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In many workplaces ranging from Fortune 500 to smallenterprises, workplace communication takes place over instantmessaging. The leading platform in this space is Slack, acloud-based team collaboration tool. Messages are organized byprivate and public channels and users can chat, share documents,browse through past messages, and collaborate with each other.Slack is solidifying the role of instant messages in the workplaceand even if you end up in a company that does not use Slack, it islikely that you will end up using one of its competitors.

Slack has an interesting founding story: Stewart Butterfield,who is also a co-founder of the image hosting service Flickr,founded the video game company Tiny Speck and released the gameGlitch in 2011. As part of their game development process, thecompany also built a team communication platform, allowing softwaredevelopers to communicate with each other while building Glitch.Glitch was shut down after a year, but the company devoted itselfto the full-scale development of their communication tool, whichresulted in Slack. Through word of mouth, Slack acquired 16,000users in its beta stage, and the product was fully released in2014. Four years later, the company boasts 50,000 companies and 6million users. The company expects to surpass e-mail use in theworkplace by 2025.

Using instant messaging organized by private and public channelsis changing how people communicate in the workplace, sometimes forthe better, and sometimes for the worse. On the upside, Slack oftenreceives feedback from users who identify as shy and introverted,stating that this tool allows them to participate more in teamconversations. Anna Pickard, Creative Director of Voice and Tone,at Slack, also observes that messaging makes communication morehumane and natural. Communication no longer takes place betweensmall groups of people over e-mail. Instead, it occurs in channelsthat are searchable and are organized by team or topic. People canreach out to and connect with people they would not otherwise. Manycompanies have an \"ask me anything\" channel where employees maypost messages and high-level managers may answer, resulting ingreater transparency and accessibility to upper management, helpingto create a sense of belonging.

At the same time, technology sometimes amplifies communicationproblems that also occur in person, and creates new ones of itsown. If you have ever written a chat message and instantlyregretted it, you can imagine the problems that may occur at scalein the workplace. The instantaneous nature of chat can make peopleless deliberate and careful about their messages. There are alsoexamples of private feedback given in an open channel, resulting ina public shaming of an employee. Slack conversations, even if theyare in private channels, can be read by the employer, and mayresult in adverse employment actions against the employee. There isno \"forward\" button on instant messages, but it is all too easy totake a screen shot of the conversation and share with others,resulting in Slack leaks, similar to e-mail leaks. Additionally,there is also user error—in e-mail it is relatively easy to findout who the recipients of the e-mail are, but on Slack, people maypay less attention to who is on that channel, and others may jointhe channel at a later point, suggesting that the audience for theposts will evolve and can grow over time. People may confuse whichchannel they are on, and post messages intended for a small groupto a broad audience.

As Slack grows, it develops its own etiquette. For example,hitting \"enter\" after every sentence is often mentioned as a no-no,and a pet peeve of heavy users. Senders are expected to completetheir message and then hit enter in one go. Other habits may resultin productivity losses—spending time in private chats as opposed toworking is one way in which Slack and tools like it may result inproductivity losses. One company banned the use of Slack duringmeetings, as people were having back-channel conversations duringthe meeting, which was distracting and affecting engagement in themeeting. How these tools are used are shaped by the office culture,and in turn will have an impact on communication culture in theworkplace.

1. If you were to create a social media policy including Slack,what types of rules would you include and why?  

2. What types of messages do you believe are appropriate tocommunicate via Slack? For what type of communication is this toolless useful?

3. What type of communication barriers exist when workplacecommunication takes place over Slack and similar sources?

4. What are the implications of Slack and similar communicationtools in affecting the sense of belonging that employees experiencein the workplace?

5. Based on reading this case and your general experience withsimilar tools, what advice would you give to an employee who willstart working in a company using Slack?

1. Include the bold headings below.
2. Summary: Provide a brief summary listing thekey facts in the case.
3. Case Discussion Questions: Include eachquestion before your response. Write a detailed and researchedreply to each of the Case Discussion Questions found at the end ofthe case study.
4. Conclusion: Write a conclusion and include aseparate reference page.

Can anyone help on this?.Thanks.