Analyzing the Impact of Social Media on Organizational Functions

This essay examines the multifaceted impact of social media on organizations, analyzing both positive and negative effects across various functions. It highlights how social media tools influence human resource management, particularly in recruitment and internal employee interaction, noting the benefits of broader reach and improved communication. However, it also addresses concerns about the non-professional image of social networking and its potential to distract employees. The essay further explores the evolving role of managers in the age of information technology, emphasizing the importance of IT competence and the use of social media for internal communication and virtual meetings, which facilitate international collaboration but may diminish the value of physical interaction and trust-building. The analysis concludes that while social media offers numerous opportunities for enhanced communication and efficiency, organizations face challenges in managing and controlling these tools, including the cost of specialized teams and the risk of mismanagement. Desklib offers more solved assignments for students.

Running head: BUSINESS 1
ESSAY

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The major focus of this essay is to analyze the impact of social media on the organizations. Many
researches have been conducted on the ways in which the social media and networking affects
the marketing and branding strategies of the companies. However, more investigation is needed
in the area of positive and negative impact or effects of social networking on the processes and
other practices of the organizations and the management. This is the essay that focuses on the
various aspects of the organization that gets affected by the social media and networking tools
along with its positive and negative impact on the same.
Social media can be defined as the set of applications that expedite the interactions and the
exchange of information between the two parties. This is the medium that has been used by all
the organizations these days. These social media platforms are divided into various categories
that are blogs, social networking sites, collaborative projects, virtual social tools, content
communities and social worlds (Poba-Nzaou, et al. 2016). There are many functions performed
by the organizations that are making use of the above stated social media tools. Human resource
is one of the functions that make use of social networking sites and tools. The social media
networking and tools are adopted by the HR department in most of the companies for the
purpose of recruitment as well as for the purpose of internal interaction with the employees. It
has been analyzed that inclusion of social media in this area has resulted in better recruitment
process and larger reach of the companies to the relevant candidates. It has also been analyzed
that integration of social media with HRM results in better opportunities for the employees to be
connected with the HR department internally. Even the employees know about the vacancies at
their company and recommend the candidates for the same. Apart from all of these benefits, the
negative side of the aspect has also been analyzed. It has been identified by the research that the
non-professional image of social networking restricts the organizations and the managers to
accept the social networking tools for management purpose. It has been believed by the
managers that its use can distract the employees from their actual working. Another challenge
that has been identified in order to accept social media in HRM is its high speed and dynamic
technologies and changes. It has been realized by the management that it is difficult to align the
changing nature of social media tools and the needs of HRM of the company (Mujtaba and
McFarlane, 2005).

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It is not the functions that are getting affected by the social media but the role of managers is also
changing by time. The roles of managers in the organizations are shifting as per the change in the
environment. This is because of the advances and the involvement of information technology in
the business and the management. The competence of managers in the field of information
technology and social media is very important for today’s business (Khalil and Wang, 2002).
Today, managers have to use IT in order to plan, control, manage etc. Recent development in the
information technology tools have resulted in requirement of higher technical knowledge
amongst the managers. Social media is the tool that can be used by the companies not only for
external communication but also helps in internal communication amongst the employees. It has
been analyzed that internal communication is the very important part of the organizations.
Including social media at the business level improved the functions and the process to a great
extent. The communication at the internal level in the organization has become faster. The
people used to make use of the social media tools to share information and the virtual meetings
can be easily conducted on the same. Virtual meeting is the very interesting concept to be learnt
(Gilson, et al. 2015). It has been analyzed that virtual concept helps in avoiding the drawback of
distances in cost of the multinational corporations. It has been realized by the organizations that
social media not only helps in making the communication easier inside the building but also
allow the companies to make their international communication with the employees sitting at the
international subsidiary of the company (Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom, 2015). However,
at the same time, it also results in loss of physical human interaction. The physical interaction of
the people and the employees from overseas has vanished after the launch of social media tools
in business. This is because the meetings and the information sharing process can be easily
conducted on the social media applications. It has been realized that most of the organization
these days are making use of these applications such as Skype for video calling and this video
calling services helps the companies to interact with their clients (Zhao and Patten, 2016). This
also results in non-management of the diversification in the companies and the workforce.
Physical meetings develop trust and virtual meetings do not create that impact on the clients
which can be created by the physical meeting. Thus, it somehow affects the business deals. The
major drawback that the company faces in order to implement the social media applications is
the maintenance and control of the same. The company has to hire the full team of social media
experts to handle the social media tools and applications of the company. The hired team needs

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to be technically very strong and should have the knowledge to deal with all the technical aspects
(Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). Any wrong step by the social media manager can ruin the overall
functions that are linked with social media. This becomes very expensive for the company to hire
a big team and consistent controlling of the social media tools.
It has been concluded from the discussion that as social media is the advancement in the
information technology sector thus it has created various opportunities for the people in the
sector of communication. Not only individuals but the business function is also getting affected
by the same. In society, many positive and negative impact of social made can be seen likewise
in the business functions as well. In HRM, this use of social media has given the opportunity for
better recruitment but at the same time it has been realized that it is distracting the employees
from their original goals. Even in order to have international virtual meetings, the company can
have the advantage of conducting meeting in minutes but it ruins the culture of physical meetings
that were very effective. Last but not the least, it provides better services and makes the function
easier but controlling of the social media by the company is very hectic and expensive in nature.
References:
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C.J., 2015. A stage to engage: Social media use and
corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.
Gilson, L.L., Maynard, M.T., Jones Young, N.C., Vartiainen, M. and Hakonen, M., 2015. Virtual
teams research: 10 years, 10 themes, and 10 opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5),
pp.1313-1337.
Khalil, O. and Wang, S., 2002. Information technology enabled meta-management for virtual
organizations. International Journal of Production Economics, 75(1-2), pp.127-134.

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Mujtaba, B. and McFarlane, A.D., 2005. Traditional and Virtual Performance Management
Functions in the Age of Information Technology. The Review of Business Information Systems,
9(3), p.53.
Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K., 2015. Social media research: Theories, constructs, and
conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), pp.33-44.
Poba-Nzaou, P., Lemieux, N., Beaupré, D. and Uwizeyemungu, S., 2016. Critical challenges
associated with the adoption of social media: A Delphi of a panel of Canadian human resources
managers. Journal of Business Research, 69(10), pp.4011-4019.
Zhao, N. and Patten, D.M., 2016. An exploratory analysis of managerial perceptions of social
and environmental reporting in China: Evidence from state-owned enterprises in Beijing.
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