Innovative Communication Culture

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The joint project “Innovative Communication Culture” between Viega and the =mcm institute aims to ensure a sustainable management of the corporate communication culture in times of dominant information- and communication technologies.

New information- and communication technologies shape our everyday life. They open up new opportunities and bring in simplifications in the exchange and the storage of information, as well as in access to it. The associated acceleration, as well as the mass of available information, can yet also be overwhelming. New technologies unify people around the world in real time – however they also let disappear boundaries between private and work life and increase the pressure of always being "on", anywhere and anytime. Persiods of real creativity and recovery may become a rarity. The joint project “Innovative Communication Culture” between Viega GmbH & Co. KG and the University of St. Gallen therefore aims to ensure a sustainable management of internal information.

About information and the handling of it
The project focuses on information. On the one hand on information itself, on the other hand on the handling of information. Three aspects are interesting for the project’s focus on information itself: (1) On one hand, the amount of information the employees are handling in their everyday work life. (2) On the other hand, the value of the information. How useful is the information that has to be handled? (3) The third aspect is the structure of the information. How easily is the actual information content accessible to the employees?
The handling of information is nowadays decisively characterized by new information and communication technologies. New technologies increase for example on one hand the employees’ mobility as they allow access to information from outside, on the other hand boundaries between private and work life become blured. In this aspect, also contextual factors are included, such as the mixing of private and pwork life (work/life balance), declining creativity of the employees due to overwork, or stress, which is always triggered by new technologies.

The aim of the project
Considering both of the aspects, the project gives the Viega employees an awareness of the sustainable handling of information and helps themselves to develop a healthy work environment that encourages innovation.