Abstract
This paper discusses how WhatsApp (WA) group can be used to maintain social and workplace relationship. In the presence of positive mediation of WA, people may have a sense of belonging as WA is a written discourse community. A WhatsApp group of lecturers was used as the source of data. Based on the results of analysis, it was revealed that the lecturers who join this WA group generally attempt to assert their individuality. Yet, they put their efforts to join others by maintaining their sense of status or self-esteem as they are members of the group by doing some imposition. It was also found that rich communication can be realized through WA group. The members’ use of greetings and the use of directives are reported. The syntactic and lexical choices made by the lecturers are consciously or subconsciously interpreted by the members of the group. The messages in WA group also revealed that the lecturers in the group show they are able to contribute freely, avoid conflict and create harmonious working relationships via the WA chat forum. The study described here is a case study of a written workplace discourse in an educational institution. Hence no statistical tests have been carried out since it is regarded as exploratory. Further study based on different workplaces and in different contexts needs to be conducted to see how these findings hold for other workplaces.
Highlights
The advancement of communication technology has brought a profound change in today’s workplace communication
The research is toward a better understanding of the function of WhatsApp group in constructing social relationship among lecturers as the members of Urun Rembug Dosen FIB WA group and the way they construct their social identity
The syntactic and lexical choices made by the lecturers are interpreted consciously or subconsciously by the members of the group
Summary
The advancement of communication technology has brought a profound change in today’s workplace communication. Through the emergence of mobile phone application, it has become a powerful communication service via the internet to enable people to create a private or group chat. It can be used for relational maintenance in many situations including in social and workplace relationship. In terms of its nature, WA should be positioned somewhere a face-to-face communication and a private message which enables people to engage in real time interaction It results from its ability for people to transfer files, such as videos, documents, pictures so that social activities are enhanced by providing more opportunities and convenience in communication
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