The Role Of Social Networking Sites In Human Resource Decisions

Recruitment through Social Media Sites

Discuss about the Role of Social Networking Sites in Human Resource Decisions.

Advancement in technology and widespread use of social networking sites (SNSs) have significantly changed business across all industries and dramatically transformed the way human resource professional perform their job. This essay will critically analyse the impact of social media sites over human resource decisions in organisations. In recent years, the role of human resource professional has grown substantially, and they perform more duties than planning good salary and benefit packages for employees. The human resource professionals are responsible for different operations such as following and implementing discrimination laws, establishing privacy protection policies, gaining industry knowledge, developing employees’ skills and others (Gond, Igalens, Swaen & El Akremi, 2011). Many experts provide that SNSs should not be acceptable in today’s society because of various threats that these sites poses such as cyber-attack, internet dependency, privacy issues and others. Though, social networking sites assist human resource professional in performing various activities efficiently which result in increasing employees’ productive performance and reducing company’s overall costs (Brown & Vaughn, 2011). This essay will evaluate various literature to examine how social media sites influence various HR functions such as recruitment, training, communication, and others. Further, the essay will argue why the use of SNSs for HR decisions should be widely accepted in today’s society.

Social media sites can be used as a recruitment tool in organisations since it provides a wider reach to both employer and candidates and it also reduces overall recruitment cost. The research of Bicky & Kwok (2011) founded that social media sites are effective recruitment tool because they establish a two-way communication channel between recruiters and job candidates. The use of social media sites also reduces company’s recruitment costs since most SNSs are free to use. Bicky & Kwok (2011) research provided that in the hospitality industry, social media sites are a significant tool for recruitment since it provides employers the advantage of instant response from job candidates which assist them in assessing candidate’s qualification and skills. According to the study of Kroeze (2015), social media sites reduce the overall cost of recruitment because workload moves from employer to candidate. The job candidates provide all the necessary information to the employer that makes it easier for them to analyse and select qualified employees. Henderson & Bowley (2010) stated that most of the SNSs can be accessed free of cost which also reduces recruitment cost of recruiters. Video chatting applications enable recruiters to interview candidates from foreign countries which provide them a wider reach. Therefore, SNSs should be acceptable in today’s society as a recruitment tool since it is inexpensive and efficient.

Communication through Social Media Sites

Communication is a key factor in the success of a company, and social media sites instantly connect HR professional with employees that assist in establishing a positive working environment. Employees, especially millennial, spend a large amount of time on social media sites communicating with friends, family, and others. As per Veil, Buehner & Palenchar (2011), HR professional can use these platforms to their advantage as well. HR manager can use social media sites to share new policy or provide feedback to employees that establish a positive and fast communication channel between them. Lack of effective communication channel also increases job dissatisfaction rate in employees because they find it difficult to share their issues with top-level management. Macnamara & Zerfass (2012) mentioned that social media sites enable managers to provide instant feedback to employees that result in improving their performance. The employees also have the option to directly send their quarries to top-level management which result in establishing a positive working environment. HR professional can also use SNSs to communicate with each other while formulating new human resource policies. According to Roth, Bobko, Van Iddekinge & Thatcher (2016), various HR functions such as salary issues, bonus, incentive problems and others can be resolved quickly through instant communication by social media sites. Therefore, social media sites are an ideal communication channel for HR professional and it should be accepted in today’s society.

Social media sites assist leaders in effectively managing employees in large corporations and implementing corporate changes. One of the biggest shortcomings in the traditional communication process is that it took too long to share information between different employees and in different division. Sanchez, Levin & Del Riego (2012) provided that most of the multinational companies find it difficult to implement corporate change in different branches because it is difficult to share information with each other. Social media sites allow managers to directly interact with employees that assist them managing the workers. Managers can use social media sites to manage the performance of a single employee or a group effectively. Montalvo (2011) stated that any new update or change policy can be easily circulated between employees and different division through social media sites even in multinational corporations. SNSs are international platforms, and HR professional can use them to manage the performance of employees that are not working inside the country. Senior HR managers can simply post a positive tweet on employee’s performance that motivates him to perform even better. HR professional can effectively engage with workers through social media sites and encourage them to improve their performance which results in increasing company’s profitability.

Managing Employees through Social Media Sites

Training is a crucial HR function which assists in the overall development of employees, and due to the popularity of SNSs, HR professional can use them to create customisable training programs that focus on workers’ development. In recent years, HR professionals did not provide training through educational material instead they use social media sites to create customisable software training programs that employees can easily access through different devices. Van den Bossche, Segers & Jansen (2010) provided that modern corporations use social media sites, third party websites or company’s own internal social platform to train their employees collaboratively. Social media sites enable multinational companies to train their employees overseas which blurs their boundaries between different departments and establish a collaborate environment in the corporation. Online training connects employees throughout the world with each other which is one of its primary benefits. The firms can hire highly qualified trainers and use SNSs to connect them with their employees’ worldwide which increase their performance and establish a collaborative working environment in the enterprise (Bingham & Conner, 2010). The online training exercise includes video lectures, online games, tailored online courses for specific students, and others. Training is crucial in modern organisations since it increases employees’ productive performance and provides corporations a competitive advantage, therefore, use of SNSs should be widely accepted in society.

In conclusion, SNSs should be widely accepted in society since it provides various advantages to HR professional while taking human capital related decisions. The HR professional can use SNSs to recruit employees from all around the world, provide training, establish effective communication channels between workers and manage them effectively. SNSs connect people around the world with each other and HR professional can use these platforms to monitor the performance of employees and provide them instant feedbacks which increase their productivity. HR professionals can use SNSs to easily monitor employees’ performance even in different countries, and they can also provide them instant feedback on their good or bad performance. Edosomwan, Prakasan, Kouame, Watson & Seymour (2011) provided that the feedbacks or comments assist employees in assessing their work and improve it as per company’s requirements. Similarly, employees can also monitor new changes in corporation’s policies, and they can also provide their feedbacks and quarries about the same. The SNSs should be widely accepted in today’s society because its advantages overcome its shortcomings, and it sustains company’s future development.

References

Bicky, S. L., & Kwok, L. (2011). Social media as an employee recruitment tool. Graduate Student Research Conference in hospitality and tourism. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.co.in/&httpsredir=1&article=1119&context=gradconf_hospitality

Kroeze, A. M. A. (2015). Recruitment via Social Media Sites: A critical Review and Research Agenda (Bachelor’s thesis, University of Twente). Retrieved from https://essay.utwente.nl/68499/1/Kroeze_BA_BMS.pdf

Brown, V. R., & Vaughn, E. D. (2011). The writing on the (Facebook) wall: The use of social networking sites in hiring decisions. Journal of Business and psychology, 26(2), 219.

Gond, J. P., Igalens, J., Swaen, V., & El Akremi, A. (2011). The human resources contribution to responsible leadership: An exploration of the CSR–HR interface. Journal of business ethics, 98(1), 115-132.

Henderson, A., & Bowley, R. (2010). Authentic dialogue? The role of “friendship” in a social media recruitment campaign. Journal of Communication Management, 14(3), 237-257.

Veil, S. R., Buehner, T., & Palenchar, M. J. (2011). A work?in?process literature review: Incorporating social media in risk and crisis communication. Journal of contingencies and crisis management, 19(2), 110-122.

Macnamara, J., & Zerfass, A. (2012). Social media communication in organizations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy, and management. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 6(4), 287-308.

Sánchez Abril, P., Levin, A., & Del Riego, A. (2012). Blurred boundaries: Social media privacy and the twenty?first?century employee. American Business Law Journal, 49(1), 63-124.

Montalvo, R. E. (2011). Social media management. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS), 15(3), 91-96.

Roth, P. L., Bobko, P., Van Iddekinge, C. H., & Thatcher, J. B. (2016). Social media in employee-selection-related decisions: A research agenda for uncharted territory. Journal of Management, 42(1), 269-298.

Edosomwan, S., Prakasan, S. K., Kouame, D., Watson, J., & Seymour, T. (2011). The history of social media and its impact on business. Journal of Applied Management and entrepreneurship, 16(3), 79.

Van den Bossche, P., Segers, M., & Jansen, N. (2010). Transfer of training: the role of feedback in supportive social networks. International Journal of Training and Development, 14(2), 81-94.

Bingham, T., & Conner, M. (2010). The new social learning: A guide to transforming organizations through social media. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.