Reasons and Misuse of Social Networking Sites in the Workplace Report

This report delves into the multifaceted role of social media within the workplace, examining both its advantages and disadvantages. It begins by highlighting the reasons for social media adoption, such as providing relief from monotony, fostering interaction, facilitating business integration, bridging professional gaps, ensuring employee engagement, and enhancing efficiency. The report then shifts to the potential misuses, including violation of employee privacy, use of social media for disciplinary actions, misrepresentation of data, and the exacerbation of employee turnover. The analysis draws on various studies and research to support its findings, offering a comprehensive overview of the impact of social media on workplace dynamics and organizational outcomes. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and provides insights into the effective management of social media in the workplace to maximize its benefits while mitigating its risks.

Reasons and Misuse of Social Networking Sites in Workplace
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Table of Contents
1.1. Findings...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1.1. Social Media provides Relief from Monotony..........................................................................3
1.1.2. Social Media Fosters Interaction at the Workplace.................................................................4
1.1.3. Social Media results in Business Integration............................................................................4
1.1.4. Bridging Professional Gaps and Facilitating Employee Communication..................................5
1.1.5. Ensuring Adequate Employee Engagement.............................................................................6
1.1.6. Enhances Employee Efficiency.................................................................................................7
2.1. Findings........................................................................................................................................7
2.1.1. Violation of Employee Privacy.................................................................................................7
2.1.2. Use of Social Media by Organizations for Disciplinary Action..................................................8
2.1.3. Misrepresentation of Data and Information............................................................................8
2.1.4. Aggravates Employee Turnover Rate.......................................................................................9
Gaps in the Literature Reviewed/Conclusion..............................................................................................9
Reference List............................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
In the workplace, social media usage is greatly encouraged as that allows a positive
ambiance to the employees to work and also allows them to freshen up their mind. A number of
studies have shown up that the percentage of social media usage among employees is high.
Henceforth, this is indicative of the fact that the use of social media among the employees is a
significant scenario and thus, in case the employers curb the higher officials from using social
networking sites at the workplace, then that shall culminate into their dissatisfaction. In the
current society, social networking sites have turned out to be irreplaceable parts of the society
and in businesses as well where these sites have turned out to be an effective marketing tool for
attracting the customers. As reported by Collins, Shiffman and Rock (2016), this helps in
building a social relationship between the companies and their customers. A cautious see at the
different sorts of existing social organizing locales proposes that businesses seem select to
embrace either an endeavor social organizing location or a buyer social organizing location, or
both, depending on the level of integration craved for coordinating organizational objectives with
promoting endeavors, organizational learning, and open relations methodologies.
1. Theory – Use of Social Media at the Workplace for Entertainment and Socialization
1.1. Findings
1.1.1. Social Media provides Relief from Monotony
Employees shall never be able to work in an environment which is continuous and does
not provide them with a break. In the opinion of Arora and Tandon (2017), the primary reason
for which people adhere to social media is because of its entertainment purpose and therefore,
similarly in the workplace as well social media acts as a break factor for the employees. It helps
them get a break from the monotonous work pressure and thus, refresh their mind.

1.1.2. Social Media Fosters Interaction at the Workplace
As stated by Nyaribo and Munene (2018), a number of social networking sites are there
which helps in the maintenance of a professional relationship between the members of different
organizations. A significant instance of this is Linkedin on which people can search for others
based on their professional field and therefore, this helps maintain that social bond between the
employees. It also helps them create that social bond which not only boosts the mind of the
employees but also benefits the organization in the long run as a result of the bond and thus, the
concerned organization gains betterment.
1.1.3. Social Media results in Business Integration
The enormous popularity of social media in the current era has called for the integration
of it in the business world as well. As reported by El Ouirdi et al. (2015), the total number of
people adhering to the use of different social networking sites is more than 500 million. Thus,
when businesses integrate social media it has increased likeliness of engaging more number of
customers. This would result in an increase in popularity of the business. This would also result
in ease of the recruitment and selection process and thus, putting advertisements on social media
shall easily attract employees for employment in the organization. Moreover, as influenced by
Robertson and Kee (2017), the particular account of social media shall be used to understand
how the candidate is which shall help in the recruitment and selection process. The background
check of a candidate is an essential part of the recruitment and selection process and this shall be
aided by social networking site. The traditional way supports the review of only a CV or resumes
for recruitment purpose. However, with the advent of time, there is a change in certain things and
therefore detailed analysis is done on the history and personal life of the candidate.
As opined by Guraya (2016), the sharing substance that included liquor and drugs was
not distant behind. Moreover, the companies rejected candidates for bad-mouthing past bosses,
co-workers, or clients on social media locales. Indeed the utilize emoticons or smiley faces that
have ended up exceptionally common when communicating mechanically are seen as negative to
companies. However, this is not indicative of the fact that their companions almost the party they
went to the final end of the week on social media locales (Cardon & Marshall, 2015). The

different social networking sites have made it conceivable to form your profile private. There are
many different settings that can be changed in arrange to form beyond any doubt as it was
wanted individuals can see a full profile on their respective social networking sites.
1.1.4. Bridging Professional Gaps and Facilitating Employee Communication
However, as commented by Turel and Bechara (2017), sometimes employees might face
the issue as well in their work and thus, social networking sites shall be used in those situations
for curbing those issues and reflect onto proficiency. Thus, this is also beneficial for the
concerned organization in the long run, thereby, resulting in the betterment of productivity and at
the same time helps the employee grow and excel in their professional field. Owing to the
resolution of one issue, the employee gets to solve the issue that he is facing and thus, the gap in
his professional behavior is bridged. Social media is associated with the presence of a number of
people with different mentality and knowledge (Kock et al. 2018). Thus, when an employee gets
to share his issue he shall get a number of responses for the resolution of the issue and those
responses shall rest on different aspects which would only contribute to the knowledge gaining
of the concerned individual, thereby, shaping his professional character in a better way.
Due to hectic work pressure, employees sometimes shall face difficulty in having direct
communication between them. Therefore, as influenced by Tudu and Pathak (2015), in those
situations social networking sites shall act as a perfect platform to the employees to have a
communicational process among them which would help them create that internal workforce that
is essential for the business procedure of the organization. Moreover, communication issues
which shall be resultant from geographic limitations shall also be curbed with the help of social
networking sites. For instance, when an employee is working from home and another employee
is working from the workplace there is likely to be difficult among the employees in terms of
communication. Thus, as mentioned by J-Ho and Ramayah (2016), social media curbs that
barrier and allows a smooth communicational process between the employees. This would also
result in innovation and creativity owing to the betterment of communication and each of the
associated members would get equal chances of participating in the communication process.
Henceforth, the involvement of different ideas would culminate into innovation and uniqueness.

When there is direct verbal communication among the employees, a number of factors
shall remain unnoticed. On the contrary, according to Turel (2017), interaction and
communication of employees on social networking sites shall result in easy recognition of the
employees when they come up with good work and positive output. This helps keep a hold of the
information; which is an essential component of the performance management and review
procedure and therefore, there would be the betterment of the employees’ performance through
motivation. The presence of relevant information on social media allows the employer to know
who is working well. Therefore, as opined by Thomas, Rothschild and Donegan (2015), he shall
be provided with certain benefits and facilities as a form of reward. This is hugely motivational
for the employee and thus, due to that, he would gain betterment in his work performance. In a
study conducted by Taylor et al. (2016), it has been witnessed that the use of social media by the
employees of a company shall reduce the turnover rate and therefore, shall be beneficial for the
company in the long run. The use of social networking site shall exert a positive impact on the
employees and thus, they would adhere to the company more, thereby, resulting in employee
turnover rate declination. Furthermore, this would be cost-effective for the organization and
would result in financial betterment as employee retention is always better than employee
attraction which is a relatively costly affair.
1.1.5. Ensuring Adequate Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is an important factor that leads to the betterment of productivity
in a company. As studied by Silic and Back (2016), social media usage shall result in increased
engagement of the employees due to the motivational factors associated with it. Thus, the role of
managers in this regard is huge where they can use social media for providing training facilities
to the employees to make them more competent at work. Thus, the issues of employee turnover
that shall be associated with social media shall be curbed with the help of social media training
and there would be greater collaboration, satisfaction and engagement of the employees. In
addition to that, it must be noted that there are certain threats associated with the business
procedure of a company. The purpose of a business is always to curb the threats and working
towards making those opportunities. Thus, as influenced by Stoughton, Thompson and Meade
(2015), social media groups shall be created by the managers which shall call for increased
communication process, thereby, resulting in collaboration. This would cut down the risks of

employee turnover or any negative impact that shall be incurred in any of the business
procedures. The creation of social media groups shall culminate into the understanding of the
objectives and the specifications of the employees in a detailed way and henceforth, those shall
be fulfilled for putting a positive impact on the employees.
1.1.6. Enhances Employee Efficiency
The advantage of social media in a business directly affects the efficiency of the
employees working in the company. However, as per the study of Mäntymäki and Riemer
(2016), the issue that prevails with social media usage by business is the limitation in the use of
social media and more than 20% of the businesses fail to completely utilize social media for their
business purpose. It is argued that when social media is integrated into business fully and it is
used with full potential that shall account into the increase of efficiency of the employees by at
least 20-25%. One of the aims that businesses have is to reflect into better productivity of its
employees and thus, that takes place with the help of social media. The advantage of social
media lies in its cost-effectiveness and therefore, it is a tool that shall help in the betterment of
employees’ performance at a relatively lower cost which would be beneficial for the company
and its customer relationship management in the long run (Meishar-Tal & Pieterse, 2017). Thus,
the focus of the businesses and the employers must be given on proper utilization of social media
instead of curbing the employees from using social media at the workplace.
2. Theory 2 - Misuse of social media at the workplace
2.1. Findings
2.1.1. Violation of Employee Privacy
However, despite the many positive uses of social media, there are certain risks that are
associated with a business entity in terms of misusing social media. As stated by Collins,
Shiffman and Rock (2016), employees who do not have sufficient knowledge on the appropriate
use of social media shall fail to keep the privacy and confidentiality of the important information
of the company and as a result, that information shall be accessible by the competitors. This shall
be detrimental for the business procedure of a firm as it shall associate a number of legal risks

due to the breach of data and confidentiality and thus, the business would face difficulty in the
long run. Furthermore, as observed by Arora and Tandon (2017), this shall also culminate into
the imposition of employment issues for the concerned employee as he shall also be deprived of
his employment. Henceforth, the factor that is important in this regard is the formulation of a
policy which would have a detailed set of standards for efficient use of social media for the
business purpose. Moreover, necessary training and communication shall also be done with the
employees to make them more knowledgeable on the use of social media and how to curb the
legal and employment issues associated with it.
2.1.2. Use of Social Media by Organizations for Disciplinary Action
In a study conducted by Nyaribo and Munene (2018), it has been revealed that almost
70% of the businesses adhering to the use of social media had to take disciplinary actions against
their employees due to the misuse of social media. This is evident of the fact that despite the
enormous hype and advantage of social media, the knowledge and the skill required for the
efficient use of it is not known and thus, it leads to more bad than the good of a business. The
misuse of social media shall permanently affect the competitive advantage and sustainability of a
firm through the disclosure of the important data. As a result, the other companies in the sector
get to know the important information and thus, they integrate more effective strategies for
competing with the concerned company. As influenced by El Ouirdi et al. (2015), this helps in
drawing the attention of the customers in the market and thus, the competitive advantage of the
concerned firm is affected badly.
2.1.3. Misrepresentation of Data and Information
Along with that, it must be stated that there are certain views that higher officials and
board members of business have. It is important to pass this information to the subordinate
members of a company. As commented by Robertson and Kee (2017), the presence of this
information helps the employees understand the objectives of the company and therefore, they
shall work accordingly. However, in this regard, the factor that is most important is to ensure that
the employees are actually concerned with the aims and objectives of the company. In case there
is a misinterpretation of the data and information, it is likely to reflect onto the social media as

well which would create a different impact on the related people and thus, the business would
face difficulty in fulfilling the objective and aims in the long run. According to Guraya (2016),
this shall also call for the negative impact of the associated people on the company and its
employees. Thus, the customers shall be negatively impacted and as a result, there would be a
negative impact on the customer base of the company, thereby, affecting its well being in the
market.
2.1.4. Aggravates Employee Turnover Rate
It has already been studied earlier that social media usage shall culminate into lowering
down employee turnover rate. However, the inappropriate use of social media shall result in
increasing that risk, thereby, compelling the employees to leave the organization. In the opinion
of Cardon and Marshall (2015), social networking site in the workplace shall create opportunities
for the employees to communicate and develop relationships with other employers and thus, this
might turn out to be an issue for the organization. When an employee sees that another employer
is better than his own employer, he shall develop the likeliness of leaving that organization and
join the other employer. As supported by Turel and Bechara (2017), it has been witnessed that
more than 75% of the employees have the likeliness of looking and searching for employers who
are better and thus, they develop the tendency of joining them. This shall be a risk for the
concerned organization and thus, there is a huge need for strategy implementation for better
employee management and motivation of the employees. However, it is to be noted in this regard
that employers shall not create discrimination on the basis of their social backgrounds such as
cast, creed or cultural background. This shall result in the imposition of certain legal
consequences on the company as discrimination by employers on the basis of social background
is considered to be illegal (Kock et al. (2018). However, the issue that prevails mostly with the
use of social media is that employers often end up judging the candidates on the basis of their
social background and therefore, this creates an unbiased attitude for the candidate and thus, the
organization shall gain negative impact from the people.
Gaps in the Literature Reviewed/Conclusion
Based on the discussion and analysis in the current essay regarding the use and misuse of
social media at the workplace it can be stated that the use of social networking site shall be both

advantageous and disadvantageous for businesses. Social networking use in the workplace helps
them create that social bond which boosts the mind of the employees. It also results in the ease of
the recruitment and selection process and thus, putting advertisements on social media shall
easily attract employees for employment in the organization. When an employee gets to share his
issue he shall get a number of responses for the resolution of the issue and those responses shall
rest on different aspects which would only contribute to the knowledge gaining of the concerned
individual, thereby, shaping his professional character in a better way. It also results in
innovation and creativity owing to the betterment of communication and each of the associated
members would get equal chances of participating in the communication process. However, there
are certain issues as well. it has been revealed that almost 70% of the businesses adhering to the
use of social media had to take disciplinary actions against their employees due to the misuse of
social media. There shall also be a misinterpretation of the information by employees provided to
them by the higher officials. This creates a negative notion. Thus, it can be concluded that
managers must look into the proper use of social networking sites into business.

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