Role Of Human Resource Development In Employee Retention With The Help Of Social Media Learning

Role of Social media in Learning

Discuss about the Human Resource Development to Retention.

In the global economy, the way organizations are performing the activities of the business is total changes along with this the human beings are also making use of the technology in their day to day operations. Along with this, the use of the social media also involves the set technologies and the channels that are targeted for forming and enabling a productive collaboration. Moreover, the change in the working of the organization reflects that the companies are making use of the social media channels which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other channels. These organizations make use of the social media for branding an improving the learning of the employees present within the company. In New-Zealand one of the largest employees owned professional services consultancy company is Beca. The company is one of the Asia-Pacific based company embrace with the technology. Melanie Hawkins who is the learning and business partner at Beca make the learning more accessible and interactive for the adults within the organization.

The articles of the Cascio and Thomas and Akdere show that the use of the social media in the branding marketing and for the corporate communication is increasing with the help of the channels of the social media. The rise in the role of the social media is one of the ways through which they can improve the workplace learning and the knowledge management. The training and the learning within the organization take place in 3 categories which include structured, unstructured and semi-structured. The social media platforms support include structured, unstructured and semi-structured within the organization (Cascio, 2014).

The human resource department of the company in the world follow the different activities which include hiring, discipline, payroll and training within the organization. The training of the employees of the companies is also a responsibility of the Human resource development (Thomas and Akdere, 2013). The HRD of the companies makes the plan in which they make use of the social media while providing the effective training to the employees of the company. According to the survey, there are 27% of the company who provide the social media training to the employees who engage in the social media activities of the company (Gerard, 2018). The name of the companies who provide the training such as Hilton Hotel, Marriott, Walmart, Tesco and many others. There are different types of training that are offered by the companies to their employees. These training include formal learning, no-formal learning, and the informal learning. The company provides this training to their employees with the help of the social media as this is the way to make the adult easy understands the company.

Unstructured / non-formal learning

In the structured learning, the information is presented in front of the new employees with the help of the presentation, offline slides, videos, documents, and many others. This is the learning is also known as formal learning in which the learning has been provided to the candidates with the face to face interaction with them (Dron and Anderson, 2014). On the other hand, there is unstructured learning in which the training has been done with the help of the on-the-job approach which is done with the social media. This learning will help the company as the employees will lead to the rise in the productivity of the company. This learning is also known as the non-formal learning in which there is no set structure. Some of the examples of the unstructured learning include a peer coach or shadowing experiences; form a knowledge base and the make the search easy (Cestari, 2015). The third learning which generally takes place within the organization includes the informal learning which is known as semi-structured learning. This learning takes place when the existing employees of the company get motivated towards the work; learn something on their own and also when the company provides the training for some specific project.

The social media plays an important role in learning that takes place within the organization. The companies get the instant peer-to-peer learning with the help of the social media channels which include Facebook, Twitter, and Yammer (Pappas, 2016). This instant peer-to-peer learning is the part of the structure learning. Cascio and Thomas and Akdere said that these social media channels offer an opportunity to the learners with the help of which they can leave a comment and converse on the real-time basis. Though, this learning might also lead to some negative consequences.

The trainers within the organization make use of the social media through which they can make themselves update about the news or details of the company that is available on the social media sites. This is the way of social learning in which the information can easily be shared with each and every member. The trainers in the current environment also make use of social media channels to share the information in a single go to each and every new candidate present for the training For instance; the company might make use of the what’s app group through which they can share the information (Behringer and Sassenberg, 2015). Though, sometimes this sharing might be ignored by some people because they won’t understand as they believe in face to face training. Along with this, the people who are not active on social media will not the information on time which is a disadvantage of sharing information through social media.

The structure learning includes the different sessions that are conducted with the help of the social media. Moreover, in this sessions they review the different social media sites so that they can analyze the changing trends for example; Hilton hotel makes use of the social media for making the new candidates aware about the changes that are taking place in the demand of the customers (Rezaei, 2015). This makes them visit the different sites on which they can check the information shared by the visitors about their visit to the hotel. Along with this, they also share the information about their desires which helps them in understanding the ways to meet the needs of the customers. In the hotel industry, it is very essential for the trainer to educate the new candidates about the importance of needs of the customers.

In addition, there are different experts who share their opinion about the hotels on social media channels especially; Linked In and Twitter. This will bring the changes in the buying behavior due to which it is important to consider all the aspects. Along with this, there is a company in the media where the candidates need to be aware of the happenings across the world for which they make use of social media (Gender, 2015). Though, this social media content might also create the bad image for the company which leads to harm to the company. In addition, Cascio and Thomas and Akdere said that the information content that is available on the website leads to the huddles for the trainers as they are not able to identify that the candidates are getting the learning or not.

Non-formal learning is known as unstructured learning and this learning essential for the new employees within the organization. These companies make use of the social media because this is the way through which they can provide the learning and development to the employees. In the non-formal learning, the company makes use of the On-the-job training as this is the way through which they can learn and develop the work that needs to perform (Puijenbroek, et al 2014). There are numerous companies who make use of the on-the-job training facility. The online traders like Amazon, The Iconic, Uber, and many others make use of social media while providing the learning to their employees.

These large organizations manage the social media accounts on which they can the options for talking to the customers (Popescu, 2014). Moreover, some of the platforms help the company to chat with their customers for example; Uber Company allows the employees to access social media at on-the-job training because this is the way through which they can provide the assistance to the customers. Moreover, this will allow the collaboration of the employees who are at distance from the workplace according to Cascio and Thomas and Akdere. The tool of video conferencing tool helps the company to conduct the virtual meeting which is important for the company. Though, this use of the social media is possible with the help of the best network connectivity. The network needs to be strong as this is the way through which they can communicate easily. This is one of the negative aspects that can lead to the adverse impact on the social media.

The informal learning is also essential for the employees who are working in the organization. In the organization, social media supports for training programs to be effective. This media supports the corporation to select the right method and medium for their training sessions and audience. Moreover, this tool is the effect of the reasonable explore which displays how social media tools have a progressive influence on learning experience. In addition, some company innovates their own community for the learning for example; Sabre Holdings a company that owns Travelocity and travel reservation system formed an informal online learning community that is known as Sabre Town (Lauby, 2012).

Cascio and Thomas and Akdere said that social media provide an opportunity to the employees to get the feedback at real time which helps them to complete their training with the help of the social media. In addition, the t company will get the opportunity to discuss the modules and sessions of the training with the other members of the training. Moreover, the social media support the employees to post their ideas and even upload the training projects on time for the peer review (Milligan, Littljohn and Margaryan, 2014). Though, this might turn into the negative aspect because the training employees can post the incorrect details that might hurt someone’s sentiments and emotions unintentionally. Along with this, the browsing of social media involves the issues related to the privacy issues. The employees need to ensure that whatever they are browsing is ethical as there is no involvement of the unethical or the confidential details of it.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that the use of the social media is increasing in learning and development. Moreover, the organizations are making use of this tool effectively in the real world because this is the way through which they can bring the rise in the productivity and helps them in making the workforce effective for them. Though, the report also highlights that the use of social media might also lead to the issues for some of the company as there are some negative and positive factors that are associated with the learning within the organization. This can be said that it has more of advantages which help the company at training. This is one of the effective tools that support the Structure, unstructured and semi-structured learning that takes place within the organization.

References

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Cascio, W.F. (2014) Leveraging employer branding, performance management and human resource development to enhance employee retention. Journal of Human Resource Development International, 17(2), pp.121- 128

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