The main question is not anymore how social networking happens at the workplace but how to guide it and use it in a 21st century organization. There are many pros and cons (see articles under) to allow employees to use social networking at the workplace. Managers want to measure the impact of social networking at the workplace and analyse if it is profitable for their organization. If companies would have these data, they could make clear decisions and every organization would look different regarding their social networking policy.
An MIT study (article 1) proves that frequent users of social networks are more productive than their colleagues. Considering the market research by AT&T (article 4) most of the European employees considers social networks at the workplace beneficial. The main advantages are knowledge enrichment and problem solving. Also improved collective knowledge and improved teamwork are advantages of employees that daily use social networks. The distraction and the leak of confidential information were the two main disadvantages. For some companies as headhunting agencies allowing social networking at the workplace will be profitable because of the extra amount of information that the headhunters will receive and so they can do their job better. For companies as accounting agencies (all the necessary information is at the company itself) allowing social networking at the workplace can be profitable (more information and happier and more motivated employees) or unprofitable (distraction). This possible profitability or unprofitability should be measured before the management can act properly.
The main reason that made me choose these articles is the fact that a lot of companies are willing to introduce these social networks into daily business because of the higher productivity of employees as mentioned above but these companies are worried about the negative effects and consequences that can damage the company. It is difficult to measure the ROI (return on investment) of allowing employees to work with social networks at the workplace because it is a sociological development. If the use of social networks at the workplace and the extra productivity of the employees that use these networks can be measured by kpis (key performance indicators) companies can incorporate social networking at the workplace and the companies’ businesses can be more efficient. If the right kpis are used companies can analyse the ROI and make decisions about the utility of social networking at the workplace. The companies can allow it, ban it or restrict it and if they allow it, they can restrict access, educate and train staff and set security and usage policies. These kpis certainly have an impact on the Chief Information Officers’ tasks and the technological adaptation for the company. I also chose these articles because the professional research by AT&T and the applicable tips and options concerning social networking at the workplace for businesses nowadays.
1. Social Networking in the Workplace: A Smart Business Strategy?
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2009/02/15/social-networking-in-the-workplace-a-smart-business-strategy.aspx#ixzz0XignaaWT (Ray Williams – National Post)
2. 5 Problems with Social Networking in the Workplace
http://www.information-management.com/specialreports/2009_165/social_networking_media-10016208-1.html (David Kelleher - Research analyst at GFI)
3. Social Networking in the Workplace and the How to Manage It
http://ezinearticles.com/?Social-Networking-in-the-Workplace-and-the-How-to-Manage-It&id=3192858 (Mandy Spencer Hunt - Spencer Hunt Consulting Ltd, 2009)
4. Social Networking in the Workplace Increases Efficiency
http://www.corp.att.com/emea/insights/pr/eng/social_111108.html (AT&T Intellectual Property)
5. What and how to measure Social Networking websites (Dennis R. Mortensen - Visual revenue)
http://visualrevenue.com/blog/2007/07/what-to-measure-on-social-networking.html
Greetings,
Tom Vereecken (M10)
I found these articles by surfing on the internet for the subject ”social networking and the workplace” and than I did more research on “kpis that measure social networking websites” (the applicable kpis for corporations still need to be developed and are probably different for every corporation).
2 comments:
OK, This is big, complex topic. You say you need to measure the profitablilty before management can act properly, but then you say it's difficult to measure the ROI. You say "if the right KPIs are used..." Well, what do you think they are, or might be?
Perhaps these will come out in the debates.
The selection of the applicable KPIs depends on the kind of business. The KPIs that I suggest that for example can be used in an headhunting agency are the number of people that were successfully headhunted and so changed their job (analyse the difference in successes before and after social networking at the workplace is allowed). For accounting agencies effective KPIs could be the number of clients helped in a time period (analyse if social networking is beneficial (if more clients are helped, employees got f.e. more information by social networking or feel happier and work more efficient; if less clients are helped; employees got f.e. distracted by social networking).
As employer you can also check the time your employees are surfing the net (the time on private websites (that are set private by the company IT department), the quantity of different websites that are visited,...). Of course you have to choose these KPIs wisely for not having information that can be interpreted in a wrong way and that the KPIs can be affected by other causes (f.e. private problems of employees,...). Another issue is also the privacy of employees and the demotivation for employees that they are watched all the time. If somebody has other opininons or suggestions, please feel free to share your thoughts.
Greetings Tom
Post a Comment