Human Resources- The Change Agent to popularize Social Media
Less than a decade ago, there was a mindset of ‘Why do I need a mobile phone?’ Then there was a phase of ‘I don’t need the internet and definitely not my own website’ and now is the period when people are wary of social media as the next big thing in changing the way organizations work hinting at a major transformation from traditional to virtual means
Organizations that are adept to change (management) have jumped on the social bandwagon keen to milk on all the positives like ease of use, optimum cost, greater efficiency, speedier communication, global reach etc while others are still taking their time to see how they could manage without it until absolutely mandatory.
Whenever an external change takes place it is necessary to change the mindset of people first. This is because old habits die hard and people need to be more comfortable and receptive to the change mentally before they can physically deal with it.
This is where the role of Human Resource Management comes in.
HR allows for positive transformation in a structured manner through individuals, teams and as a whole organization by continuous reinforcement of new initiatives -by integrating them into daily activities.
This is done by setting up an HR strategy with stages of implementation which may take many months, or even years, to transition organizational mindset from present to future, depending on the complexity of the process to be implemented
Widely- this is how an HR strategy is implemented:
First a comprehensive view is obtained about any possible virtual activities already taking place within the organization which may or may not be related to the business. This is done to gain an understanding of the current level of acceptance regarding social networking tools so as to minimize resistance.
Then a third party change agent or even a senior manager from within the organization is appointed to head social change management. However the lesser the person belongs to IT & more to Human Resources the better it is, as starting the efficient use of social media in an organization is more about a behavioral change than a technological one.
One of the simplest ways in which Companies have come about to increase acceptance to social media as part of daily working is by starting an internal blog. Allowing employees to read, post and comment on what is written by others is a fun process and gives the management the confidence related to ease of use or even a risk to the business (if any)
Other means to provide knowledge about social media, its advantages and methods of use are by a combination with other organizational objectives of learning & development, employee engagement programs, team building activities, small changes in policies, reward for maximum use of social media to handle daily activities etc The change has to be gradual and slow yet sure.
Communication related to the change should be such that social media and its applications ( like an internal blog, facebook page, MySpace activities etc) should not come across as a product but rather about the content and people involvement associated with it.
Hence, to maximize use of social media in an organization it is first necessary to involve the HR department and then apt people management with regard to it.
Karishma Daswani is a CIPD certified Human Resource Practitioner.
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