Schmidt (2011) How Social Media Is Changing The Employment Relationship

Gordon B. Schmidt M. A.Indiana University Purdue University- Fort

WayneIUPUI Psychology Brown Bag Presentation

Friday March 25th, 2011

What is social media? Social media impacts Changing employee-employer

relationships Organizational identification Employee relationships Leader-follower relationships

• “a group of Internet-based applications… that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content” (Kaplan & Hainlein, 2010)

• Facebook has 149 Million active users in the U.S. alone

• 70% of those users log on daily

What is social media?

Twitter has been a major information source during and in the aftermath of the Earthquakes and related crises in Japan

Port city of Kesennuma has its own City Crisis Management Department twitter feed that delivered information during the earthquake

Social media has been a major source for organizing movements and sharing information

Ex. Indiana Workers, Libya, Egypt Revolution

Lawyer in wrongful death suit against the Albuquerque Police Department is asking the city to provide Facebook names and password for 57 officers

Argues will give more accurate responses to shooting and show culture of lack of care for suspects

A number of people have been fired due to the contents of their social media profiles

Often don’t realize what they are sharing

Social Media Impact: Privacy

Social media has significant implications for organizations and organizational life

It is changing how people communicate in all aspects of their lives

The relationship between an employee and an organization is changing

3 areas touched on today: Organizational Identification Organizational member relationships Leader and follower relationships

The Impact of Social Media on Organizational relations

Basic conceptualization derived from social identity: aspect of individual’s self-concept based on his/her

knowledge of his membership in a social group together with the value and emotional significance he/she attaches to membership (Tajfel, 1978)

Collective answer for “who we are as an organization?” (Albert and Whetten, 1985)

Strength will vary by person Social media facilitates organizational members

sharing and creating organizational identity Social media is a means by which people develop

and strengthen their organizational identity Top-down and bottom-up processes

Leaders of organization deliver messages and information to members about the organization’s goals and mission, as well as official interpretations of organizational events

“sensegiving” role for organizational goals and actions (Albert & Whetten, 1985) Explains to employees what organizations goals

are and how organizational actions fit them Also support members fit Ex. New York Mets

– Members of organization can discuss organizational goals and actions amongst themselves to determine their meaning

– These can ultimately move up and through the organization and influence the organization’s actual identity

– “sensemaking” role in members deciding on identity meaning (Alvesson & Wilmott, 2002) Determine what organizational messages and

events actually mean to lower level employees

Social media facilitates communication of identification information

Top-down processes Leaders of organization can use social media

to deliver messages and information to members

Bottom-up processes Members of organization can discuss

organizational goals and actions amongst themselves to determine meaning through social media sites

Also allows for dialog between leaders and followers as posts are often public in nature

Organizational Identification Process Through Social Media

I have a recent commentary with Dr. Richard N. Landers in Industrial & Organizational Psychology on the impact of social media on the future of the field of I/O Psychology

The impact of social media on identification in organizations is a multi-level process with both top down and bottom up identity processes (Schmidt & Landers, 2010; Schmidt & Landers, forthcoming)

Facilitates communication across members in different fields and job types

Proposed SIOP name change Idea of a name change had

been floating around for years In May 2009 SIOP Executive

Board decided to actually do something about it

First step was a vote between a number of name alternatives

Then a vote of winner vs. current name of SIOP

Post about change made to official SIOP blog, The SIOP Exchange

Identification Example

• Discussion happened through social media• Comments on the blog ( 178 comments, 137

unique users!)• Linkedin discussions at all parts of the process

Ultimately the decision was made to keep the existing name of SIOP

Only 1015 people voted in the final decision Vote margin was only 15 votes Looking just to The SIOP Exchange blog

comment makers (137 unique users) you would have approximately 13.5% of the total vote

Doesn’t take into account people who read the comments but didn’t post their own

No major push by SIOP for online discussion, but it grew organically

There is an increase in social media connections between co-workers

Blur the line between professional and personal lives, as well as internal and public

In a class exercise about 60% people said they had at least one co-worker as a connection on a social media site

Sites also avenue by which workers can talk amongst themselves Ex. Albuquerque Police

• Study with colleague at Wayne State, Ariel Lelchook M. A.

• Sample of unionized blue collar workers primarily in pharmacy positions

• Examines how the number of fellow colleague friends vs. overall number of friends on social media sites affects commitment to the union and organization they work for

• Better understanding of how social media connections relate to commitment and satisfaction

• Completing data collection by the end of April

Sites and groups form online for sharing information

No longer just organizational representatives sharing knowledge

Former employees and supporters now part of discussion

• Changing nature of manager-subordinate relationship

• Leaders can be connected through sites to followers

• In a class exercise about 1/3 of students said they were “friends” with their manager on a social networking site

• I am developing research looking at the leader-follower relationship through social media with a colleague at IPFW, Dr. Yuan Jiang

• Leader member exchange(LMX) potential predictor of social media ties and quality of relationship

Leadership and Social Media

Social media is changing how we communicate

This is impacting employee relationships with the organizations they work for

Still very little understanding of this area We need careful theory to explain the impact

of social media We need empirical work to test such theories

Important wide open area in need of more attention

Also feel free to email me questions: [email protected]

You can also find me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iopsychology And on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gordon-

schmidt/13/a90/891