Direction B: 2 Module 9: Assessment
Unilab Staff Attitudes To Personal Mobile Phone Use In Staff And Team Meeting
Introduction
There has been a massive increase in the use of personal mobile phones over the past five
years and there is every indication that this will continue. According to Black (2002) by 2008 almost
100% of working people in Australia will carry personal mobile phones. Black describes this
phenomenon as ‘serious in the extreme, potentially undermining the foundations of communication
in our society’ (2002, p 167). Currently at UniLab 89% of staff have personal mobile phones.
Recently a number of staff have complained about the use of personal mobile phones in
meetings and asked what the official company policy is. At present there is no official company
policy regarding phone use. This report examines the issue of mobile phone usage in staff meetings
and small team meetings. It does not seek to examine the use of mobile phones in the workplace at
other times, although some concerns were raised.
For the purposes of this report a personal mobile phone is a personally funded phone for
private calls as opposed to an employer funded phone that directly relates to carrying out a
particular job.
Methods
This research was conducted by questionnaire and investigated UniLab staff members’
attitudes to the use of mobile phones in staff / team meetings. A total of 412 questionnaires were
distributed with employees' fortnightly pay slips (see Appendix 1). The questionnaire used Lekert
scales to assess social attitudes (see Smith 2002) to mobile phone usage and provided open ended
responses for additional comments. Survey collection boxes were located in every branch for a four
week period. No personal information was collected; the survey was voluntary and anonymous.
Results
There was an 85% response rate to the questionnaire. A breakdown of the responses is listed
below in Table 1. It can be clearly seen from the results that mobile phones are considered to be
disruptive and should be turned off in meetings.
Table 1.
Personal mobile phone usage in staff and team Strongly Agree % Disagree Strongly
meetings is… agree % % disagree
%
Not a problem 5 7 65 23
An issue 40 45 10 5
Disruptive 80 10 7 3
Phones should be permissible 6 16 56 22
Phones should be turned off 85 10 3 2
Allowed in some circumstances 10 52 24 14
The survey also allowed participants to identify any circumstances where mobile phones
should be allowed in meetings and also assessed staff attitudes towards receiving personal phone
calls in staff meetings in open ended questions. These results showed that staff thought that in
some circumstances, eg medical or emergencies, receiving personal phone calls was acceptable, but
generally receiving personal phone calls was not necessary.
Discussion
It can be seen from the results in Table 1 that personal mobile phone use is considered to a
problem; however it was acknowledged that in some situations it should be permissible. 80% of
recipients considered mobile phones to be highly disruptive and there was strong support for
phones being turned off in meetings (85%). Only 12% thought that mobile phone usage in staff and
team meetings was not a problem, whereas 85% felt it was an issue. The results are consistent
throughout the survey. Many of the respondents (62%) felt that in exceptional circumstances mobile
phones should be allowed, eg medical, but there should be protocols regarding this.
These findings are consistent with other studies. According to Smith (2005) many companies
have identified mobile phones as disruptive and have banned the use of mobile phones in meetings.
Havir (2004) claims that 29% of staff meeting time is wasted through unnecessary mobile phone
interruptions. This affects time management, productivity and team focus.
Conclusion
The use of mobile phones in staff meetings is clearly disruptive and they should be switched
off. Most staff felt it is not necessary to receive personal phone calls in staff meetings except under
certain circumstances, but permission should first be sought from the team leader, manager or
chair.
It is recommended that UniLab develops an official policy regarding the use of mobile phones
in staff meetings. The policy should recommend:
mobile phones are banned in staff meetings
mobiles phone may be used in exceptional circumstances but only with the permission of
the appropriate manager or chair
Finally, the policy needs to apply to all staff in the company.
