Article Critical - Literature review Example

Article Critical Review Article Critical Review Introduction The article that this paper will analyse is A Facebook ‘Friend’ Request from the Boss: Too Close for Comfort? by Katherine Karl, Joy Van Eck Peluchette and Jason Fertig. This article seeks to explore ways how employees could react when they get Facebook friend requests from their superiors. The main findings of the article are that some people react negatively, and others positively depending on their thought of why their superior has sent to them the friend request.

Summary Making use of most of the information from self-presentation, developmental networks and leader-member exchange (LMX), Peluchette, Karl & Fertig (2013, 291) endeavour to explain how workers may react or respond to a Facebook ‘friend’ request from their superiors and why they may react or respond in that manner. Peluchette, Karl & Fertig (2013, 293) then examine blog remarks to determine how people feel about such requests and decide whether their remarks endorse any of the abovementioned conjectural frameworks.

The authors conclude with proposals for how Facebook can be utilised in the workplace. The sections incorporated in the article include new and different users of Facebook, possible workers reactions, as well as responses to boss friend request – negative and positive, actual reactions from workers, implications and rules of friending in the workplace. A significant finding is that a number of workers might be willing to let their superiors friend them on Facebook since it allows them to get closer to their boss than before and they could use this to their advantage.

However, others that are against this endeavor argue that it is an invasion of privacy. Critique The issue of whether to allow interactions, and particularly accepts your boss’s friend request on Facebook, has been a significant matter ever since firms came to notice the power of the tool in marketing both their company and their products (Lindhe, 2009, 56). Companies mostly use this tool to interact with their clients, but, today, it has taken a further twist with bosses going on an extra mile to try and connect with their workers using their personal Facebook accounts, which is being seen as a matter of stern concern by workers themselves (Lindhe, 2009, 56).

In my view, this is something superiors should avoid in order to maintain a professional relationship with their employees. Peluchette, Karl & Fertig (2013, 290) did a great job to discuss this topic, and furthermore, seemed to be on the opinion that superiors and their juniors should maintain a strictly professional relationship. This means that even when superiors and their employees opt to friend one another on Facebook, it should be through regulations of the firm, which is being monitored.

Even though, Facebook can be used to monitor someone’s traits and actions, it is still a personal tool and bosses should be aware of this Peluchette, Karl & Fertig (2013, 293). Employees are normally caught up in a dilemma wonder whether or not to accept the advancement of the bosses with will have its consequences if they go either way. This article is extremely helpful as it advises employees on the way to go with regards to their instincts. Using your instincts is the best way to decide whether to accept the friend request or not (Lindhe, 2009, 60).

It was vital for the authors to advice workers to assess their relationships with their bosses before deciding the next move. If a worker’s relationship with his/her boss is healthy, then they should consider is as a true friendship request just to get closer to a friend. However, if the relationship between a boss and his/her employee is negative, then it is best not to accept the request because it might be a way of monitoring the worker outside work activities. Other strengths are that the article uses actual comments of workers to come up with its final conclusion and advice on the best way of using Facebook as a firm.

Also, apart from incorporating negative reactions of people towards these friend requests, the article was also fair in granting the positive reactions. The weakness of this study is that it failed to incorporate bosses’ views of why they send Facebook friend requests to their employees. Maybe they have a different view to this, but people do not know. Therefore, future research should also seek to incorporate the views of bosses with regards to this topic. Conclusion In essence, this article is extremely helpful because it shed light into a matter that seems to be affecting a lot of employees today and yet they did not know how to resolve it.

However, if they apply the recommendations discussed in this article, then they will resolve the matter at ease. References Lindhe, J, 2009, Facebook and the boss: how Facebook is changing the supervisory relationship, Russell-Herder, Minneapolis, MN. Peluchette, J V, Karl, K & Fertig, J 2013, 'A Facebook ‘Friend’ Request from the Boss: Too Close for Comfort?' Business Horizons, vol. 56, pp. 291-300.