Author: Jeffrey Keefer

Emergency texting alert system

I am an adjunct instructor at New York University in the Stern School of Management and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In this capacity, I receive a lot of official email communications from the university, and one of them that I recently received struck me as being one of the better emergency notification ideas I have come across in some time. From the email I received:

One of the fastest ways to reach you in an emergency is probably sitting in your pocket right now: your cell phone. The University has developed the capacity to send blast text messages to your cell phone to ensure you get direct and timely information in case of an emergency. To help us enhance your personal safety, we are asking employees to store their cell phone numbers in the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) through ePass. This number will be stored in the HRIS database and kept confidential. We expect to conduct one test per semester (the first test will take place on Thursday, September 27); other than that, it will only be used in emergency situations.

The email then gives simple instructions to set this up. While this is undoubtedly another step within their HRIS system, with the ubiquity of cell phones, this is a no-brainer for emergency alerts. I suggested this to my full-time job, and they seemed interested in this but not quite ready for an automated system yet. Where else may this be useful? How about:

  • local public transit alerts?
  • weather emergencies
  • work closings due to power outages, weather issues, or disasters
  • schools to alert students about snow delays or other emergency needs
  • shopping alerts when stores get new merchandise in stock
  • surprise sales or sudden markdowns
  • the list seems almost endless.

I wonder, with smart phones, Blackberry’s (I finally have a great Blackberry World Phone), Twitter, and wifi, if text alerts may be the next formalized and immediate communication methodology to be used by folks over age 25? There certainly appear to be enough organizational needs for them.

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Facebook opens (to Google)?

Om Malik reports that Facebook will open to public searches (aka Google), and while they seem to state that certain areas and parts of profiles will remain closed, the old adage that there is no privacy on the Web continues to hold true.  

Granted there seem to remain some limits, but while we are electronically connected nothing can be taken for granted. Certainly not from a free site that aggregates information about its members as does Facebook. Hmm, seems more and more like Google’s own databases . . .

Organizational Communication begins Wednesday

NYU Stern Undergraduate CollegeI am teaching a new class beginning this Wednesday, Organizational Communication. Officially entitled Organizational Communication and its Social Context, the course is an undergraduate business course at Stern School of Business at New York University. From the Stern website:

In the sophomore year, you will take Organizational Communication & Its Social Context which reiterates themes introduced in Business and its Publics, as you study social processes of influence and persuasion and learn how to most effectively communicate your own verbal and written messages to different audiences.

In a little more detail from my syllabus:

Effective communicators take the lead in the workplace, and much of your future success in business depends on your ability to manage communication effectively As part of the Social Impact of Business Core, this course provides the theoretical fundamentals in communication, applies communication strategy to oral and written business assignments, and focuses on how organizations communicate to their varied internal and external stakeholders.

Furthermore, in the introduction to the Undergraduate College, it states:

At the NYU Stern Undergraduate College, our vision is to build, educate and inspire a community of socially engaged, intellectually vibrant, global leaders and thinkers.  We achieve this through constant innovation, top-notch academics and a rich co-curricular experience that leverages our NYC location as well as NYU campuses worldwide.  

While the course is full, so I am not actively trying to sell it (!), I wish I had a course like this when I was in school. I think the business curriculum, in general, has come a long way from the days of Enron and Bonfire of the Vanities. Let’s hope the students really internalize this . . .