Sustainable Information and Corporate Governance - Report Example

? Sustainable Information and Corporate Governance Nowadays social media has become an important part of our daily life. People use social media for different purposes. Some use it for the purpose of relieving stress; some use it for business purposes, while few others use it to as a medium of communication. It largely depends upon the user. However several risks are also associated with it. The study is about the implementation of social networking platform in a University of UK. The university chosen for this purpose is University of Bolton. The implementation will facilitate open and effective communication throughout the campus, but to get superior result, the university need to design a governance strategy. The report will therefore try to uncover the risks and ethical issues associated with social networking. Based on the findings a conclusion will be drawn and recommendation for the governance strategy will be also provided. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 University of Bolton: A Synopsis 5 Social Networking: A Brief Overview 5 Advantages of Social Networks 6 Discussion: Sustainable Governance in Development and Evaluation of Information Strategies 8 Social Network: Sustainable Information Impact 9 Social Network: Corporate Governance impact 9 Social Network: Risk Associated 11 Social Network: Ethical Issues 12 Social Network: Compliance Issues 13 Conclusion 14 Recommendations for Governance Strategy 15 References 18 Introduction Alongside liberalization of business and broad distribution of communication & information technology, the economic activities have expanded beyond the national boundaries. This has led us to the concept of globalization, which facilitated delivery of products from different parts of the world. Although, the economy of the world has been highly benefitted by globalization, but the environment has been impacted to a large extent due to increased manufacturing activities. However with the passage of time, human being understood the importance of preserving environment (Bleischwitz, 2007, p.8). Also the need of management or supervision was felt, in order to foster sustainability. This had in turn led to the concept of sustainable governance. With increasing awareness of green environment, the importance of sustainability nowadays does not remain curtailed only to the business venture. Universities and schools around the world are now focusing on the issue of sustainability. Hence through this project, evaluation of sustainable information and corporate governance impact on a university of UK will be done. In addition, this report also proposes to develop an information governance strategy in order to encourage growth and implementation of technology within the product and service portfolio of the organization. Now for the purpose of this study, the establishment chosen is University of Bolton and the technology chosen for implementation is social networks. A brief introduction of both university and technology is provided below. University of Bolton: A Synopsis The history of university of Bolton dates back to 1982, when it used to be known as Bolton Institute of Higher Education. In the year 2004 it was granted the university status and from then onwards the name changed to University of Bolton. Presently, the university has it’s headquarter at Greater Manchester, England. As of 2012, the university has 14,000 enrolments among all the discipline offered by the university. It embraces around 700 staff (including admin and professional staff). Apart from its presence in the markets of UK, the company also operates in some other parts of the world. For example the university has establishments in the United Arab Emirates (Bolton, n.d.). Also university of Bolton has tie ups with the overseas academic foundations in countries such as Singapore, China, Malaysia, Greece and Germany among others. The university believes in having diversity within the students. This is the reason why we find around 13 % of the students belongs to ethnic group and 8 % students come from some other parts of the world. Apart from that this university also believes in sustainability. Social Networking: A Brief Overview A social networking service can be portrayed as a website or an online platform that tries to build social relations or social networks among the people. In a social networking platform users generally share their interest, real life connections, backgrounds and activities. It consists of the profile of users, social links or connections of the users and also other additional services. In general, most of the social networking services offer online platforms to the users for the purpose of interacting. In addition such websites also offers email and instant messaging facilities. Social networking websites also have different categories. Some of the social networking platforms only offer users with the basic interaction mechanisms such as sharing information. On the other hand some are developed for solving complex problems (Ryan, 2011). Online social networking has been a revolution in the history of civilised human being. It has made communication instant overcoming curtails of distance .Also it provides users with the opportunity to interact with more than one people. Thus from an overall point of view social networking has allowed people around the world to remain connected with each other and share their interest with their friends and families. Some of the popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, Orkut and MySpace among others (Russell, 2011). During the launch of social networking platforms, it was only meant for browsing through laptops and desktop computer. Nevertheless, with rapid technological development, users can now use their favourite social networking websites from mobile, tablet computers and also through notebooks. Advantages of Social Networks Social media offers a large number of advantages to both users as well to the company hosting it. In addition, from the context of a marketer it is useful as well. However this study is related to sustainability. Therefore some of its advantages based on sustainability will be also presented. Some of the most important and essential benefits of a social networking website are detailed below: - The biggest and the most important advantage of social networking site is that if facilitates open communication. This leads to an improved delivery and discovery of data and information (Shrm, 2012). From the perspective of an organization, it fosters employees to discuss regarding different ideas, ask questions to each other, share important links etc. From the marketing context of view, it allows to increase their business horizons. This allows the companies to target mass audience which often guide them towards gaining more market share. In addition, it also plays a vital role in enhancing the business reputation and brand value. Possible social networking is the most eco friendly form of communication and consumes less resource thereby promoting sustainability to a large extent (Jablin and Putnam, 2000). Finally another important advantage of social media is that, it reduces the communication cost tremendously. The cost cutting aspect of social networking sites is applicable everywhere. For example, business venture uses it for audio and video conferencing, students uses it for sharing their view, thereby saving mobile bills. According to the study, the university students will experience several aspects of the social networks. A significant amount of research has been carried out in the field of impact of social media on students. Those studies pointed out that social media are highly attractive for students around the world. It offers students with another world where they find opportunity to make new friends. In addition, it allows students to release pressure related to their academic and personal lives. Research in this area of study has also revealed that a balance between the academic studies and social media can shape the career of a student vividly. Thus from overall viewpoints it can be stated that the benefits of social media to students are: - it acts as a stress reliever, it helps to make new friends, helps in getting up-to-date information and to a certain extent it impacts in their personal lives (Wang, Chen and Liang, 2011). Discussion: Sustainable Governance in Development and Evaluation of Information Strategies Sustainable governance is regarded as the way by which sustainability is managed throughout the organization. Some of its important elements are organization policies, processes and procedures, staff skill set, technology and organizational structure (Open-Sustainability, n.d.). Effective governance and sustainability is transforming as one of the vital consideration for business leaders, organizations, governments, investors, customers and other stakeholders around the world (Ifac, 2011). The key success factors of sustainable governance lies in Accountability, Efficient Operating Models, A Common Methodology, Standard Models, Comprehensive Scope, Sustainability Value Assessment, Senior Leadership, Strategic Approach, Continuous Improvement, Flexibility for Change, Governance Tools. Now the next half of the project will illuminate the impact of social media on corporate governance and sustainable information. Social Network: Sustainable Information Impact Social media has undoubtedly changed the landscape of social corporate responsibility as companies around the world are employing this technology towards the development of sustainable programs. Nevertheless the same technology can be also implemented in the Bolton University in order to promote sustainable communication within then premise of the university. According to the reports of SMI-Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index, the number of companies that used social media to communicate and promote sustainability has doubled in comparison with the number of companies last year. The primary media in which the companies are engaged include Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (CSRHUB, 2012). Social Network: Corporate Governance impact Companies around the world are focusing on social networks so as to communicate with the stakeholders and learn from them. Hovered this trend is only visible in the emerging economies or in the developed countries. The primary reason for using social media is that, it increases the awareness about the services and products of the company thereby offering opportunities to target the market in an effective way. Some of the expert in this field of study states that then board of directors of a company should understand the importance of social media. They also states that they are not required to understand the how to make use of a Facebook or twitter, rather they should know how the stakeholders uses social media, and how it can impact a small, mid and large company or even how social media impacts a company which is privately held. Some of the ways by which social media impacts the corporate governance are as follows:- Directors Liability: - Any disasters pertain to a company can lead to severe public discussion. In order to cite an instance, the ongoing oil disaster crisis at the Gulf of Mexico, has generated a lot of discussion and debate in large number of online public discussion forums. Thus from this occurrence it is clear that public uses social media to gather information and organize demonstration against a company or establishment. Moreover, this can be used for the purpose of litigation, thereby putting members of the board in a situation of liability suit. Therefore carefully monitoring the social media prior to the crisis and also after the crisis can actually help companies to assess the risk associated with it and also to identify the potential outcomes. Therefore, properly following social media channels will allow companies to create contingency plans and take precautionary measures. Union Organizing: - Unions are making effective use of the tools of social media. Hence a corporate governance board not concentrating about the happenings in the world of social media may remain unaware of the protest or rallies that may take place against the company. Whistleblower Crises: - It can happen that a whistle blower starts to place information regarding the company at various channels. The platforms can be blogs, or other platforms. Such occurrences can lead to procedural changes in the company. It even results in policy changes. Moreover a whistle blower given such platform can easily form a large community thereby impacting the reputation of the organization. Legislative Impact: - Social media can also foster legislative impact against a company. For example if a group is opposing any particular activity of a company due to its perception that the activity may have damaging effects, they can use social media to showcase the probable damages and can connect with the legislative bodies. It can even result into stoppage of the project. Stock Price instability: - It can also impact in the stock price of a company. For example, if an employee of the company accidentally or intentionally post in a social media platform that drive a sudden hike in the share price or can give rise to a sell-off situation. This may lead to the changes in the board member so as to ensure proper management and reputation of the company. Social Network: Risk Associated In today’s society social media has been incredibly prevalent for the university students. According to the studies around 81 % students use social media for various reasons. Nevertheless as people are getting more engaged towards social media, limits between the professional life and personal life start to blur. This is where risk generates. Social media allows photo sharing, commenting and posting own thoughts, which sometime causes difficulties. The risks pertaining to social media that will be highlighted in this segment are in accordance to the Bolton University. In other words this segment will illuminate the risk of incorporating social media in the Bolton University. The risks that have been identified for this course of the study are presented below: - Embarrassing Photos: - Thorough social media people share millions of photos. Similarly university students perform the similar activity. Even their interest is much more than any other segment of the society. However, sharing photo can be risky venture, especially for girls. As some people may use special software to transform that picture and can post it in any pornographic websites. In addition, provoking photos can also be risky. Violation of Posting Negative or Confidential Information: - There are several social media platforms that offer user with the facility to post their personal thoughts and beliefs. However some time out of aggression especially student may post something which may hurt certain communities or some people. In such cases the student may face consequences. Even his or her career may get ruined (Sutton, 2012). Social Media Lessons: - Every people who are active in the social networking world have friend from different places and different background. Similarly for university students, they have friends from different backgrounds. Hence it raises the chance of students getting provoked by some strangers, which may impact the career of the student adversely. Apart from the aforementioned, risks there are many others risks as well, but only the important ones were presented in this study. Social Network: Ethical Issues Large number of ethical issues is involved with the use of social networking platforms. Sometimes due to some activity of the user or due to the tools offered by the platform, issues pertaining to ethics become prominent. In the past there have been large numbers of issue which are related to ethics. For example surveillance of the employees by the organization can be highlighted as a case where company violates the ethical guidelines. In addition, use of private data for marketing is also about breaking the ethical guidelines (Gillgian, 2011). Furthermore, other activities such as privacy, surveillance, exploitation of users, exploring one’s personal data are considered as unethical. The students of the university may also practise the same and can infringe the ethical guidelines. Moreover with the development of technology, social networking websites can be used in many portable gadgets such as mobile, i-pad and others. Hence students may sometime consider social media for taking information. Such activities may be regarded as unethical. Apart from that there are several activities, which can be regarded as unethical. Therefore in order to control the unethical activities of the students, the university needs to design a superior governance strategy. In this context the University of Bolton may employ ‘tool view’ technology, in order to control any unethical happenings. In this tool, one user has the control over all the other connected ends, where the technology is implemented and thus can use preventive measures in order to guard unwanted behaviours (Light and McGrath, 2010). Social Network: Compliance Issues The adoption rate of social media is getting enlarged day by day. Organizations around the world use it for the purpose of increasing brand awareness, prospecting customer, customer retention, and increasing loyalty. According to Holmes (2012) around 79 % of the companies belonging to the fortune 500 group employ networking sites such as twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for the primary purpose of communicating with the clients. However, communication through social media carries large number of legal risks along with it and at the same time requires the same compliance standard that administers electronic mail and IM retention (it is the rules and regulation that governs the tweets, post and LinkedIn contents). Some author’s have portrayed that the reason which makes the compliance difficult is the rapid pace of social media and not the actual rules and regulations (Freeman, 2010). Similarly for the students of University of Bolton, the university needs to design the governance process in such a way that controls the compliance issues. However according to several researchers, implementing a social media compliance which is highly effective is not a rocket science, rather a compilation of right technology and right policy can render subtle communication complaint as well. Therefore, the best way by which the university can governs its students is by developing a social media policy. The university should make an outline about how it wants to use social media and for what purpose it is using social media, and can notify the same to its students. Conclusion Social networking has been chosen as the technology which will be implemented in the University of Bolton. The reason for implementation of social media has been also justified in the earlier portions. Considering all the above findings about the pros and cons of social media, it can be stated that social networking must be implemented in the university as it will offer several benefits to the students. Although there are many risks associated with the implementation of social networking but it can be controlled with sound rules and policies. In addition, proper governance of social networking activities will also help to serve the purpose. Recommendations for Governance Strategy This section will now highlight the governance strategy that will guide the development and implementation of the social network in the campus. The strategy for effectively managing and to benefitted from it, following are the strategies: - The University of Bolton must implement social networking to its campus, but it should control the activities of the member by using certain tools and software. Rules and Regulation: - The University must develop a list of rules and regulations and then distribute the same to each members of the university. In addition, different policies must be developed in order to ensure students do not practices any unethical work and do not get exposed to any kind of risks. The prime intention is to ensure open and free communication within the university and therefore it should be promoted. A committee must be formed to administer the whole proceedings and the committee should contain representatives from the students as well. A risk appetite review must be carried out. If the assessment of risk is properly done, it will hold minimal chances of failure. In order to safeguard the issues pertaining to ethics and compliance the university should foster students to read the terms and condition before using social networking website within the campus. Moreover the university should also let the students know about the implementation of social networking in the University. The university of Bolton also needs to incorporate the new offerings to the students and should be added to the product portfolio of the University. Before the final implementation, the university must carry out a pilot study. A pilot study will help the University to get a snapshot of how this new technology will benefit the students. The students must be made aware about the consequences they are going to face on violation of the ethical principles and not complying with the rules and regulation. In this context the University must take strong actions against the students who are found to be breaking the rules. Also it is important to track activities of the students and if needed they must be notified and warned. Therefore the University must hold meeting at least once in a month to guide and advise them on how to get really benefitted by the implementation of this technology. References Bleischwitz, R., 2007. Corporate Governance of Sustainability: A Co-Evolutionary View on Resource Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Bolton, No Date. Ras Al Khaimah Campus. [online] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. CSRHUB, 2012. Social Media: A New Tactic for Corporate Sustainability? [online] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. Freeman, S. G., 2010. Social Media Compliance Issues. FORC Journal, 21 (1), pp.1-3. Gillgian, T. A., 2011. Social Networking Sites and the Ethical Issues they Create. [online] Available at: [Accessed 05 December 2012]. Holmes, 2012. Social Media Compliance Isn't Fun, but It's Necessary. [online] Available at: [Accessed 05 December 2012]. Ifac, 2011. Governance & Sustainability. [online] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. Jablin, F. M., and Putnam, L. L., 2000. The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods. 2nd ed. London: SAGE. Light, B., and McGrath, K., 2010. Ethics and Social Networking Sites: A Disclosive Analysis of Facebook. Information Technology & People, 23 (4), pp. 290-311. Open-Sustainability, No Date. Sustainability Governance. [online] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. Russell, M., 2011. Mining the Social Web: Analyzing Data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Other Social Media Sites. California: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Ryan, P. K., 2011. Social Networking. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Shrm, 2012. Social Media: What are the advantages and disadvantages of social networking sites? What should we include in a policy? [online] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. Sutton, L., 2012. The Risk of Social Media Websites. [online] Available at: [Accessed 05 December 2012]. Wang, Q., Chen, W., and Liang, Y., 2011. The Effects of Social Media on College Students. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 04 December 2012]. Read More