Organisational Behaviour in the Era of Social Media

Organisational Behaviour is a broad area of management that studies how people act in organisations. Managers can use theories and knowledge of organisational behaviour to improve management practices for effectively working with and influencing employees to attain organisational goals. The field of organisational behaviour has evolved from the scientific study of management during the industrial era, administrative theories of the manager’s role, principles of bureaucracy, and human relations studies of employees ‘needs (Scott, 1992)

As the pace of globalisation and social change quickens, there is a tremendous impact on the internal structure of organisations. While workers are becoming more and more mobile and entrepreneurial, traditional organisation are becoming less appealing. Organisations and leaders of today are focusing on designing environments and systems for work that inspire individuals by taking advantage of the new social, mobile and digital technologies at work. Successful organisations are in constant state of flux in response to their environment, organisations are forced to look at social media technologies as way to market their products and learn about their competitors. The advent of social media has considerably reduced the cost of content creation, distribution and discovery methods. Companies today realise the importance of how social media has changed the way the world communicates.

Organisations are compelled to keep up with the changes that social media has brought on the internal structure of the organisations. Employees are talking online to customers, colleagues and suppliers through various social networks. Experiences, impressions and expectations regarding job, organisation are being shared, liked and commented upon. The speed at which the information gets to transgress the boundaries of the organisation are beyond the control of the organisation.

Social commerce is the new platform for doing business. The future of business is moving towards a direction that explores customer and employee centricity. Driven by technology, mobile and social media it represents an era of transformation. Organisations and its stakeholders have no choice but to take notice and adapt to become socially connected enterprises. Leadership and management need to embrace the change in order to succeed. New policies are needed to guide employees and management on social media best practices. “The Reuters news organization observed that “the distinction between the private and the professional has largely broken down online and you should assume that your professional and personal social media activity will be treated as one, no matter how hard you try to keep them separate”.

The challenge lies though in the ability to link business objectives, social media strategies, and results that tie to the bottom line. It is the only way to harness the power of social commerce and uncover opportunities to help the organization prosper in the digital era.

Take a look at GE Social Story !!!