Social Networking and Information System - Essay Example

?Social Networking and Information System There has occurred a tremendous growth in the types and capabilities of social media over the past few decades. Press and high profile disputes between employers and employees have made employer responses to social media use by employees more prominent in the recent years. Conventionally, employees used to discuss work related matters on web logs. More recently, employees’ use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has become more rapid. 61 per cent employed users of Internet use it at work, and spend seven hours weekly over the Internet at work weekly (Dutton and Gerber, 2009). Although most of the activity done on social media is either non-work-related or entirely harmless, employers sometimes take exception to the employees’ online postings and take disciplinary action against them. Some kinds of social media usage by employees that usually acquire disciplinary action from the employers include posting photos or videos showing some sort of misbehavior related to work e.g. tweeting about avoiding work or feigning illness, and expressing views over social media whose connection to the organization is not appreciated or approved of by the employers. The technical, legal, and ethical implications of the social media in business imparts need for government and organizations to work at their respective levels to develop safety mechanisms, security systems, and codes of ethics to guide the behavior of employees at the workplace. Business use of social media saw a two-fold increase from 11 per cent in 2008 to 22 per cent in 2009 (Sarrel, 2010). Social media is being increasingly used by the employees at the workplace for both non-work and work related purposes including attracting clients and developing joint ventures. Organizations use social media to engage their customers and market their products and services as social media websites “provide a cyber-meeting space for people wanting to network” (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2011, p. 270). Rise in the use of new technology in general and of the Internet and the social media at the workplace in particular implies that employees can now access information related to their employment law and employment rights much more easily than they could in the past. A vast majority of organizations and unions provide information related to their employment rights in definite sections of their websites in formats that are easily understandable including links to social media websites like YouTube and Twitter. Although employees’ increased access to information can generally be perceived as a positive development since it increases their awareness about employment laws and assists them in dealing with work related issues, yet this also poses certain challenges for organizations. For example, employees may prefer getting information about employment laws online rather than directly approaching their managers or consulting a trade union representative. As a result, employees have a tendency of misunderstanding information that has been garnered out of context online, which in effect, complicates the interaction on specific issues between employers and employees. As social networking websites have become more popular, employees have received a platform where they can display a lot of information about themselves. This information is visible to everybody in the public and potentially to the employer. The employer can access all that information including photographs showing the activities and behavior of the employees outside of work which can have an adverse impact on the dignity and reputation of an employee at work. Principally, an employer should not judge an employee’s performance at work based on their private life activities. Every employee has a personal life that should be respected by the employers until the employee does not breach the ethical guidelines established by the organization. Baldas (2009) argues that with the awareness that the information about private life has been accessible to the employer over the social networking website, an employee can put this forth as a reason against any adverse decision made by the employer later. For example, an employer may find out over Facebook that a certain employee is a member of a group that works for the protection of gay rights. Such employees can claim that they have been dismissed unfairly on sexual grounds if the employer resolves to terminate them for their underperformance. Other particular information that defines employees and elaborates their character, behavior, and personality include their age, political affiliation, religious affiliation, and medical record. Use of social media at the workplace has paved way for a range of ethical concerns including cyber-bullying and unfair dismissal. Cyber-bullying is a potential challenge for the employers that comes with the use of social media at the workplace. Cyber-bullying is defined as “any use of information and communications technology to support deliberate and hostile attempts to hurt, upset or embarrass another person” (Llewellyn 2009). According to Llewellyn (2009), 10 per cent employees experience cyber-bullying at the workplace. Cyber-bullying includes a range of behaviors that include but are not limited to sharing of personal photos without consent of the owner, and abuse. Valentine et al. (2010) studied the ethicality of use of social media by the employees and employers’ responses to them. This question derives its importance because of numerous reasons e.g. an unfair dismissal generates dissatisfaction among employees. Valentine et al. (2010) identified two issues as important to be considered with respect to ethicality of use of social media by employees; first, subjects of discussion among employees on social media, and second, balance between individuals’ wider rights and the specific behavioral expectations established through employment law. Valentine et al. (2010) suggests that dismissal of a blogging employee has tendency of being perceived as ethical if the blog is about a subject related to work than otherwise. However, the content’s moral intensity is a major factor that needs consideration in either kind of blogging. A range of factors are covered by the concept of moral intensity including outcomes of an employee’s inconsiderate comments about their company and the magnitude of harm thus caused to the company. A good outcome of an employee’s act of tweeting about an organization and thus reflecting its bad image is that employers get to learn the employees’ psychology in depth and the issues organizational personnel are exposed to as a whole. “Even if you disagree with the medium used, it is just about possible to argue that such tweets amount in the loosest sense to protected acts for victimisation or whistle-blowing purposes, and therefore that intemperate action to discipline or dismiss in response could be claimed to be victimization” (Whincup, 2011). Employment lawyers and human resource professionals mutually consent that employers can and should take actions against the employees that tarnish organization’s image using the social media websites (Whincup, 2011). While the employer should take necessary action against the employee as dictated by the code of ethics, the employer must modify the organizational systems so as to make them least inconvenient for the employees and to provide employees with a better and healthy work environment in general. Technical, ethical, and legal implications of the use of social media by employees imparts the need for employers to have social media policy made and introduced at the workplace that makes it clear to the employees what behaviors are acceptable to the organization and what behaviors are condemned. Such a policy would have a deterring effect on the employees from using social media to make adverse comments about the organization. This policy would also provide employers with legal grounds to defend their action in case an employee is found making objectionable comments on the social media. Nevertheless, employers should keep an eye on the content the employee has talked about over the social media and do what is required to address an issue, if there is really any. Claims raised by the employees about unfair dismissal are unlikely to be proven unless they are justified. Tight legislation over claims of unfair dismissal on the part of the government can discourage such claims. References: Baldas, T. (2009). Lawyers warn: Bosses who 'friend' are begging to be sued’. National Law Journal. Carroll, A. B., and Buchholtz, A. K. (2011). Business and Society: Ethics: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. Cengage Learning. Dutton, W. H., and Gerber, E. M. (2009). The Internet in Britain 2009 Oxford. Institute for the Internet. Llewellyn, C. (2009). Legal Q&A: Cyber-bullying in the workplace. XpertHR. Retrieved from http://www.xperthr.co.uk/legal-guidance/legal-qanda-cyber-bullying-in-the-workplace/96509/. Sarrel, M. D. (2010, Mar. 28). Stay safe, productive on social networks. eWeek. Retrieved from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Stay-Safe-Productive-on-Social-Networks-494366/. Valentine, S., Fleischmann, G., Sprague, R., and Godkin, L. (2010). Exploring the ethicality of firing employees who blog. Human Resource Management. 49(1), 87-108. Whincup, D. (2011). Weekly dilemma: Tweeting employees. Personnel Today. Retrieved from http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/03/02/2011/57317/weekly-dilemma-tweeting-employees.htm. Read More