Social Media as Collaborative Media in Workplace Learning

Human Resource Development Review
12(3) 329 –344
© 2013 SAGE Publications
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1534484312472331
hrd.sagepub.com
472331HRD12310.1177/1534484312472331Human
Resource Development ReviewThomas and Akdere
2013
1University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
2Antalya International University, Antalya, Turkey
Corresponding Author:
Kristopher J. Thomas, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, 644 Enderis Hall, 2400 E. Hartford Ave.,
Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA.
Email: [e-mail]
Social Media as Collaborative
Media in Workplace Learning
Kristopher J.Thomas1 and Mesut Akdere1, 2
Abstract
As a result of rapid changes in technology, much is discussed about the use of social
media in branding, marketing, and in general corporate communications. The intensity
with which social media tools—blogs, wikis, Twitter, instant messaging (IM) and
Facebook, among others—have proliferated is staggering. Increasingly important is the
role of social media tools as a way to enhance and advance workplace learning and
knowledge management. To more accurately describe the purposes for which social
media tools are utilized within organizations, we propose the term collaborative media.
The clarity brought by this term serves to help HRD professionals within organizations
adopt collaborative media tools as a workplace learning and knowledge management
strategy and to attain organizational support for such tools at the highest level and
capacity. Also discussed is the need for future research by HRD scholars that facilitates
the role of collaborative media tools in workplace learning and knowledge management.
Keywords
social media, collaborative media, workplace learning, knowledge management
This article takes the position that Human Resource Development (HRD) has the owner-
ship and should champion full responsibility for utilizing social media for the purposes
of workplace learning and performance improvement. As organizations become more
reliant on ever-changing and ever-expanding social media tools to help their members
learn and share knowledge, it is imperative that HRD professionals and scholars position
and utilize these tools differently in the organization. Considering that social media tools
lend themselves to multiple functionalities including both organizational and personal
purposes, we argue that these tools should instead be termed collaborative media for
Theory and Conceptual Article
at VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIV on March 15, 2015hrd.sagepub.comDownloaded from

330 Human Resource Development Review 12(3)
HRD purposes because they can and should be used in organizational settings to foster
learning, increase productivity, and manage knowledge.
When viewed in the context of knowledge management, collaborative media have
legitimate and purposeful value in the context of HRD. HRD professionals are well
positioned to design and implement ways to integrate collaborative media tools
throughout the organization. Furthermore, HRD professionals can utilize a system of
knowledge management to ensure that the organizational knowledge that is created
and shared via collaborative media is captured and stored. Once the capacity to collect,
archive, and distribute organizational knowledge is achieved, the true potential and
value of collaborative media for the purpose of HRD goals and objectives can be real-
ized (Thomas & Akdere, 2011).
With HRD leading initiatives to implement collaborative media tools, there are
several opportunities for future research and practice. First, HRD scholars should
assume responsibility to design studies that demonstrate the actual degree to which
collaborative media are used for problem solving and knowledge sharing. Second,
both HRD professionals and scholars need to design solutions that maximize the learn-
ing and collaboration that are possible via collaborative media. Finally, future research
is needed to examine the perceptions and experiences of both employees and leaders
within organizations to validate the utility of collaborative media tools and to identify
best practices for the implementation and integration of these tools in organizational
efforts for learning and continuous improvement.
It may be argued that the use of collaborative media tools presents multiple chal-
lenges in today’s global organizations. Some of these issues include attracting and
retaining technologically savvy employees versus those less technologically inclined.
Also, firms must learn to properly utilize these tools for the purpose of achieving orga-
nizational goals. Furthermore, as organizations become more global in nature, their
capacity to work across geographic and time boundaries and to thoroughly leverage
global talent will depend heavily on their ability to utilize and incorporate collabora-
tive media tools into their core HRD processes and functions. Consequently, such
implications to the practice of HRD warrant further explanation and exploration.
Specifically, this conceptual article (a) proposes the term collaborative media to illus-
trate how HRD professionals and scholars can champion the implementation of social
media tools by gaining the support of organizational leaders and management, (b)
demonstrates how organizations may use collaborative media tools to facilitate knowl-
edge management and learning processes in the workplace, and (c) explores the role
that HRD professionals and scholars play in ensuring the effective implementation of
these tools for the purpose of workplace learning.
Background: Collaborative Media as Learning Tools in
the Workplace
Pervasive in both our personal lives and in our workplaces, the use of technology is
ubiquitous. With the latest developments in technology, both organizations and their
at VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIV on March 15, 2015hrd.sagepub.comDownloaded from

Thomas and Akdere 331
members have started to increasingly use various technologies in the workplace.
Some of these technologies facilitate communication and collaboration in various
ways and forms. These technologies are formally defined as social media, which are
“a set of technologies and channels targeted at forming and enabling a potentially
massive community of participants to productively collaborate” (Bradley, 2010, n.p.).
Social media—the world of blogs, wikis, Twitter, instant messaging (IM) and
Facebook—are not strictly social in purpose; corporations and other large organiza-
tions have begun to utilize social media not only as tools for increased communica-
tions with customers and for broader branding efforts but also as a means to improve
learning within their organizations (Huang, Yang, Huang, & Hsiao, 2010). A survey
of 400 companies demonstrated that “a full 94 percent of organizations maintained or
increased their investment in online communities for customers, employees, and part-
ners versus 2008” (Palmer, 2009, p. 6). Institutions of higher education, for example,
have embraced these tools for their marketing and public relations purposes.
According to the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, “69 percent of executives
[of companies that have implemented a social media strategy] report that their com-
panies have gained measurable business benefits, including better access to knowl-
edge and higher revenue” (Henneman, 2010, p. 4).
Though various social media tools are seen primarily as a means to communicate
and exchange information, we have just begun to explore their potential as learning
tools. Consequently, we have been unable to identify a significant amount of literature
surrounding the use of social media as a means to foster informal learning and the
acceptance of social media as a set of tools that contributes to and enhances workplace
learning. The term collaborative media, thus, is proposed to illustrate how social
media can be best implemented and accepted as a successful alternative for sustaining
and increasing organizational knowledge through workplace learning. Jacobs and Park
(2009) define workplace learning as “the process used by individuals when engaged
in training programs, education and development courses, or some type of experiential
learning activity for the purpose of acquiring the competence necessary to meet cur-
rent and future work requirements” (p. 134). Training has traditionally been viewed as
a series of planned events that provide learners with specific job skills and that
“assumes that organizations can analyze a task, process or function to discover an
optimal means of performing it, document that optimal method, and then prescribe the
required skills or expertise that a learner must master to perform the task” (Marsick &
Volpe, 1999, p. 2). Training, however, tends to be singularly focused on a specific skill
set intended for a specific task or set of tasks.
Because collaborative media tools are asynchronous and mobile in nature, we
argue that they best lend themselves to informal learning. Marsick and Volpe (1999)
define informal learning “as learning that is predominantly unstructured, experien-
tial, and noninstitutional that happens as employees carry out their daily work [and
that] is a result of people’s choices, preferences, and intentions” (p. 1). That is,
because learning that takes place anytime and anywhere requires tools and approaches
that are available anytime and anywhere, informal learning and collaborative media
at VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIV on March 15, 2015hrd.sagepub.comDownloaded from

332 Human Resource Development Review 12(3)
tools complement and support each other quite effectively. Such a flexible and
learner-centered approach can prove advantageous to both the learner and the organi-
zation. According to Marsick and Volpe (1999),
When organizations make available to employees the means to pull information
and knowledge into the workplace at the exact time they need it, learners can
potentially gain control of their own learning. Learning is then maximized
throughout the organization and can be used to improve the capability of less
experienced, less knowledgeable employees to enhance overall organizational
effectiveness. (p. 3)
Additionally, because our focus is on purposeful learning in which the learner con-
sciously participates and of which the learner is fully aware, informal learning is the
most appropriate approach for utilizing collaborative media tools for workplace
learning.
Collaborative media, then, can enable the organization’s members to interact with
each other unconventionally and more rapidly, eliminating the traditional time and
space restrictions. Collaborative media “is about participation . . . most often it takes
the form of communicating, connecting, and collaborating with anyone anywhere,
anytime” (Jue, Alcade-Marr, & Kassotakis, 2009, p. 4). Bingahm and Conner (2010)
call this phenomenon new social learning, and note that “it reframes social media from
a marketing strategy to a strategy that encourages knowledge transfer and connects
people in a way consistent with how we naturally interact” (p. 6). By using collabora-
tive media tools, members of an organization can communicate frequently and easily,
sharing their knowledge and improving their individual and collective performance.
For example, Sabre Holdings, the company that owns Travelocity and other travel
reservation systems, has created an informal online learning community called
SabreTown (Galagan, 2009, p. 27). With over 10,000 employees in 59 countries, man-
agement at Sabre felt that connecting them was critical to sharing the knowledge that
each employee had developed regarding their global travel business. A system was
created in which employees create a profile that details their expertise. Fellow employ-
ees can than ask questions that are directed by Sabre’s social networking software to
all employees that have the expertise required for that respective question. An online
dialogue follows until a satisfactory answer has been provided and the issue is resolved
(Ward & Goodman, 2009). This simple question-and-answer protocol is prevalent in
many organizations that utilize collaborative media.
Similarly, various government agencies have begun using collaboriative media to
leverage its potential for informal learning opportunities. The U.S. government, for
example, has created GovLoop, a collaborative media netowrk “that has 25,000 mem-
bers, 4,000 blogs, and 1,500 discussions” (Smith, 2010, p. 24) ongoing at any one
time. A recent survey from the Human Capital Institute shows that 66% of all govern-
ment agencies currently use some form of collaborative media and that collaborative
media “tools within governmental agencies are used most effectively for knowledge
at VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIV on March 15, 2015hrd.sagepub.comDownloaded from