Managament. Social Technology and Why Most Changes Fail - Article Example

? Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Social Technology Social technology is the use of social media to improve the daily activities especially in business transactions, communication, and marketing. Social technology employs the use of social websites that are commonly referred to as social media. Social media is use of sites such as face book, twitter and you tube to upload videos, photos and documents and then sharing them with the world. It can thus be used by companies to sell their products and services by uploading graphical images of their products or describe a wide range of product that they offer. Using the social media to advertise goods and services is cheap because a company needs to create one website and then post its content in it. It then links this site with the social media sites such as Facebook and twitter (Maidment, 2012). The advertisement appears in the social media and the company is guaranteed that many social media users will view them. In this manner, the company is able to do quick, cheap and wide coverage of marketing its products. The owners of these social media have recently seen the growth in the number of advertisements, for example, in January 2013 the advertisements on You Tube got four billion views per day. This is a kind of business marketing that organisations cannot ignore. This is because they are often not affected by traffic of advertisers and raise the reputation of a company faster. In addition, this kind of marketing has a parameter for measuring performance because the social media platform records the number of people who have viewed that advertisement (Maidment, 2012). Therefore, organisations that do not take advantage of this cheap advertising will be lagging behind in competing for clients. The power of social media marketing lies in being creative in the way the content of the website is designed. Depending on the company, attractive content should be used and that makes users come back to the same site. For example, in case of a financial services company, it can use a PowerPoint that displays step by step financial literacy to young people (Maidment, 2012). CRITIQUE The well-known social sites are Facebook, twitter and YouTube. Face book alone has over four billion users in the world. This social site was designed in such a manner that it can accommodate both social and commercial services (Maidment, 2012). The social services are sharing photos, videos and documents with the people one wishes. These sites also allow users to make online friends with no limitation of the number of friends. This means that one friend connects with another and in so doing; Facebook connects all its users through one platform. The art of marketing depends on making both formal and informal networks through which information about products and services is shared. Informal networks of marketing involve using close relatives to spread the marketing information about a product or service. It is often not very effective because of the few people who are reached. Formal networks of marketing involves use of exhibitions, corporate marketing and other professional related networks to market a product (Maidment, 2012). The effectiveness of any marketing strategy depends on how it is cheap, accessible, and easy to use or convince customers to buy the product being offered (Maidment, 2012). A marketing strategy is also economical to the company if it can be sustained by the economic resources of that company for a long time and shows signs of giving back good returns. In addition, it has to reach a large number of people and be effective in convincing clients to buy the products or services offered. The strategy should also aim to target the right customers in terms of their needs, age and their economic wellbeing. Social media is an example of a tool that meets the requirements of a cheap, effective, and easily accessible advertising and marketing strategy. This is because of the large and diverse number of users that are currently using the social media. It is also accessible from anywhere using mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Social media presents a cheap advertising opportunity to companies because they can run such a system from within their current management information systems (Maidment, 2012). Social media also serves to give businesses competitive advantage because of the networks that already exist. For example, in Facebook a person who has made one thousand friends can share an advertisement that reaches all his or her friends. The advertisements also come with an option to “like” the organization which is added to the viewers “timelines.” This implies online visitors can comment on that commercial advertisement and present the company with an opportunity to make it more attractive. The comments may also be negative which means the company needs to be more creative in selling and marketing its products The social media has thus presented the corporate world with new challenges that help build the professionalism of its employees. For example, when an advertisement receives negative comments on social media, it is upon the designer to put something that is more convincing and eye catching to online visitors (Maidment, 2012). In addition, the need to have something fresh everyday means that designers have to be creative and also to do research such that they do not post similar items with a competitor. Social media, therefore, presents a good opportunity for organisations to develop and grow their client base. It is a cheap but challenging way to grow today’s businesses (Maidment, 2012). The secret lies in using the most creative methods that are different from those of the competitor. The methods also have to convince the clients and be economical to the company. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Why Most Changes Fail Change of the way issues are done in an organization is an important aspect by the management of today’s businesses. Change cannot be avoided because the world is ever changing and thus important for organisations to change with time. However, most managers fear to implement change because of the fear that they will fail and this is taken as missed opportunity. There are four mistakes that managers of change make that lead to failure. First, managers perceive that understanding a situation is a sign that the people being led will support the change and show their commitment (Maidment, 2012). This is especially a false notion when managers of change organize meetings and elaborate on the change they want to implement. After explanation, the leaders then give the participants a chance to ask questions. Leaders take it that the more questions they receive, the more people have understood and are willing to participate. Secondly, the potential of employees and the management is often underestimated when implementing change. Often, employees are served with targets and benchmarks that they have to meet without being involved in setting such benchmarks and targets (Maidment, 2012). The third one is the failure to acknowledge that people in an organization are afraid of change. Changes in an organization come with the fear of loss of employment, relocation or demotion (Maidment, 2012). The final reason is lack of trust in the leaders who create change in the organization. Workers fail to trust that their leaders can implement the change they want because they doubt their competencies and skills (Maidment, 2012). CRITIQUE Involvement of people in decision making is important in the drafting of implementable plans in an organization. Non-involvement of workers in the decisions of the organization can lead to workers rejecting the decisions that are imposed on them. Such decisions include setting targets, goals and other benchmarks (Maidment, 2012). These are the items that employees work towards to change an organization. Their involvement is important because they learnt lessons in the previous years which can be used to improve this year’s decision making process thus helping in formulation of achievable goals and targets. Involvement of workers in the change process has four main benefits. First, workers feel appreciated and are willing to actively engage in achieving the goals and targets they have set. Second, workers are able to allocate themselves duties depending on their capabilities and competences. This arises because they have worked together for some time and thus they identify which area one is best (Maidment, 2012). They thus specialize in the area where one fills can perform best. This promotes division of labour in an organization and lead to smooth realization of the set goals and targets. In addition, division of labour leads to efficiency in the production process because works do what they are best in and thus avoid those areas that waste resources. Third, workers are able to monitor and manage their own progress. This is because during the formulation stage, they formulate parameters that will be used to check their progress towards the achievement of their set goals and targets. Where a discrepancy from the planned target is realized, corrective measures are instituted to correct the mistakes. In a plan where gains are realized, more efforts are added to bring more returns from that section. Fourth, participation of workers in the decision making process improves the relationship between the top managers and workers. This is because the day to day interactions while drafting goals and targets, forms a platform for team building that is important for achieving those targets and goals. People fear to change because they are afraid of losing jobs and the discomfort that comes with relocating residence. However, the change process can be approached in such a way that the fear is avoided. A better approach would be to inform workers of the intended change in advance. For example, workers could be informed of possible reshuffle one year prior to the actual date. This can enable them prepare financially, psychologically and emotionally. Alternatively, due to the financial needs that arise when workers are reshuffled, the company could provide an allowance that caters for the needs of the worker until he or she settles in the new location. This make the workers feel that their needs are well addresses by the company and that their welfare is addressed properly. Trust is important when implementing change in an organization (Maidment, 2012). Workers support their leader when they believe that he or she is capable of implementing the necessary actions result to change. Workers’ support can be in form of expertise, psychological and financial. Lack of trust in the leadership of a person forms the first stage of failure. This is because a positive mindset is the beginning of positive change that enables an organization to achieve its targets and goals. Reference Maidment, F. (2012). Annual Editions: Management (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing. Read More