Social media in work places

Jacques and Michael surveyed more than 3,500 executives to examine the prevalence of social media in work places. The article, found out that 83% of the companies are using at least one form of social technology. Jacques and Michael established that the most common forms of social media are blogs, video-sharing sites, wikis, podcasts and micoblogs. The respondents in this survey reported that social media encourages knowledge access. Moreover, it improves employee satisfaction as interaction between workers is enhanced. However, the survey found out that social media is associated with leakage of confidential information and intellectual property. Use of social media could also distract employees from performing their duties as required. Although, social media has potential risks, the article reports that 60% of the respondents in the survey believe the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Based on this information, it is recommended for organizations to integrate the use of social media platforms in the workplace. It is foreseeable that widespread use of the social media between employees, customers and business partners is likely to lead to a high degree of integration in daily workflow. This article was chosen because it offers fresh insights and it the respondents in the survey were drawn from the executive management.

Sinha, Vinita., Subramanian, K., Bhattacharya, Sonali., and Chaudhuri, Kaushik. “The Contemporary Framework on Social Media analytics as an emerging tool for behavior informatics, HR analytics and business process.” Management 17, 2(2012): 65-84

This is one of the most comprehensive articles. The authors of this article have attained high academic distinctions in their areas of specialization. The article begins by describing social media and by defining key concepts. The authors then delve into the features of social media: participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness. The article also gives us an overview of current social media tool practices in hiring, collaboration, communication, talent management and internal branding. The article also outlines the key benefits of social media from an employee’s perspective. Social media fosters innovation, and collaboration among the employees. Social media could also be used to improve customer relationships. In this regard, the article cites some instances where social media has been used to support digital marketing initiatives. The article also has a rich literature review section that evaluates numerous studies that have been conducted on this subject. The findings of this article clearly show that the way organizations interact with the employees is fast changing. Consequently, it is imperative for the management to tap this new found resource by developing an appropriate reward system that encourages social media culture in an organization. At the end, the article provides helpful recommendations and succinct conclusion. The paper was helpful because it was clearly written and covered most of the important aspects of the social media, unlike other articles. The article will be useful to those who do not have basic idea about social media and web 2.0 technologies.

Pentland, Alex. “The new science of building great teams.” Harvard Business Review 61(2012): 61- 76

This article provides us with unique ideas on how individual behaviors can be analyzed using social media. Balancing the role of each member is important in setting up high-performing teams. Pentland demonstrates how studying communication patterns of the employees can be used to generate important information. This information can then be applied in building better individual and team performance. Pentland offers particular instances on how the data collected can be used for training purposes. Using exploration maps, an organization can be able to study the deficiencies affecting teams and individual employees. The data collected could also help the management to detect its failings and areas where it should improve on in order to enhance employees’ productivity. Pentland introduces a key concept of visualization which can be utilized to study team dynamics and to calculate performance related constructs such as energy, engagement and exploration. This concept can be very useful to managers who wish to identify and motivate low-energy and unengaged employees in their organizations. This resource could also be used to balance the usage of social media and other forms of communications in an organization. The article convincingly proves how communication can be used to enhance performance. However, it all depends on whether an organization can be able to influence communication patterns. This could be achieved by using hard and soft concepts of change management. Unlike the other article, this one had unique ideas on how social media can be used to encourage personal development and ultimately, organizational productivity.

Turner, Jeanine., Grube, Jean, Tinsley, Catherine., Lee, Cynthia., and O’Peall, Cheryl. “How Does Media use reflect organizational norms and affect performance?” Journal of Business Communication 4, 3(2008): 220- 250

This article examines how social media influences organizational norms and performance. The researchers use a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods to test their hypotheses. The methodology uses a sizable number of participants and is strong enough. Quantitative data was analyzed using regression method. On the other hand, qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings of this article are compelling, to say the least. Tuner and his colleagues suggest that social media is an important assessment indicator for performance and is a meaningful organizational symbol. Given that the use of social media has become prevalent in organizations, it has also become a dominant communication norm. Turner and his colleagues do just make these assertions; rather they use the social influence theory and other necessary statistical tools to prove their point. Even then, organization may have different norms and values when it comes to guiding the communication behavior. The article suggests that the values and norms of an organization could either create persons with low polychromic orientation or persons with high polychromic orientation. There is also a direct correlation between social media and overall employee’s performance. As expected, Turner and his colleagues are quick to suggest that extensive use of social media in organizations at the expense of face-to-face communication should be discouraged especially in large organizations.

References

Lorri, Freifeld. “Social media at work.” Training 49, 6(2012): 7

Sinha, Vinita., Subramanian, K., Bhattacharya, Sonali., and Chaudhuri, Kaushik. The Contemporary Framework on Social Media analytics as an emerging tool for behavior informatics, HR analytics and business process. Management 17, 2(2012): 65-84

Hartley, Deanna. Learning goes social. McKingsley Quarterly 1 (2011): 88- 99

Pentland, Alex. The new science of building great teams. Harvard Business Review 61(2012): 61- 76

Olguin, Daniel., Waber, Benjamin., Kim, Taemie., Mohan, Akshay., Ara, Koji., and Pentland, Alex. Sensible organizations: technology and methodology for automatically measuring organizational behavior. Cybernetics 39, 1(2009): 43-55