Why a Lot of Employees Are a Little Unethical at Work and

What to Do About It.

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Unethical Behavior in the Workplace Employee's conducting personal business on company time

Engaging with social media on company time, i.e. Facebook or Instagram

Looking for another job on company time. Shopping on the internet during working hours

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Theory 1 – The Value-Percept Theory of Job Satisfaction

Satisfaction with the work itself.Is the job...

Challenging? Interesting?Is the employee...

Respected?

No satisfactionLeads to unethical behavior

surfing the internet, Facebook, Instagram, playing Candy Crush

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Different approaches• One global consulting firm says allowing the use of social nets

at work keeps workers happier (Computer World, 2012)

• Bosses can now read staff's private messages sent on WhatsApp and similar forums during work hours, European court rules (Daily Mail, 2016)

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Gartner study into social media(at work)

• In 2010, 50% of large organizations blocked social sites• By 2014, that number should drop to 30%

Reasons?• For some company departments and processes, such as marketing, access

to external social media is a business need• Employees find ways to circumvent blocking such as using a personal cell phone to browse the internet• If social media is easily accessible in the work place employees will be less likely to want to use it

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FOMO

Fear of Missing Out• When employees feel they get disconnected from social relations while on a

job without access to social networking sites

• Employees unhappy -> hurts productivity

Remedy?• Engage employees in social relationships among themselves • Increase workforce happiness = increased productivity• Social media relationships between employees can build a tight knit team thus

further increasing productivity and a better working environment

Is it possible? 6

Job Characteristics Theory • A.K.A. VISAF (variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and

feedback)• “Is the central characteristics of intrinsically satisfying jobs.” • A link between job satisfaction to job performance and

organizational commitment• Positive correlation• A person that doesn’t portray some of these characteristics in

their job, may consider looking for another job• Eliminate unethical behavior by “enriching” the employees

job and giving them more challenging assignments

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Managerial Feedback• A lack of feedback, whether it be positive or negative, will eventually lead to

an unhappy workforce• Without feedback from leadership employees will feel less engaged with

their companies which can spawn a breeding ground for unethical behavior• Management needs to be in tune with the needs of their teams in order to

stay ahead of any issues which may arise• Regardless of the use of social media during working hours there will always

be employees who are not meeting productivity standards, this is a personnel management issue wont simply be solved by blocking social media outlets

• An effective employee review system will aid in driving production as well as coaching those who are not meeting standards.

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What are the negative implications of social networking on the job?

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• Decrease productivity/lack of focus

• Security and privacy concerns

• Inappropriate online behavior

• Brand reputation risks from review sites

• Violates company social media policy

• The affect on employee relationships and morale

The Best reasons to Have a company Social Media Policy1. To communicate what is and is not acceptable social media

use2. To educate employees on safe social networking practices3. To protect the company from misuse by employees in ways

that could jeopardize the company’s reputation or negatively affect its operations

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Verdict• Ultimately actions such as browsing social media and other internet

activities during working hours can be viewed as unethical• However production is a measure of output not total time spent working• With this said an employee who spends an hour or so a day on social media

may tend to be more productive than one who is banned from social media all together

• An outright ban of social media will not prevent employees from accessing it by other means, and a lack of attention from management will lead to a variety of other unethical workplace issues.

• A firm performance review program will help create an environment where employees strive to improve with the help of management coaching

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