According to Journalists’ Resource (n.d) social media is used for among other things recruiting and communication in an organization. In fact, social media has transformed the corporate communication greatly. However, there are some critical issues arising on the use of social media on personal level whereby employees post negative information on their work places. Should the management discipline employees who post negative comments on their personal websites?
I believe that every employee has a right to his opinions. However, the opinion is supposed to be given in the right forums. If an employee posts negatively on their work places, there are various issues involved. First, the employee is damaging the reputation of the company or corporation that one works for. It is imperative that one has to promote the company that they work for and be good ambassadors all the time. In the event that one does not, then the management by virtues of their right to protect the reputation of the company can punish the employees.
Secondly, negative comments on the character of a person in the company damage the reputation of the person. For example, if the employees post ills on the boss, the reputation of the boss is damaged due to the public negative posts. Since defamation takes many forms, the company may punish the employees for defamation. Tim Finney (2014) notes that the social medial whether private social or not holds the same defamation aspects as any other media.
The contention exists as to whether companies should monitor the social media use of their employees. The Walls Street Journal (October 22, 2014) notes that failure of companies to monitor the employees makes them loose some valuable information on the professionalism, the integrity and the values of their employees. Some employees may be sabotaging the company on social Medias.
References
The Walls Street Journal (October 22, 2014). Should Companies Monitor Their Employees' Social Media? Retrieved on November 18, 2014 from http://online.wsj.com/articles/should-companies-monitor-their-employees-social-media- 1399648685
Tim Finney (2014). Five things to know about social media defamation. Retrieved on November 18, 2014 from https://www.slatergordon.com.au/blog/5-things-know-about-social-media- defamation
Journalists’ Resource (n.d. )Social media in Work places: Research round up. Retrieved on November 18, 2014 from http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/social- media/social-media-workplace-research-roundup
