Introduction
Recently, the use of social media in organizations has skyrocketed in all fields of concern. This spread has affected all workers in the office, regardless of their age. Furthermore, the use of these channels has been met with mixed reactions from various organizations, with some advocating for their use and others prohibiting their use within their organizations. The approval or denial of social media use in these companies is mostly driven by an organization's digital ethics. As a result, the aim of this paper is to examine the current problems surrounding social media in the workplace. The paper also attempts to show various standards and policies regarding digital ethics.
Impact of Social Media in the Workplace
Notably, social media is currently used by people from areas and more so in the corporate world. These platforms are considered as important to some institutions and harmful to others depending on the impact of social media on these firms. However, these platforms have brought more benefits than harm to the corporate world. Furthermore, these benefits are also attached to some risks that arise as a result of the use of these social media platforms. Therefore, the use of these platforms is regulated to reduce these risks that may arise and affect the operation of an organization. Some of these risks include conflict of interest, misuse of organization's resources, criticisms among other risks. Controlling the use of social media is referred to as digital ethics. It involves determining the morality of these platforms from both the user and the organization's they represent.
Issues Surrounding Social Media in the Workplace
Various issues have emerged regarding the use of social media in workplaces. For instance, there is an increased debate on how the control of social media usage has affected some organizations either positively or negatively (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013). Recent statistics show that one point three two billion people use Facebook. Eighty-six percent of this population have social network profiles that show that they are either seeking employment or working in a certain organization. Fifty-four percent of this percentage was found to have secured their employment using these platforms. Therefore, social media usage by employees is not questionable. However, the effect of this usage is still uncertain. Various researchers argue that the use of Facebook in the workplace is one of the most used tactics used by employees to lower their productivity within the organization. The loss of productivity implies that firms lose financially from the use of these social media networks since employees transform working hours to surfing hours. Unnoticing firms may end up losing more from the behaviors.
The Dual Effect of Social Media
Other researchers urge that the regulation of social media could lead to higher gains than losses. For instance, proper use of social media can be used to obtain information from the public. This information could be useful in making decisions within the firms. As a result, this promotes the productivity of the firms to a large extent since an organization can harness its capital which is necessary for its growth. Therefore, despite its negative implications to an organization, social media can also be useful in some ways. This leads to a conclusion that social media usage in workplaces has a dual effect. This effect can only be determined by the management through research to ensure that the nature of emerging issue is understood (Carlson, Zivnuska, Harris, Harris & Carlson, 2016).
Standards and Policies for Digital Ethics
Standards and policies are also considered as important in promoting digital ethics. These elements show that the spread and the use of these advancements are undeniable. Standards and policies are required to be flexible since the level of sophistication, development, and expansion of these media network shows that these trends are continuous (Cavico, Mujtaba, Muffler & Samuel, 2013). As the spread of these platforms continues to increase, employers continue to regulate their employees in a bid to ensure that they do not put their businesses at risk. This concept links social media with the ethics of their related employment. Some organizations prevent their employees from posting specific items on their platforms. Despite the existence of such control, it is important to note that such regulations are not admissible in court in the event these employers defy these rules. However, they are considered as criminal charges once they are tied to a specific common law.
Ethical Issues in Social Media Usage
Ethical issues not only do they affect employees but also affect employers. For instance, the most common ethical issues arise when an employer accesses a social media platform of a potential employee before issuing them with the employment opportunity. Secondly, the issue of morality arises when employers using an employee's social media profile to make a work-related decision. These ethical issues are considered as legal but not morally right by the law.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social media usage in workplaces in undeniable. However, it is important that firms carry out their respective research to understand the nature of impact against their firms. The standards, principles and the ethical issues surrounding social media usage in workplaces are also useful in determining the morality of the employers against their employee's rights. They are also important in controlling workers behavior to avoid loss and misuse of resources in an organization.
References
Carlson, J., Zivnuska, S., Harris, R., Harris, K., & Carlson, D. (2016). Social Media Use in the Workplace. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 28(1), 15-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/joeuc.2016010102
Cavico, F., Mujtaba, B., Muffler, S., & Samuel, M. (2013). Social media and the workplace: Legal, ethical, and practical considerations for management. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, 12(1), 1-46.
Vaast, E., & Kaganer, E. (2013). Social media affordances and governance in the workplace: An examination of organizational policies. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 19(1), 78-101.
