The Impact of the Internet on Management

By Paul West
Director, Centre for Lifelong Learning
Technikon of Southern Africa

Table of Contents

Introduction to the paper
Changing needs in education
Extent of need
Local institutions: public and private
First world universities and colleges
Some current practices
Business uses of the Internet
Advertorial
Taking orders/sales
Training & assessment
Communication
Strategic Management
Changes in technology
Internet Service Providers
Electronic mail
Information sources
Discussion groups and listservs
Internet conferencing
A scenario of the future
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction to the paper

The Internet has become impossible to ignore in the past two years (Morris, 1996) and even people who do not own a computer have seen or heard about its uses or "surf the net". Businesses that wish to maintain a competitive edge into the next century have to move quickly to establish their identity on the Internet and learn to communicate and conduct business transactions using new techniques.

The technology of communication has moved quickly from voice and paper alone, to telephone, telex, fax and now electronic mail (e-mail). The conversion to the fully electronic medium of communication may be compared to the move from the telex machine to the fax machine. It will quickly become difficult to conduct business without e-mail as it did previously with businesses without fax machines.

This paper offers a brief insight into current developments in the field of high technology, centring around those related to the Internet. Rapid changes in the field appear to be leaving many academics with a feeling of bewilderment resulting in a desire to do nothing about the changes taking place around them.

Few details such as sources of computer programmes, equipment requirements and communications devices are covered in this paper as these questions can be answered by most reputable computer dealers. It is hoped that a conceptual understanding will be built by the reader which will dispel some of the misconceptions and encourage one to further investigate the possibility of using the Internet as a competitive strategy in company management and the delivery of education in developing countries.

Changing needs in education

Extent of need

South African Education Minister Bengu (Bengu, 1996) stated in a White Paper (15 March 1995) on education:

"Our message is that education and training must change. It cannot be business as usual in our schools, colleges, technikons and universities. The national project of reconstruction and development compels everyone in education and training to accept the challenge of creating a system which cultivates and liberates the talents of all our people without exception."

Large numbers of schools are required in developing countries and teachers may not always posses all the skills required to teach new curricula. Communication is limited in many schools while a few move rapidly into the use of information age technology. Changes indicated here may be even further reaching than those envisaged by the Minister.

Students have increasing expectations of secondary and tertiary level institutions to assist them with their studies and assure students of a passing grade. High quality study materials are needed at affordable prices to support education in developing countries.

Difficulties with transport of goods through borders and sea ports can restrict even donated school books from arriving at their proposed destinations.

Local institutions: public and private

Some private institutions in South Africa are currently moving their services onto the Internet which includes the registration of studies and payment of fees, delivery of study materials and e-mail tutoring. Many South African public educational institutions have created informative pages on the World Wide Web (Web), but have not been proactive in the provision of education via the Web.

Those institutions that are using the Internet in their provision of education use individual facilities such as MOO discussions or e-mail communication between learner and lecturer or use the Internet as a delivery mechanism for word processor documents containing correspondence materials.

First world universities and colleges

Many universities and colleges visit institutions in developing countries, exploring the emerging market. Courses can be made available from institutions in first world countries but tend to be excessively expensive due to the poor economies of developing countries.

A cost-effective means to deliver courses from major, first world institutions to alliance institutions in developing countries would be a desirable situation. It could help in the upliftment of people in developing countries, contribute to the social responsibility role of first world institutions without major additional cost.

Some current practices

In the past, most computers were placed in computer laboratories (Barrett, 1993) where students were sent for self-paced tutorials. Barrett (1993) believes that this is not education and that technology "should support the complex private and social activities that make up the learning process". With this in mind, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) created a fully distributed computing environment to support the learners though the provision of electronic mail, access to software, personal file storage and other communications utilities. In this way computers were used to aid students in the learning process.

MIT also found that computers could be used as meeting places and that the LAN (Local Area Network) could become a vehicle for sharing work and academic staff could supervise work being done by students (Barrett, 1993).

Through changes in technology, institutions in first world countries have a new method for assisting people and institutions in developing countries without detracting from their primary markets or causing excessive expenses.

On-line schools (Natale, 1995) that have been formed in other parts of the world will shortly be able to offer assistance to people running home-based schools in developing countries. Educational support may be offered to both individuals, schools or institutions of higher learning without sending delegations of staff for extended periods if available Internet resources were used to their current capacity.

Business uses of the Internet

Advertorial

Business are creating homepages on the Internet in increasing numbers. Some acquire the skills themselves to create the necessary software, upload these pages to websites and publicise them via search directories and conventional advertising. Web pages of this nature can replace expensive duplication of brochures which then reside on the World Wide Web for anyone to read and print out at their own expense if they wish. Typical advertorial sites include information on the company's mission, products and annual reports.

Companies that do not have the necessary skills or require higher level skills than are available in the company tend to employ the services of Web design companies. Many also pay to insert pages in directories on the Web.

Taking orders/sales

Once companies have created their presence on the Web, orders may be taken through the medium. Advances in encryption have made the transfer of credit card information relatively safe via the Internet using Netscape's secure document system. Typical providers of services include suppliers of computer programs and mail order companies.

Training & assessment

Especially useful in geographically distributed companies is the ability to supply distance education study material to employees. This may be done via the World Wide Web under password protection or by attachment to e-mail messages. Where an appropriate e-mail program is used, an HTML document may be delivered and may be read as part of the message.

Assessment questionnaires may be completed via secure Web documents to give central training management a quicker understanding of training needs before incurring high travel expenses.

Communication

Communication in business has moved from telephone to the use of telex, fax and now to e-mail. Inter-branch communication is facilitated by quick and low cost e-mail. Group discussion is facilitated through the use of private discussion groups and listserv's. National management is able to distribute messages on for example new products and technical advice privately and quickly via distribution lists using e-mail, avoiding the problems inherent in the fax system. New specifications to franchise holders can likewise be distributed in a quick and efficient manner.

Responses to clients may be expedited through a combination of informative Web pages and electronic mail. E-mail messages tend to be much more concise than telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings. This can help supplier companies to give quicker responses to queries.

Strategic Management

Strategic management is facilitated with the use of the Internet through ease of access to business journals and magazines, many of which are free of charge. These include the South African Financial Mail, Mail and Guardian and Sunday Independent. Other publications include the Wall Street Journal and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Private, in-company news briefings may be circulated to management in simple encrypted form via e-mail or World Wide Web which can aid in the safe dissemination of company critical information.

Changes in technology

The changes in technology that could have the most significant impact on education in the 1990's are those related to the Internet. A company can now instantly (literally overnight) have a global shop-front. No expensive brochures need to be printed and travel undertaken to sell one's services in a foreign country. One simply can create a set of Web pages and be a global player.

The Internet may be seen as a form of mass media (Morris, 1996) which may be used for both educational and business purposes. While unsolicited junk mail is taboo on the Internet, the medium does make it possible to distribute audio and video lectures without the use of magnetic tape. This may be an ideal form of mass delivery of tutorial matter at low cost for global educational institutions.

The Open University in the UK is working on a mass delivery system titled the KMi Stadium of audio lecturing via the Internet and is in the process of developing the programmes and tutoring via the Internet. This will enable lecturers to offer their presentation to potentially tens of thousands of students at the same time. Questions may be routed to tutors who are on standby during and after the lecture.

The extent and types of technology related to the Internet change at an alarming rate today and programmes used on the Internet are seldom distributed through computer stores. Most programmes are now downloaded directly from the developer's site by a process called FTP (File Transfer protocol).

The programmes are created to allow the user a period in which to operate the programme free of charge. Following this period, the programme usually becomes inoperative. Should one wish to continue using the programme, a payment is effected by credit card. Many of these programmes are in Beta (pre-release) format and the user is requested to report programme bugs and recommendations to the authors.

In this way, programme technology advances at an extremely rapid rate and one often finds that versions of a programme may expire after only one or two months use, by which time a new version is available for downloading via the Internet.

Learners who study entirely through the Internet could experience a loneliness not experienced on a residential campus. It has been suggested that this can be relieved by also having a job, apprenticeship or visits to conventional libraries (Natale, 1995). With the latest advances in technology, Internet telephone and conference as well as the long-established newsgroups and listservs assist students in maintaining contact with others with similar interests.

The cost of contact education has been rising and a four-year college programme could now cost some $100 000 (Winner, 1994). Developing countries' exchange rates exclude all but the most affluent from these educational benefits. The move to on-line education via the Internet is likely to substantially reduce the cost of education from most institutions, thus creating new learning opportunities for students throughout the world.

There are many examples of on-line education in action with universities and colleges in the United States registering students for on-line programmes from around the world and reports abound of those who find this form of distance education most appropriate to their own needs (Scott, 1994).

A relatively new Israeli educational institution, Snunit, has already reached registrations of some 15 000 after only two years of existence (Siegel-Itzkovich, 1996) and has students from Negev to Alaska. Students working in a classroom are now able to communicate with experts in the field or fellow students who are in locations distant from themselves using the Internet (Hovenic, 1994). References to the Superhighway can no longer be passed off as something futuristic that is unlikely to affect people's lives, with so many examples of its implementation. A project named TREK (Telecommunications Reaching Every Kid) was launched in 1994 in which high school children at the Hawthorn Middle School began using the Internet as an important source of information in their studies. The school reports that the project has captivated the students' interest and is aiding their studies. Contact is maintained via electronic mail with thousands of other students throughout the world (Garcia, 1994).

Multimedia is taking on new dimensions with full colour graphics and advanced Java Programming which may be introduced to the classroom (Dawn and Dobbs, 1995). One computer may be provided per classroom, which enables the teacher to access centrally educational stored programmes, encourages pupils to communicate with pen-pals to improve their use of languages, and accesses teaching support materials from anywhere in the world.

A brief description of typical types of Internet programmes is given below. The intention is not to provide a comprehensive list or to promote any particular programmes. This list merely serves to inform the reader of possibilities that exist once one becomes familiar with the Internet.

Internet Service Providers

Service providers are those companies that provide a link to the Internet. Large organisations normally lease permanently connected telephone lines and connect possible hundreds of users via these lines. Individual users normally use a modem connected to a computer which dials a service provider via normal telephone lines. The speed of the modem and quality of the telephone line determines how fast the data transfers to and from the computer, usually at speeds of up to 28 800 bits per second (Baud). Service providers normally supply initial programs to dial into their computers (also known as servers), to use e-mail and to browse the World Wide Web. A few South African Service providers are mentioned below:

A large list of global service providers is available on the Internet for those who travel extensively and wish to remain in contact. It is advisable for companies that have staff who are frequently out of the country to consider a global service provider to ensure access points in most countries. These providers include:

Electronic mail

A number of electronic mail programmes exist and represent the most basic form of communication on the Internet. Free programmes exist, that are more than adequate for all normal use by academic institutions. Electronic mail programmes are also sold by a number of vendors.

When used in its most basic form, the mail programme communicates a message or letter from one person to another. If both users are connected by live connections to the Internet, the message will be received within a few seconds, irrespective of distance between the two parties.

Electronic mail is asynchronous which facilitates communication between people living in different time zones. For example, San Francisco and Johannesburg are some 9 hours different in time and yet people can communicate freely by e-mail without adjusting their work-day times.

Most e-mail programmes in use do not support colour graphics and this requires the user to attach any documents containing special formats or graphics. An attached file is transported to the receiver with the mail message and is decoded by the receivers e-mail programme. These documents are more bulky than simple ASCII messages and can cause a dial-up user to be connected to their ISP (Internet Service Provider) for much longer periods while downloading mail. It is always wise to request permission from the receiver before sending large attachments.

Information sources

Information sources may be found on many thousands of computer sites on the Internet. Information is provided both at no charge and sometimes at nominal charge. Where charges are imposed, no information is released until payment is made, usually by credit card. It is seldom that one finds a necessity to pay for information on the Internet as the free exchange of information is part of the culture of the Internet.

Information sources are usually interrogated using the World Wide Web and in certain cases Gopher which is an older, text-only system. The programme one uses to interrogate foreign computer is called a "Browser". Typical names of browsers include Netscape and Mosaic.

Discussion groups and listservs

People from around the world that have a common interest usually discuss these interests in a variety of ways. Newsgroups and listserv's or majordomo's are usually used for the discussions.

Listserv's and majordomo's are distribution list services that are hosted by a computer on the Internet that automatically re-distributes messages to people's e-mail addresses. Any message sent to the listserv by one of its subscribers is re-distributed to all members of that list. It costs nothing to be a member of a list but if one is creating a new list, there are usually certain computer costs. By using this service, an ongoing discussion may be followed with all messages being delivered directly to one's electronic mail box.

Newsgroups are very similar to listserv's with the exception that the message is not delivered to one's mail box. A newsgroup reader programme is used to interrogate the current contents of the newsgroup. Similar to the listserv, one may respond to the entire group (conference-style) or individually to the person who posted any message. The advantage of this system is that it does not fill one's mail box with new mail, but it requires the added work of having to load an additional programme to interrogate the news groups.

Newsgroups are divided into a number of classifications such as ALT (Alternative) COMP (Computer related) and APC (Association for Progressive Communications). While many news groups are open to anyone on the Internet participating (some 3 000 groups), there are certain groups that have restricted access, for example, the APC groups which serve the international NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) movement.

Internet conferencing

Live, real-time conferencing has become a reality on the Internet and includes both a form of telephone and drawing/typing programmes. These programmes require that both users be connected to the Internet simultaneously. The telephone programmes make it possible to speak via the soundblaster on one's computer to another Internet user in another part of the world at the cost of a local telephone call. The conferencing programmes enable two people in different locations to simultaneously work on the same drawing or design from different locations. Each user sees what the other has added to the drawing and contributes to the same diagram. When combined with a telephone programme, the two can also speak to each other while working.

Netscape, one of the foremost Web Browser programmes is to have telephone facilities added as an integral part of the programme within six months.

A scenario of the future

The Internet is being attributed with the power to mesmerise and seduce the youth as was the television and film industries at an earlier time (Newhagen and Rafaeli, 1996).

This section serves to provide a basic introduction to the types of services that are easily accessible via the Internet. All these services require that one first obtains the necessary connection programmes (some are available free of charge) and a subscription to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). One then connects the computer to the telephone line, dials the ISP and runs the various programmes after a connection between the personal computer and the ISP's host computer has been established.

A comment could be made regarding the accessibility of telephones and high technology to the majority of South Africans. The availability of Internet may be answered in a number of ways:

Predictions are being made that most people in first world countries will have on-line access within the next few years (Kaufeld, 1995). People are able to freely associate across national boundaries and group as they wish. This in turn provides very targeted markets for commercial activity.

The availability of on-line education can no longer be disputed. Those students who could have study difficulties have the ability to associate themselves with other students in a community college or private structure and conduct their own facilitated contact sessions. Private companies who already provide lecture facilities are equally able to support students registered for programmes at selected universities and colleges from other parts of the world.

Conclusion

The impact of technology on education should not be underestimated. Credible institutions may form global educational alliances and offer courses to students in remote locations. Home schools are beginning to thrive on the Internet and could encourage parents to supplement their children's schooling or where legally possible, to move their children to global classrooms.

Tertiary level students already have a wider choice of institutions through which to study than during any earlier period and the range of possible programmes of study may be quickly increased through global alliances.

The most limiting factors could remain the unwillingness by academics to become familiar with the new high technology solutions. Limited access to computers and the Internet is a challenge being tackled by many large organisations and is likely to be overcome through the use of shared facilities in colleges, Internet cafes, private groups or clubs.

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