IMPROVING INTERORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH VOICE MAIL FACILITATION OF PEER-TO-PEER RELATIONSHIPS

This study examines the impact of the introduction of voice mail on (1 ) the effectiveness of the interorganizational relationship between a manufacturing firm and its network of dealerships and (2) the sales pe rformance of these dealerships. As voice mail was introduced into two of five sales regions, this trial intervention provided an opportunity to assess these organizational impacts using a quasi-experimental res earch design. The results indicate that voice mail enhanced interorgan izational effectiveness as measured by dealership safes performance in two primary ways: directly, due to the store and forward nature of vo ice mail; and indirectly, due to improved interorganizational relation ships between the manufacturer's field representatives and the dealers hips' sales managers enabled by the more effective use of written comm unication media. The study also demonstrates the importance, when exam ining the organizational impacts of information technology, of devisin g data-gathering procedures which tightly link the functionality of th e technology being examined to specific organizational processes.