we find subjects (company workers for this case) who are in a position to constantly access and issue information not only with their co-workers, but with similar ones in other organizations, whether national or anywhere in the world.. This brings with it two consequences; the transformation in the internal relationships between subjects found within the company and their relationship with the environment that surrounds them.
Taking an organization as object of study, the generation of organizational culture is not being framed (now) by generated or mediated guidelines, as suggested by Stuart Hall in his structuralist paradigm as the situation in which "the subject and identities are positions determined socially and ideologically structured ”, but instead, they are constantly being modified by the same subjects who find a space in virtuality (use of ICTs) for the generation of debates and agreements.
For more information about interpersonal relationships through virtuality, I invite you to consult the text Virtual Interpersonal Relationships; analyzing the paradigm shift in our way of communicating.
This type of communication, alien to the physical spaces of the company (as a limit for the generation of organizational culture both in space and time) is one of the situations that require understanding and analysis by the company, since in them, In addition to transforming the relationship between the subjects, it is from where the perceptions of themselves with their daily work in a company (the relationship between them and their business environment) are born.
In the words of Michel de Certau, this is the "place" where now the "noise" that was previously generated in physical spaces through conversation is introduced, and although it is easier to identify and collect in virtual spaces, it is more difficult to define in terms of the scope and types of communication that circulate without mediation.
Starting from this premise, we must rethink the way we find ourselves perceiving and analyzing culture, focusing on the interactions between subjectivity (the subject), power (politics) and culture (the symbolic) generated in virtual space and that significantly affect business communications.
Along these lines, I consider that one of the most effective ways in which we can approach this phenomenon is the one suggested by Renato Ortiz in his text “Mundialización y Cultura” (Alianza, 1997), where he proposes to modify the course of cultural studies, leaving aside the study of the effects that are produced from the power structures, to pay attention to "the multiple correspondences, articulations, tensions and contradictions between the local, the national, the global." In other words, to bring to the field of study the relationships that arise in virtual spaces where subjects interact in a place where time and space overcome the barriers of an organization.
It must be clear, then, that no culture is static or a closed system (the organization, although it meets physical times and spaces, can no longer limit the interactions or the times in which they are generated and that are related to it), and that although be it a source of mutual understanding, it also becomes a constant source of conflict; added to the immediacy in the use of ICTs and the reconfiguration of time and relocation of space, makes it a dangerous situation in which it can change, modify or destroy an organizational structure.
Based on the foregoing, I consider that the most relevant issues to take into account for communicative relationships in communications is to understand the change in the perception of time and space in which we find ourselves and that they are consequences of the use of ICTs in the construction of virtual spaces that go beyond the rationalizing powers of an organization, how in these spaces interactions are generated that modify the development of internal communication of a company as they are rebuilding the relationships between the symbolic, power and culture, between the subjects and of them with their environment, and how information is being consumed and shared as key mediations in the interpretation of communication within an organization.
Bibliography
- Martín Barbero, J. (2002). "An agenda for the turn of the century - Imaginaries of globalization and images of the world" In: "Cartographer's profession". Martín Barbero Jesús. Santiago de Chile. FCE, 2002, p. 264-265 Birmingham School. Stuart Hall. In, Reguillo, Rosana. 2004. “Cultural studies. The uncomfortable map of an unfinished story ”. Available in: Michel de Certaou in Martín Barbero, J. (2002). "An agenda for the turn of the century - Imaginaries of globalization and images of the world" In: "Cartographer's profession". Martín Barbero Jesús. Santiago de Chile. FCE, 2002Wallerstein, I. In, Birmingham School. Stuart Hall. In, Reguillo, Rosana. 2004. “Cultural studies. The uncomfortable map of an unfinished story ”. Available at: Renato Ortiz (bis).
