Word Count: 1017 words.In the past, the management of organisations was structured hierarchically. However, social media, considered one of the best innovations of the twenty-first century, has brought great changes to the role of managers by revolutionising communications technology and globalising the media industry. The awareness of humankind has increased on a global scale. This advancement has modified perspectives on the management of organisations. The aspects of management that are most influenced by social media are abilities which are a prerequisite for exceptional managers: the technical aspect, the conceptual aspect and the human aspect. This essay will illustrate how these aspects are positively and negatively affected by social media.The boundaries of management have been fundamentally changed from simplicity to complexity by social media. As social media specialises in communication and sharing information, many organisations should use social media as a tool for marketiing offline workshops. In addition to online courses, there are benefits to reducing the cost of training and increasing temporal flexibility for both businesses and workers. Social media can also exert a negative effect on management by decreasing productivity by distracting employees from their tasks. Peacock (2008) noted that employers are concerned that their workforce is squandering valuable company time on social media, sabotaging productivity. As a result, the use of social media has been prohibited at work due to employees wasting time on counterproductive social media sites such as Facebook (Benzie, 2007).Furthermore, social media has fostered the development of advanced conceptual skills in management by accelerating the pace of change in information technology. Combined with mobile devices, it has caused a deluge of information generated by billions of users worldwide. This phenomenon has directly affected the business environment by offering a wide variety of information sol., 2016) that using inaccurate information could be considered an ethical and legal issue with respect to customers or information sources. Conversely, there are also positive effects of social media on management. A study conducted by Maecker, Barrot and Becker in 2016 shows that interaction with customers on social media contributes to increased profitability. In addition, these interactions prompt “the upselling efforts” and decrease “the risk of churn” (Maecker, Barrot & Becker, 2016, p. 150). As another positive effect, managers can use social media databases to analyse customer behaviour such as preferences based on demographics. Collecting and analysing this information could influence an organisation’s decision making.Traditionally, top-down communication, a hierarchical method of delivering information from senior management to the rank and file, was commonly used in organisations. However, in the technological age, social media has modified the flow of communication in organ have adopted it. As a positive effect, it improves communication skills among employees by reducing confusion and misunderstandings. For example, an internal instant messenger system can increase accuracy of communication by preventing the loss of data such as conversation and meeting transcripts with an automatic archiving feature and allowing employees to visualise instructions on-screen. Making communications visible enables employees to recognise meta-knowledge such as who knows what and who knows whom (Leonardi, 2015). To the contrary, Mintzberg expressed concerns of the limitations of electronic communication: “There is no tone of voice to hear, no gestures to see, no presence to feel” (Mintzberg, 2015, p. 3-4). Mintzberg also claimed that online activities could strengthen the bonds between employees but it doesn’t mean effective cooperation among employees (Mintzberg, 2015). Therefore, social networking technology can be helpful in knowledge dissemination, reducing confusion be long term. Therefore, management should invest in and develop social networking assets in their organisations.Reference ListAguenza, B.B. and Som, A.P.M., 2012. A conceptual analysis of social networking and its impact on employee productivity. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 1(2), pp.48-52.Benzie, R., 2007. Facebook banned for Ontario staffers. The Star. Retrieved July, 21, p.2007.Leonardi, P.M., 2015. Ambient awareness and knowledge acquisition using social media to learn "who knows what" and "who knows whom" Management information systems: mis quarterly, 39(4), pp.747–762.Maecker, O., Barrot, C. & Becker, J., 2016. The effect of social media interactions on customer relationship management. Business Research, 9(1), pp.133–155.Mintzberg, H 2015, ‘Managers are more connected, but not for the better’, Harvard Business Review, July. pp. 1 - 4.Mintzberg, H 2015, ‘We need both networks and communities’, Harvard Business Review, October. pp.1 - 4.Mutjaba, B & McFarlane, DA 2005,T3
With today’s economic revolution and the populace’s accompanying improvement in lifestyle, people confer more meaning on quality of life. Leisure activities, such as watching TV, playing games and sports, and socializing are considered important as they help comfort those who are anxious and overloaded by work, housework, or child care. This table, produced in 2005 by the Office for National Statistics, presents data on how people allocate their time on leisure activities.
Word Count: 1,100Business ethics have been the focal point of many deliberations in modern society, and any dispute concerning this topic will inevitably find its way into the headlines. To increase profitability, businesses often find themselves in a dilemma. A business’ tenacity in pursuing its primary objective of high profitability may seem reasonable; however, it can lead to a number of ethical transgressions such as fraud, bribery, and insider trading. Wells Fargo is a good case for examining this ethical dilemma in business, a constant struggle between maximising profits and compliance with laws and regulations. This essay will begin with an overview of Wells Fargo’s background, the ethical issues raised within the company, and how these ethical issues affected the company and its stakeholders.Wells Fargo was established by Henry Wells and William Fargo, the co-founders of American Express, in the middle of the Gold Rush of the 19th century. The bank survived the Panic of 1857, er 1.5 million fake accounts and approximately half a million credit cards without customer’s knowledge or permission in the period following 2011 (Shen, 2016). Employees generated counterfeit e-mail addresses and passwords and transferred small sums of money from customers’ real accounts into the fake accounts to afford them an appearance of authenticity. As a result, this fraud contributed to an increase in profits for the company. The bank earned approximately $400,000 from just 14,000 of these phony accounts by charging annual, interest, and overdraft fees (Egan, 2016). The fraud benefited certain employees who received incentive commissions and bonuses by satisfying sales quotas.The fraud negatively affected four of its stakeholders: The Wells Fargo’s company itself and its shareholders, employees, and customers. Due to the crisis, the bank was ordered to pay 185 million dollars in fines, including a $100 million penalty from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and more than uncertain future. The bank’s customers lost not only their faith in the bank, but also real assets, as their personal and financial information was used to create fraudulent accounts without their permission, and were charged unreasonable fees. Many customers considered taking their business to other banks, and likely shared with their friends and family anecdotes of the poor experience they had as clients of Wells Fargo and their subsequent distrust of the bank. The scandal that occurred at Wells Fargo had enormous consequences such as the loss of significant capital, a damaged reputation, and the appearance of a lack of integrity.Wells Fargo’s creation of fake accounts and issuance of unauthorised credit cards, of which their customers had no knowledge, interest or need, was undoubtedly unethical. However, I would like to focus on the root cause of the fraud rather than assign blame to the specific employees who committed it. I was curious about how this fraud could have been perpetegy by which a company increases its sales by selling various additional products to their existing customers, could be the ultimate cause of the fraud. In 2012, Wells Fargo sold an average of 5.9 products per customer in its retail financial business, indicating a decisively higher value compared to its competitors (Touryalai, 2016). This suggests that the company may have encouraged its employees to cross-sell and thereby limited their choice of sales strategies. As Wells Fargo was chiefly concerned with maintaining its market position, it failed to innovate new products or strategies, and relied too much on cross-selling, becoming complacent with regards to self-policing, resulting in "poor leadership, improper incentives, inadequate auditing and questionable organizational practices" (Heskett, 2017). To conclude, I believed that rational choice emphasized by economics should be in pursuit of profits; however, after studying this case and its ethical dimensions, I realised that ratin, M., Wells Fargo stock drops to lowest level since early 2014. CNNMoney. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/26/investing/wells-fargo-stock-fake-account-scandal/index.html [Accessed April 08, 2018].Egan, M., 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts. CNNMoney. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/wells-fargo-created-phony-accounts-bank-fees/index.html [Accessed April 10, 2018].Heskett, J., 2017. What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case? HBS Working Knowledge. Available at: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-are-the-real-lessons-of-the-wells-fargo-case?cid=wk-rss [Accessed April 11, 2018].Merle, R., 2016. Wells Fargo fired 5,300 workers for improper sales push. The executive in charge is retiring with $125 million. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/13/wells-fargo-fired-5300-workers-for-illegal-sales-push-executive-in-charge-retiring-with-125-million/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bdc81MAT4