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This is one article from the issue of September, 2002.
For other stories and articles, go to the Current Issue.
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Cyberloafing
What "Goofing Off" Online May Mean
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A published study1 shows how people "goof off" when they perceive they're being mistreated by management. What's called "cyberloafing" isn't just responding to a quick eMail or Instant Message from home. It's an intentional, defiant act. It's about spending hours paid for by the employer doing things that don't benefit that employer
This is a normal and traditional response from unhappy employees: In earlier eras, they sabotaged products on the assembly line (by, for example, putting soft-drink bottles in automobile doors, for a rattle that just won't go away). But, now, white- and pink-collar workers who might otherwise appear to be working may, in fact, be talking about things you'd rather not have discussed outside your team. And, when you walk up, they can press a key to make the screen switch to what they were supposed to be working on.
There're three lessons here:
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The "command-and-control boss" who issues edicts and unnecessarily angers low-level staff is only encouraging lower productivity,
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You can't really tell what people are doing when they're reading the screen and typing at their computer, so
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You need to have criteria for measuring productivity, not activity.
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Overcoming Cyberloafing
When you focus on and reward productivity, cyberloafing doesn't matter. That work might include coordinating with others, and generating measurable results. If they cyberloaf all day, then are immensely productive in the evening, why should you even care, so long as the task gets done?
Even those of us who are self-employed may even cyberloaf on occasion...it's a valid way to let off steam, to decompress. It's not inherently bad, but if it's overdone, it can be a symptom of something deeper that deserves investigation.
Footnote:
1 Vivien Lim,
"The IT way of loafing on the job," Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2002, p 675
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