BUSS 5397: Smartphone Usage Effect on Australian Employee Productivity

This project report investigates the effects of smartphone usage on employee productivity within the Australian workplace. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including both primary and secondary data collection. Primary data was gathered through surveys of 210 employees from the telecommunications, banking, and hospitality industries, exploring the perceived benefits and drawbacks of smartphone use during work hours. The report analyzes the data using thematic analysis, examining factors such as age, gender, and job roles, to understand the relationship between smartphone use and employee efficiency, distraction, and overall organizational performance. The findings suggest that while smartphones offer advantages like improved communication and access to information, excessive use can negatively impact productivity and create ethical concerns. The report concludes with recommendations for balancing smartphone usage and workplace productivity.

Running head: BUSINESS DECISION MAKING
BUSINESS DECSION MAKING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Methodology....................................................................................................................................5
Data Collection Method Chosen and Justification......................................................................5
Data Analysis Method Chosen and Justification:........................................................................6
Ethical Issues:..............................................................................................................................6
Data and Analysis............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22

Abstract
Along with the advancement of technology, the usage of smartphone has increased manifold.
The smartphone technology that has been introduced merely a decade ago has taken a significant
place in the people’s lives. It has been noticed that the usage of smartphone has influenced the
organizational culture both in positive and negative way. It has been noticed that the usage of
smartphones and modern technologies have helped the employees to perform their tasks as well
as to communicate from remote workplaces. Along with the positive influences, usage of
smartphones has generated significant problems within the organizations. It has been noticed that
that overexposure to the smartphones during the work hours has significantly affected their
productivity. Excessive usage of smartphones, both during and after the working hours can lead
to severe addiction. This in turn is hampering their productivity. In addition to this, multiple
researches have shown that the employees who are over exposed to the smartphones are wasting
significant time in their workplaces. The research hence aims at analyzing the fact that usage of
mobile phones are providing multiple advantages to the employees. Hence, they are becoming
more addicted to the smart gadgets. However, the excessive usage of the smartphones during the
work hours are threatening the productivity and safety concerns of the organization.

Introduction
In the present times the over usage of smartphones in the workplaces has resulted into
severe unproductivity. Multiple factors can be identified that are affecting the concentration of
the employees. Often it has been noticed that the excessive attachment to the smartphones affect
the self-control of the employees to a great extent. The employees are seen as unable to ignore
even the unimportant notifications (Baker et al. 2014). This is causing severe problem in
maintaining quality of production of the organization. Hence, the usage of smartphones, now a
days are regarded as the counterproductive to the performance of the employees. Moreover, it
has been monitored that the employees find using smart phones provides them the opportunities
of smart work and this is in turn making them more efficient (Jamaluddin, Ahmad, Alias and
Simun 2015). The aim of the research is to identify the influences of smartphone on the
productivity of the employees. Moreover, the study also aims at analyzing the benefits of
smartphones while used in the workplaces.
Methodology
Data Collection Method Chosen and Justification
The research includes both primary and secondary data collection methods. However,
more importance is given on the primary data collection method. The secondary collection will
be done taking helps of governmental websites, and scholarly publications only (Choy, 2014).
Whereas, primary data will be collected surveys of the employees of various organizations.
In order to reach to the research findings, help of surveys will be taken. Survey will also
provide scopes of detailed understanding of the topic. To perform the survey, a sample size of

210 people has to be considered. The participants are selected from the telecommunication,
banking and hospitality industries. Amongst the participants, there are 100 male and 110 female
employees. In order to analyze the qualitative data collected from the survey, the thematic
approach will be adopted (Flick, 2015). The information that will be gathered from the surveys
will be analyzed in consideration with various themes, which can be directly linked to the
research topic.
Data Analysis Method Chosen and Justification:
The qualitative data analysis technique includes a range of processes where the
researchers analyzes and interprets the responses of the participants. The method of data analysis
that has been selected for the research is thematic approach. Taking up surveys will be helpful in
providing detailed insight of the issues (Panneerselvam, 2014). Moreover, the themes will be
directly related to the research topic.
Ethical Issues:
All the ethical guidelines will be adhered to throughout the entire process. During the
process of collecting primary data, no participants will be forced to provide answers of each and
every question. They are free to opt out of the survey sessions whenever they feel uncomfortable.
Each participant of the survey has given their consent willingly before asking questions (Smith,
2015). Moreover, no symbol or logo, of any company or organization has been used in the
dissertation. The fact that this research is to be done only for academic purpose is also
emphasized. Prior to the survey, all necessary permissions and authorization letters have been
taken from the university. In addition to this, in order to do secondary research, proper citations
and credits will be given. Hence, there is no chance of the paper being plagiarized. All the rules
and regulations of performing the research have been adhered to.

Data and Analysis
Gender
Sample Size
94
96
98
100
102
104
106
108
110
112
Male
Female
As is observed from the graph, the percentage of males and females are almost the same with the
percentage of females slightly higher than the males.
Age

20-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46 years or above
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Male
Female
From the above graph it can be asserted that the majority of these people are young or in the
middle aged years with either equal or greater number of women in every age group.

Industry
Male Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Hospitality
Bank
Telecommunications
Others
As is noticed from the graph of the sample interviewed, majority of the population for both the
genders work in the hospitality sector. After this, the next major group of people from the male
par of the sample work in the banking sector whereas for women majority of the people are
working in the telecommunications sector. There is a very small part of the sample comprised
only of females who work in other sectors like aviation and research analysis.

Job Description
Male Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Front house
Back house
This graph again portrays that majority of the sample being questioned use their phones
while performing back office operations and not front end operations. This is the case for
both genders

Will the use of cell phones will improve your efficiency
Male Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Strongly agree
agree
neutral
disagree
strongly disagree
On the question as to whether the usage of cell phones will increase the efficiency of the
workers, in case of both the genders, the indicators of strongly agree and agree received the
highest number of responses followed by neutral responses. But no responses were received in
terms of disagreeing.

Number of calls per day
Male Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
less than 2
2 - 5 calls
6-10 calls
more than 10
As is seen from the above graph, the frequency of the number of calls varies between the two
genders but not much. In case of both the genders, maximum people make 6 to 10 calls, followed
by 2-5 calls, followed by less than 2 calls followed by more than 10 calls.

Type of Usage
Male Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Contact clients
On-line training
Searching information related
to work
Entertainment
From the above graph, it is thus derived and asserted that majority of the employees in the
different industries use the mobile phones for contacting clients and on-line training purposes.
However, the validity of this data needs to be tested before possible estimations can be made out
of it.