Social Media Impact on Organisations

Abstract

There is little doubt that information technology has permanently altered the manner in which we work. We are now living in a digital age, where working practices are no longer constrained by space and time. Co-workers are not necessarily required to be in the same physical environment to work together and this has led to an evolution in business practices, with organisations increasingly managing larger workforces spread over different time-zones (Bennett et al., 2010b; McGregor, 2000). One of the many challenges faced by organisations who adopt distributed ways of working comes with building and maintaining an organisational culture and ensuring that employees feel part of the team and work cooperatively, despite the geographical distance from their co-workers. Distributed ways of working may sometimes engender feelings of isolation, reduce productivity, and lower staff morale (Bell et al., 2008; Bennett et al., 2010b). However, although technology may in this case be contributing to the problem, it could also provide the solution. Increasingly, organisations are introducing social media tools into the workplace which have the potential to improve communications between co-workers, boost morale and motivation, increase efficiency, and foster an organisational culture (Akkirman & Harris, 2005; Bennett et al., 2010b).