Social Media Platforms
Social media, as defined by the business dictionary, is primarily Internet or cellular phone based applications and tools to share information among people. This includes networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as bookmarking sites like Reddit. Social media influences conflict in both positive and negative ways. Social media reduces conflict by reducing costs of communication, increasing speed and dissemination of information, better convenience for communicating and reaching people, and a better connection between organizations and their clients. However, some of the negative influences of social media are that people begin to lose interpersonal skills, little privacy, and a lack of conflict resolution.
Diverse Leadership Skills
Leaders who are advanced in digital technologies such as social media are more successful than leaders who are unaware of social media. Some of the most successful organizations in the world, such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, have a strong social media marketing presence. According to statistica.com, The United States is, by far, the largest social media advertising market in the world, as more than 9.4 billion U.S. dollars were spent on social media ad in the country in 2015 alone. Although social media is leading companies today, conflicts do arise that ultimately allow leaders to learn from the setbacks in order to advance their companies.
“The viral growth of usage requires everyone who wants to compete in the business environment of today to understand and utilize social technologies” (Billington, 2012).
Retrieved from Statistia
Organization members develop cultures in which sometimes conflict is managed productively, whereas sometimes the members consistently work against one another with the help of social media. People in the workplace often times tend to hide their problems from one another by only discussing problems through text or social media platforms instead of confronting the person face-to-face. Leaders play a vital role in shaping how conflict is managed and dealt with within organizations. It has been found that “leaders’ own conflict management styles are related to distinct conflict cultures and that conflict cultures predict unit-level outcomes, including viability, customer service, and creativity” (Gelfand, Keller, Leslie, de Dreu, 2012). The way in which successful leaders rise to the top is by ensuring their communication skills in person and in online contexts correspond with one another. “Employees generally interact with leaders who model behaviors they deem appropriate, employees have contact with similar coworkers and face similar (interpersonal) problems on a recurring basis, and incentive structures do not change overnight” (Gelfand, Keller, Leslie, de Dreu, 2012). Leaders that have an understanding that conflict is a positive learning experience for everyone is very important. Leaders must also know how to manage such conflict that happens in digital contexts and in face-to-face contexts because they can be different.
Reducing Online Conflict
Image retrieved from: Billington, 2012
An effective leader is someone who is aware that conflict is beneficial for groups and is not to be seen in a negative way. The key to being a successful leader is learning to effectively communicate in face-to-face contexts as well as online contexts. Learning how to communicate the same messages through social media platforms and through face-to-face interactions is also an important skill for leaders to practice. As seen in the image above, it is important for leaders to connect with their employees as well as clients via social media. This way, companies are connecting with the public and clients in many more ways than they would be if they were not using social media. Companies can market, communicate, disaster control with rapid and comprehensive research, operate, do public relations work, as well as be knowledgable and conduct research much quicker with the help of social media.
“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the questions is how WELL we DO it” -Erik Qualman
Disruptive: Social media can be troublesome at times because “it has the power to influence and change how people think and interact and how companies operate” (Billington, 2012). This can cause tension in the workplace that people tend to attempt to resolve over social media in improper ways instead of handling tension face-to-face where problems can be resolved more efficiently. Misunderstandings happen through online interactions because of the lack of facial cues and tone of voice. Someone may read a post online in a way that was unintended by the company or person who posted it. This may cause tension between employees and the public or clients. A leader who is aware of the proper things to be posted, shared, and the ways in which messages are worded are successful leaders. Effective leaders also need to be aware of “individuals differences in ethnicity, gender, and background. These differences affect how people behave in online communities and leaders will have to work on inter-generational trust if their online communities are not to end up limited to the Gen Ys on the payroll” (Huy, Shipilov, 2010).
Image from OfficeTimer
Solutions
As stated by Huy and Shipilov, 2010, one way to elevate tensions among groups of workers is to “manage inter-generational diversity, top executives should also think about co-opting a group of middle managers into using social media”. This way, innovative ideas are evenly distributed between managers and executives to ensure trust, which will lead to less tension.
Image retrieved from Mark Sanborn
“Managers and CEO’s who perceived to exhibit more on transformational leadership style adopted integrating and obliging style of conflict management” (Saeed, Almas, Haq, Niazi, 2014). This form of leadership helps to manage, not eliminate, conflicts that arise in the workforce. These leaders tend not to avoid conflict; however, they opt for compromising conflicts. This strategy is more beneficial because transformational leaders embrace the conflict and work to hear both sides of the conflict and compromise for a middle ground of understanding so both parties are satisfied.
According to Neal, 2017, it was found that In DDI’s High Resolution Leadership study, we examined the difference in leadership skills among 250 candidates we assessed for CEO positions and how those skills correlated to the candidate’s activity on social media. We found that, compared to their peers who are not active on social media, CEO candidates who are social are:
- 89 percent better at empowering others
- 52 percent stronger at compelling communication
- 46 percent more influential
- 36 percent better at cultivating networks
- 19 percent more passionate for results
- 16 percent better at making decisions
Image Retrieved from CNBC
About 95% of online adults aged 18-34 are most likely follow a brand via social networking – Dream Grow
AND
71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others – Dream Grow
These are extremely important facts for organizations and groups to remember because what is posted online is there forever and will be seen and shared by many. It is important that leaders and followers are aware of what they are posting and promoting and how things are worded because not every message will be interpreted the same by every person. It is a diverse world out there with many ideas and opinions floating around that conflict with one another, which may result in conflict that is NOT a negative thing. Conflict generates countering sides and more ideas are generated when not everyone agrees with the same things.
Resources:
- Gelfand, M. J., Keller, K., Leslie, L. M., & Dreu, C. D. (2012). Conflict Cultures in Organizations: How Leaders Shape Conflict Cultures and Their Organizational-Level Consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6), 1131- 1147. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
- Billington, M. G., & Billington, P. J. (december 2012). Social media tools for leaders and managers. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics,9(6), 11-19. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www-rulill-rutgers-edu.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/illiad/RULILL/cas/illiad.dll?Action=10&Form=75&Value=844819.
- Neal, S. (2017, April 13). The Surprising Reason Why CEOs Should be Social Media Savvy. CNBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/13/the-surprising-reason-why-ceos-should-be-social-media-savvy.html
- Tahir Saeed, Shazia Almas, M. Anis-ul-Haq, GSK Niazi, (2014) “Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles”, International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 25 Issue: 3, pp.214-225, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-12-2012-0091
- Huy, Q., & Shipilov, A. (2014, July 23). Social Media’s Leadership Challenges. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2010/11/social-medias-leadership-chall
Leaders in Social Media 
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