Research Article
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A Case Study on the Evaluation of WhatsApp Groups Established for Managerial Purposes by Academicians

Year 2022, Issue: 47, 93 - 107, 25.04.2022
https://doi.org/10.52642/susbed.1012770

Abstract

Technological developments have enabled the traditional nature of communication to evolve into digital messaging. These developments gained momentum amid the COVID-19 process and brought instant messaging and social media communication to the forefront. WhatsApp, one of the most commonly used instant messaging applications for informal communication, has also started being favored more for formal communication in organizational management. WhatsApp has become a powerful professional communication tool that organizational administrators preferred, has become to serve organizational purposes as an alternative to formal information and document sharing platforms. This study aims to investigate whether WhatsApp messaging effectively serves organizational purposes in higher education, and evaluates how it is perceived and utilized by academicians. This case study is a type of qualitative research where the data collected from the workgroup are analyzed by descriptive analysis to obtain findings. Five main themes are derived from the analysis; namely group structure and characteristics, communication, cooperation, psycho-social impact, negative opinions, and related ten sub-themes were detected. According to the results derived from the study, most of the participants expressed mostly positive and some negative perceptions regarding the communication made through the WhatsApp groups established for administrative purposes.

References

  • Ahmad, A. (2018). Leadership communication through WhatsApp application in a primary school. Selangor Humaniora Review, 95-106.
  • Ahmed, Z., Shields, F., White R., & Wilbert, J. (2010). Managerial communication: The link between frontline leadership and organizational performance. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 14(1), 107-120.
  • Ali, R.M., Mahomed, A.S., Yusof, R., Khalid, H., & Afzal, M.I. (2019). Hey there! I am Using WhatsApp: A Study on the Levels and Patterns of WhatsApp’s Formal Usage among Malaysian University Academicians. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 9, 657-671.
  • Aytaçlı, B. (2012). Durum çalışmasına ayrıntılı bir bakış. Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 3 (1), 1-9. Attalla, S. M., Ebrahim, J., Ads, H, Razak, N.A., & Mohamad, N. (2020). Staff Reflection on the Effectiveness of Whatsapp Usage for Organizational Communication: a Study in a Private Malaysian Medical School. Mal J Med Health Sci, 16 (SUPP7), 57-62.
  • Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2005). Anket geli̇şti̇rme. Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 3 (2), 133-151. Erişim https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tebd/issue/26124/275190
  • Büyüköztürk, Ş., Kılıç Çakmak, E., Akgün, Ö.E., Karadeniz, Ş. & Demirel, F. (2016). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri (22. Baskı). Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
  • Church, K. & de Oliveira, R. (2013). What’s up with WhatsApp? Comparing Mobile Instant Messaging Behaviors with Traditional SMS. 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, 352-361.
  • Dasgupta, S.A., Suar, D. and Singh, S. (2014), Managerial communication practices and employees’ attitudes and behaviours. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 19(3), 287-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2013-0023
  • Datta, Lois-ellin (1990). Case Study Evaluations. Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, Transfer paper 10.1.9
  • Demir, K. (2014). Örgütlerde iletişim yönetimi. C. Elma, & K. Demir içinde, Yönetimde Çağdaş Yaklaşımlar. Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık.
  • Doğan, S. (2019). The Changing Face of Organizational Communication: School WhatsApp Groups. Research in Pedagogy, 9(2), 231-245. doi: 10.17810/2015.104
  • Doğan, A., Demir, R., & Türkmen, E. (2020). Türkiye’deki akademisyenlerin iş tatmini, rol stresi ve işten ayrılma niyetlerinin incelenmesi. Yükseköğretim Dergisi, 10(3), 340–355. doi:10.2399/yod.19.636539
  • Dolphin, R.R. (2005). Internal communications: Today's strategic imperative. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(3), 171-190. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1352726042000315414
  • Kemp, Simon (2021). Dijital 2021: Turkey. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-turkey?rq=Turkey
  • Lacayo-Mendoza, A. & de Pablos-Heredero, C. (2016). Managing relationships and communications in higher education efficiently through digital social networks: The importance of the relational coordination model. DYNA(2016), 83(195):138. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/dyna.v83n195.49296
  • Levine, K., Allard, S., & Tenopir, C. (2012) Communicating in the 21st Century Workplace: A Theory of Communication Nexus. In the Current Topics in Management, 16, pp. 121-140. M.A. Rahim, Ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
  • Murat, S. (n.d). Örgütsel Davranış. İstanbul Üni̇versi̇tesi̇ Açık ve Uzaktan Eği̇ti̇m Fakültesi̇. http://auzefkitap.istanbul.edu.tr/kitap/kok/orgutseldavranisau223.pdf
  • Njuguna, B. W., Waiganjo, E., & Muturi, W. (2021). Influence of Organizational Leadership on Organizational Learning in Private Chartered Universities in Kenya. Journal of Business and Economic Development, 6(1), 30-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.11648/j.jbed.20210601.14
  • Omar, M. K., Zakaria, A., & Ismail, Z. I. A. (2017). WhatsApp messenger, workload and satisfaction with work-life balance among employees of a Malaysian government office. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 4(9), 114–118.
  • O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2020). Intercoder Reliability in Qualitative Research: Debates and Practical Guidelines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 19, 1–13 https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919899220
  • Ölçer, N., & Koçer, S. (2015). Örgütsel iletişim: Kocaeli Üniversitesi akademik personeli üzerine bir inceleme. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 6(11), 339-383.
  • Özdemir, M. (2010). Nitel veri analizi: sosyal bilimlerde yöntembilim sorunsalı üzerine bir çalışma. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11(1), 323-343.
  • Paksoy, M. (2001). Organizasyonlarda İletişim. İnan Özalp (Ed.), Örgütsel İletişim (81-102). Açık Öğretim Fakültesi Yayınları.
  • Pozin, M. A. A. & Nawi, M. N. M. (2018). Effective of Communication using WhatsApp: Industrialised Building System (IBS) Construction. AIP Conference Proceedings 2016, 020018 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5055420
  • Röcker, C. (2012). Informal communication and awareness in virtual teams why we need smart technologies to support distributed teamwork. Communications in Information Science and Management Engineering (CISME), 2(5), 1-15.
  • Scornavacca, E., & Barnes, S. J. (2008). The strategic value of enterprise mobility: Case study insights. Information Knowledge Systems Management, 7(1, 2), 227-241.
  • Seufert, M., Hossfeld, T., Schwind, A., Burger, V., & Tran-Gia, P. (2016). Group-based communication in WhatsApp. 2016 IFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking) and Workshops, 536-541.
  • Simon, T., Goldberg, A., Leykin, D., & Adini, B. (2016). Kidnapping WhatsApp – Rumors during the search and rescue operation of three kidnapped youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 183-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.058.
  • Singhal, S. & Chawla, S. (2019). Effects of Whatsapp and Facebook on academic, professional and social lives of medical students and resident doctors of North India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(8), 3570-3577. http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193490
  • Sobaih, A. E. E., Hasanein, A. M., & Abu Elnasr, A. E. (2020). Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries. Sustainability, 12(16), 6520. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12166520
  • Şahin, A. (2007). Türk Public Yönetiminde Yönetsel İletişim ve Bu Konuda Düzenlenen Bir Anket Çalışmasının Sonuçları. Maliye Dergisi, (152), 81-102.
  • Tutar, H. (2003). Örgütsel İletişim [Organizational Communication]. Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık
  • Urien, B., Erro-Garcés, A., Osca, A. (2019). WhatsApp usefulness as a communication tool in an educational context. Education and Information Technologies, 24, 2585–2602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-09876-5
  • Uzun, K., Uluçay, D. (2017). İş ortaminda WhatsApp kullanimi ve kesi̇nti̇ye uğrama. Selçuk İletişim, 10 (1), 216-231. DOI: 10.18094/josc.306677
  • Winarso, W. (2018). Organizational communication; a conceptual framework. INA-Rxiv, 3 May 2018. https://doi.org/10.31227/osf.io/g9ubc
  • Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2016). Sosyal Bilimlerde Nitel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara Seçkin Yayıncılık.
  • Zakaria, I.M., & Ibrahim, I. (2018). The Effectiveness Of “WhatsApp” As An Information System Tool For The Optimization Of Office Resources In Some Polytechnics In Ghana. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 7, 104-109.

Yönetsel Amaçla Kurulmuş WhatsApp Gruplarının Akademisyenler Tarafından Değerlendirilmesine Yönelik Bir Durum Çalışması

Year 2022, Issue: 47, 93 - 107, 25.04.2022
https://doi.org/10.52642/susbed.1012770

Abstract

Teknolojik gelişmeler, iletişimin geleneksel doğasının dijital mesajlaşmaya dönüşmesini sağlamıştır. COVID-19 sürecinde ivme kazanan bu gelişmeler, anlık mesajlaşma ve sosyal medya iletişimini ön plana çıkardı. İnformal iletişim için en yaygın kullanılan anlık mesajlaşma uygulamalarından biri olan WhatsApp, organizasyon yönetiminde de formal iletişimden daha fazla tercih edilmeye başlandı. Kurum yöneticilerinin tercih ettiği güçlü bir profesyonel iletişim aracı haline gelen WhatsApp, resmi bilgi ve belge paylaşım platformlarına alternatif olarak kurumsal amaçlara hizmet eder hale geldi. Bu nedenle akademik yöneticilerin algılarından Whatsapp'ın etkin kullanımına ve sürdürülebilirliğine bakmak önemlidir. Bu araştırma, nitel bir araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak örnek bir durum çalışması olarak tasarlanmıştır; çalışma grubundan toplanan veriler betimsel analiz ile analiz edilerek bulgular elde edilmiştir. Analiz sonucunda grup yapısı ve özellikleri, iletişim, işbirliği, psiko-sosyal etki, olumsuz görüşler olmak üzere beş ana tema ve on alt tema tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlara göre, katılımcıların çoğu, idari amaçlarla kurulan WhatsApp grupları aracılığıyla yapılan iletişime ilişkin çoğunlukla olumlu ve bazı olumsuz algılar ifade etmiştir.

References

  • Ahmad, A. (2018). Leadership communication through WhatsApp application in a primary school. Selangor Humaniora Review, 95-106.
  • Ahmed, Z., Shields, F., White R., & Wilbert, J. (2010). Managerial communication: The link between frontline leadership and organizational performance. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 14(1), 107-120.
  • Ali, R.M., Mahomed, A.S., Yusof, R., Khalid, H., & Afzal, M.I. (2019). Hey there! I am Using WhatsApp: A Study on the Levels and Patterns of WhatsApp’s Formal Usage among Malaysian University Academicians. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 9, 657-671.
  • Aytaçlı, B. (2012). Durum çalışmasına ayrıntılı bir bakış. Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 3 (1), 1-9. Attalla, S. M., Ebrahim, J., Ads, H, Razak, N.A., & Mohamad, N. (2020). Staff Reflection on the Effectiveness of Whatsapp Usage for Organizational Communication: a Study in a Private Malaysian Medical School. Mal J Med Health Sci, 16 (SUPP7), 57-62.
  • Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2005). Anket geli̇şti̇rme. Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 3 (2), 133-151. Erişim https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tebd/issue/26124/275190
  • Büyüköztürk, Ş., Kılıç Çakmak, E., Akgün, Ö.E., Karadeniz, Ş. & Demirel, F. (2016). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri (22. Baskı). Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
  • Church, K. & de Oliveira, R. (2013). What’s up with WhatsApp? Comparing Mobile Instant Messaging Behaviors with Traditional SMS. 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, 352-361.
  • Dasgupta, S.A., Suar, D. and Singh, S. (2014), Managerial communication practices and employees’ attitudes and behaviours. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 19(3), 287-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2013-0023
  • Datta, Lois-ellin (1990). Case Study Evaluations. Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, Transfer paper 10.1.9
  • Demir, K. (2014). Örgütlerde iletişim yönetimi. C. Elma, & K. Demir içinde, Yönetimde Çağdaş Yaklaşımlar. Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık.
  • Doğan, S. (2019). The Changing Face of Organizational Communication: School WhatsApp Groups. Research in Pedagogy, 9(2), 231-245. doi: 10.17810/2015.104
  • Doğan, A., Demir, R., & Türkmen, E. (2020). Türkiye’deki akademisyenlerin iş tatmini, rol stresi ve işten ayrılma niyetlerinin incelenmesi. Yükseköğretim Dergisi, 10(3), 340–355. doi:10.2399/yod.19.636539
  • Dolphin, R.R. (2005). Internal communications: Today's strategic imperative. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(3), 171-190. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1352726042000315414
  • Kemp, Simon (2021). Dijital 2021: Turkey. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-turkey?rq=Turkey
  • Lacayo-Mendoza, A. & de Pablos-Heredero, C. (2016). Managing relationships and communications in higher education efficiently through digital social networks: The importance of the relational coordination model. DYNA(2016), 83(195):138. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/dyna.v83n195.49296
  • Levine, K., Allard, S., & Tenopir, C. (2012) Communicating in the 21st Century Workplace: A Theory of Communication Nexus. In the Current Topics in Management, 16, pp. 121-140. M.A. Rahim, Ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
  • Murat, S. (n.d). Örgütsel Davranış. İstanbul Üni̇versi̇tesi̇ Açık ve Uzaktan Eği̇ti̇m Fakültesi̇. http://auzefkitap.istanbul.edu.tr/kitap/kok/orgutseldavranisau223.pdf
  • Njuguna, B. W., Waiganjo, E., & Muturi, W. (2021). Influence of Organizational Leadership on Organizational Learning in Private Chartered Universities in Kenya. Journal of Business and Economic Development, 6(1), 30-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.11648/j.jbed.20210601.14
  • Omar, M. K., Zakaria, A., & Ismail, Z. I. A. (2017). WhatsApp messenger, workload and satisfaction with work-life balance among employees of a Malaysian government office. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 4(9), 114–118.
  • O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2020). Intercoder Reliability in Qualitative Research: Debates and Practical Guidelines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 19, 1–13 https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919899220
  • Ölçer, N., & Koçer, S. (2015). Örgütsel iletişim: Kocaeli Üniversitesi akademik personeli üzerine bir inceleme. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 6(11), 339-383.
  • Özdemir, M. (2010). Nitel veri analizi: sosyal bilimlerde yöntembilim sorunsalı üzerine bir çalışma. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11(1), 323-343.
  • Paksoy, M. (2001). Organizasyonlarda İletişim. İnan Özalp (Ed.), Örgütsel İletişim (81-102). Açık Öğretim Fakültesi Yayınları.
  • Pozin, M. A. A. & Nawi, M. N. M. (2018). Effective of Communication using WhatsApp: Industrialised Building System (IBS) Construction. AIP Conference Proceedings 2016, 020018 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5055420
  • Röcker, C. (2012). Informal communication and awareness in virtual teams why we need smart technologies to support distributed teamwork. Communications in Information Science and Management Engineering (CISME), 2(5), 1-15.
  • Scornavacca, E., & Barnes, S. J. (2008). The strategic value of enterprise mobility: Case study insights. Information Knowledge Systems Management, 7(1, 2), 227-241.
  • Seufert, M., Hossfeld, T., Schwind, A., Burger, V., & Tran-Gia, P. (2016). Group-based communication in WhatsApp. 2016 IFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking) and Workshops, 536-541.
  • Simon, T., Goldberg, A., Leykin, D., & Adini, B. (2016). Kidnapping WhatsApp – Rumors during the search and rescue operation of three kidnapped youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 183-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.058.
  • Singhal, S. & Chawla, S. (2019). Effects of Whatsapp and Facebook on academic, professional and social lives of medical students and resident doctors of North India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(8), 3570-3577. http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193490
  • Sobaih, A. E. E., Hasanein, A. M., & Abu Elnasr, A. E. (2020). Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries. Sustainability, 12(16), 6520. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12166520
  • Şahin, A. (2007). Türk Public Yönetiminde Yönetsel İletişim ve Bu Konuda Düzenlenen Bir Anket Çalışmasının Sonuçları. Maliye Dergisi, (152), 81-102.
  • Tutar, H. (2003). Örgütsel İletişim [Organizational Communication]. Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık
  • Urien, B., Erro-Garcés, A., Osca, A. (2019). WhatsApp usefulness as a communication tool in an educational context. Education and Information Technologies, 24, 2585–2602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-09876-5
  • Uzun, K., Uluçay, D. (2017). İş ortaminda WhatsApp kullanimi ve kesi̇nti̇ye uğrama. Selçuk İletişim, 10 (1), 216-231. DOI: 10.18094/josc.306677
  • Winarso, W. (2018). Organizational communication; a conceptual framework. INA-Rxiv, 3 May 2018. https://doi.org/10.31227/osf.io/g9ubc
  • Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2016). Sosyal Bilimlerde Nitel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara Seçkin Yayıncılık.
  • Zakaria, I.M., & Ibrahim, I. (2018). The Effectiveness Of “WhatsApp” As An Information System Tool For The Optimization Of Office Resources In Some Polytechnics In Ghana. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 7, 104-109.
There are 37 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Alev Elçi 0000-0002-9243-2104

Zeliha Seçkin 0000-0003-0603-3236

Onur Doğan 0000-0002-8109-4728

Publication Date April 25, 2022
Submission Date October 21, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2022 Issue: 47

Cite

APA Elçi, A., Seçkin, Z., & Doğan, O. (2022). A Case Study on the Evaluation of WhatsApp Groups Established for Managerial Purposes by Academicians. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi(47), 93-107. https://doi.org/10.52642/susbed.1012770

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