Chapter 2

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Negotiating Mobile Control

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, mobile use started expanding.  From Nokia phones to BlackBerrys, these business tools often were considered status symbols—so it’s natural that control issues emerged.  I share some cultural-differences data in this chapter, along with the gut-wrenching decisions that Kjell, a Norwegian entrepreneur, and Matt, a Wall Street Journal executive, had to make concerning whose jobs warranted mobile devices.  These managers wrestled with issues of productivity, budgeting, fairness, mooching, and status. You’ll learn what happens when you have a “boss in your pocket,” as well as the temptation to work all weekend when “sent from my iPhone” appears at the bottom of a message at 6 p.m. on Friday evening.  This chapter invites readers to consider issues of hierarchical control and what happens when some workers are accessible 24/7.

Changing communities by capitalizing on research in communication technologies.