Questions:
1. Identify and critically analyze the issues related to Tolu’s alleged conduct that have been raised by the company against her in the above scenario. These issues could include managing conduct, company reputation, staff communications and privacy at work.
2. As an HR consultant, critically discuss the implications for good practice with regards to managing social media within the workplace.
Answers:
Introduction
In order to connect with the family, friends and colleagues, people use the social media platforms. It also helps the individuals to stay updated about the social, national and international activities that significantly support them to achieve success in personal as well as in professional life. But, sometimes, due to security reasons, companies ban the social sites to access from the workplace by the employees (Gikas and Grant, 2013). It negatively affects the employees as well as creates issues for the firms to establish effective communication linkage between the employees and management members.
Sometimes, the use of social media platforms by an individual is also monitored by the firm, in which the individual work, in order to access the viewpoints of current employees related to the jobs and the management. In this, the firms also enable to monitor the personal communication of an employee and use this communication against the employee. It negatively affects the employees’ rights related to the freedom of speech and reduces their morale within the firm (Treem and Leonardi, 2012). In concern to this, this report discusses the issues related to Tolu’s alleged conduct by considering the given scenario. Along with this, this report also critically discusses the implications for good practices with regards to managing social media at the workplace.
1. In the given scenario, it is found that in the recent time, the holiday company management goes through the social media sites to review the potential recruits in order to take decisions whether to hire them or not. In the given scenario, alleged conduct is related to the communication established by Tolu through her blog and social networking sites in concern to the firm. It is also analysed that in the given scenario, the issue related to the Tolu’s alleged conduct is also related to the management of conduct. It is because, on the personal blog and social networking sites, Tolu criticised the company’s management that negatively affected firm’s reputation as well as other employees’ behaviour within the firm (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2013).
In support of this, it is also evaluated that the negative company reputation is one of the issues related to Tolu’s alleged conduct emerged from the social media posts. It is because, in the social media posts, Tolu posted some negative comments on the company’s management that negatively affected the company’s reputation in the industry and the local geographical area (Brown and Billings, 2013). On the other hand, in the given scenario, the suspected behaviour of Tolu also creates issues related to the lack of privacy at the workplace. It is because the suspected behaviour of Tolu increases the concern of management about to check the social media page and personal web pages of other employees. It also reduces the privacy of employees after working hours and generates the concern of employee surveillance at the workplace (Du and Vieira, 2012).
But, at the same time, it is evaluated that Tolu has the legal rights to claim in the court against to the firing from the company due to her social media posts. In this, Tolu can claim that she was wrongly terminated. For example, in the English common law, it is the right of the employees to claim for the wrong termination by the employer (Bagenstos, 2013). On the other hand, NLRB (National Labour Relation Board) also protects the employees’ rights related to the use of social media. In the given case scenario, it is found that Tolu simply posted a negative comment about her employer on the social site without asking others to work with her to make an improvement (Logan, 2014).
On the other hand, in the English common law, the employees have the rights to discuss their wages and working conditions with each other and the rights to improve these conditions to make better organisational environment. On the other hand, according to social information processing theory of social media, it is the right for the people to know one another online, without non-verbal cues and by communicating with each other about the circumstances. It helps the individuals to share their feelings and information with each other related to the personal as well as professional (Chauhan, Buckley and Harvey, 2013). But, in concern to the employer, it is also evaluated that the employers also have the rights and legal position to protect the interest and an employees’ negative comments on the social networking sites. It is because the lack of employer’s interest in reducing the negative comment by employees on social networking sites may damage the firm’s reputation and create issues in managing the negative behaviour of employees (Robbins, et al., 2013).
On the other hand, it is also evaluated that according to adaptive Structuration theory, an individual has the right to decide the structure of its social networking web page. In this, there is a right by which, individual or groups have the rights to use information technology for their work and deciding contents on social media sites and personal webpage. But, in contrast to this, it is also analysed that in order to protect the reputation and develop the positive morale among employees, employers have the right to modify or remove the content of employees’ Facebook page or the blog (Patton, Eschmann and Butler, 2013). It is because it helps the employer to eliminate the alleged behaviour of employees related to the firm as well as other employees of the organisation.
But, in oppose to this, it is evaluated that on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, individual or employees put their personal information with the trust that no one can misuse the personal information against them. It also gives the rights to the individual or employees to decide the content of the social media page or blog (Cabiddu, De Carlo and Piccoli, 2014). In the given case scenario, Tolu operated a Facebook page and her individual blog so, it is evaluated that Tolu has a right to decide the likes and dislikes on the Facebook page and in her blog.
2. At the workplace, the effective management of social media makes various implications to the employees as well as firm. It is found that through effective management of social media, firms enable to generate publicity for their products and name in the market. According to social exchange theory, an effective management of social media platform, HR manager significantly selects the right communication channel in order to communicate the important information to the employees (Berthon, et. al., 2012). Through this, HR manager also enables to guide the employees towards the right path.
At the same time, the effective management of social media also helps the HR manager to contribute to the development of social media policy in order to prevent such kind of issues. It is identified that through developing social media policy, employer effectively monitors the employees’ usages of social media in the workplace. It also helps the HR manager and employer to improve the productivity of the employee and reduce the conflicting situation from the workplace (Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2012). But, on the other hand, it is identified that content posted on public sites or social networking sites are not private for the individual or firm. It is because these sites are accessible by all the individuals, who visit these sites.
For example, in the case of Moreno v Hanford Sentinel Inc, court found that and individual, who published information on the social networking sites or personal blog could not have a reasonable expectation that it would remain private (Raysman, 2012). So, in the case of given scenario, it can be said that the comments posted by Tolu were not private as many people access these comments and develop their negative perception related to the firm and its management.
On the other hand, one of the implications for good practices with regards to management of social media within the organisation is related to the management of internal resources, which are allocated to the social media. It is found that through social media management, HR managers enable to manage the available resources at their full capacity to harness the benefits of these resources in order to enhance the organisational success in the industry (Epstein and Buhovac, 2014). In support of this, Han, Han and Brass (2014) exhibit that one of the best practices of HR manager is related to the better management of available resources in order to provide pace to the organisational work and to develop the relationship between employees and management to communicate the important information.
On the other hand, the effective management of social media at workplace also provides the benefits for the organisation in terms of selecting or recruiting appropriate individuals for the organisational work. It is found that better management of social media enables the HR manager to identify best recruits by monitoring their behaviour, attitude and beliefs (Logan, 2014). But, at the same time, it is also found that one of the implications of managing social media is related to the identification of competitors’ activities through adopting benchmarking practices of HR. It is because, by better management of social media, a firm can measure the quality of its policies, product, programs and strategies, etc. with the other organisations to attract more customers and satisfy employees in their respective fields (Du and Vieira, 2012). It can provide the benefits to the firms in terms of improving the productivity of employees as well as their loyalty towards the organisational work.
At the same time, in support of this, Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2013) state that the better management of social media in the workplace also provides the benefits to the firms in terms of developing an active learning environment. Through this, HR managers enable to motivate employees to improve their productivity as well as share positive information and data over the social media network. It also enables the HR manager to guide the employees adopt changes within the organisation. But, on the other hand, it is identified that sometimes, companies use the social networking sites as an evidence to prove emotional damage arising from different situations such as sexual harassment at work. For example, from the case of EEOC v Simply Storage Management, it is identified that employees must be established a careful consideration about their posts on social networking sites in order to avoid having their words used against them (Moore, 2014).
According to Cabiddu, De Carlo and Piccoli (2014), the management of social media in the workplace is effective to implement best HR practices that benefit both employees and organisation in terms of improving their productivity and efficiency. It is found that through social media sites, HR manager enables to implement best practices related to empowerment of employees, job rotation, award and benefits, and training and development. These HR best practices help the organisation to control over the employees and motivate them to use the social sites for the benefits of organisation.
So, it can be said that managing social media within the workplace create significance for the HR managers and leads them to implement good practices to ensure the organisational success in the industry.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the suspected behaviour of Tolu over the social media network created various issues include a decrease in company reputation, lack of staff communication, and lack of privacy of work. It is because suspected or alleged conduct of an employee makes a serious impact over the other employees as well as stakeholders and develops the negative perception about the firm. Due to this, sometimes, management may face difficulties to maintain an effective working environment within the firm.
From the discussion, it can also be concluded that through managing social media within the workplace, HR manager can monitor the social media activities of employees that can be beneficial in maintaining an effective environment within the firm. But, at the same time, it can cause employee surveillance issues among the employees that may negatively affect the productivity as well as perception of stakeholders about the firm. But, through managing social media at workplace, HR manager enable to motivate employees and empower them to communicate positive information and data related to the firm on the social networking sites.
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