SOCIAL MEDIA 101 Maria Spinelli, general manager of HR, Ace International picks up her ringing telephone. ‘Maria Spinelli speaking.’ ‘Maria, it’s CK.’ ‘Hi, CK! What’s new?’ CK ignores the social pleasantries and says, ‘I’ve just sent you an email regarding a job application we have received from one of your employees — read it and call me back.’ ‘You sound serious CK — what is it?’ ‘It concerns you.’ ‘What? How?’ ‘You are well aware it is our standard practice to scan the social media sites of all job applicants?’ ‘Yes, and you know CK that I think it is unethical.’ ‘I know, I know, but now is not the time to get on your high horse,’ says CK sharply. ‘What is wrong?’ asks Maria, somewhat bewildered by CK’s tone. ‘Look, it concerns you. Read it, then call me back. Okay? Maria, I am doing this as a friend not as a professional colleague. I rely on your discretion.’ ‘Sure, if that’s what you want. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.’ Without further comment, CK hangs up. Curious and somewhat anxious, Maria opens her email account. There it is: a message from CK Wong, vice-president of HR, Oz Consolidated Ltd. Maria opens the attachment and is immediately horrified. Bold capital letters headline the text ‘Why Ace International sucks’. Reading on, Maria becomes even more angry and disturbed. Posted by Britney Lee, a graduate trainee in the Treasury department, the text is a diatribe of criticism and caustic abuse. Ace International is described as having a culture of greed, backbiting and incompetence. Britney’s comments regarding her colleagues are very personal and cruel. Patrick O’Brien, Britney’s current boss is described as a smelly fat slob who cheats on his expense accounts; the CEO Catherine Moore is portrayed as a hypocrite who is having an affair with James Cody the company’s external legal counsel and a married man. Maria herself is depicted as ugly and mean. Maria is crushed. She pushes her chair back, closes her eyes. ‘How could anyone be so hurtful? So stupid?’ Maria feels herself trembling. Perspiration streams from her brow. She wants to throw up. ‘My God! What am I going to do?’ DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1.What ethical, legal and HRM considerations are raised in this case? 2.Is it reasonable for organisations to access an applicant’s (or an employee’s) social media sites? 3.If you were CK Wong, would you have informed Maria Spinelli of your findings? Explain your answer. 4.If you were Maria Spinelli, what would you do now? Justify your proposed act

University/Course: BUS2004

Uploaded: October 27, 2024

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Table of Contents:

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Introduction
  3. Methodology
  4. Case Study Analysis
    • 4.1 Ethical Considerations
    • 4.2 Legal Considerations
    • 4.3 HRM Considerations
    • 4.4 2.Is it reasonable for organisations to access an applicant’s (or an employee’s) social media sites?
    • 4.5 if you were CK Wong, would you have informed Maria Spinelli of your findings? Explain your answer.
    • 4.6 If you were Maria Spinelli, what would you do now? Justify your proposed actions.
  1. Conclusion
  2. References
  1. Executive Summary 

This paper looks at the ethical legal and HRM implications of social media screening using a case of Maria Spinelli who is the General Manager of HR at Ace International. The case illustrates the issue of ethics that keeps on arising when employers want to access an employee’s social media feed. Maria gets into a delicate open with the help of CK Wong, Vice-President of HR at Oz Consolidated Ltd. , when the later informs that the company graduate trainee, Britney Lee, has posted comment insulting Ace International employees. 

 

 Ethical issues involve violation of privacy as well as abuse of the collected information while legal issue involves discrimination as well as violation of confidentiality. It is also mainstream the consideration of whether social media screening is a reasonable practice in reconciling the protection of organizational value versus the rights of the individual(Chiruvella & Guddati, 2021). 

 

 The consideration is made that while reporting can be a helpful tool for screening in the social media, it should be done with great attention to the ethical and legal concerns. The following are among the report findings with regards these challenges which the Ace International is advised to establish clear policies and guidelines to meet Internationally benchmarked standards of HR practices that are transparent, fair and respect the privacy of the employees.

2. Introduction

Gartner (2019) says that employing social media is now being practiced in the management of many organizations with human resource management not being an exception. Organizations monitor the social media presence of the candidates for jobs or actually employers snoop into the accounts of their employees to gain some information that may not be available through resumes and interviews. However, use of such techniques poses a lot of ethical, legal and HRM issues into consideration. Ace International’s General Manager of HR, Maria Spinelli, is an example of these challenges. Maria find herself in a dilemma when one day, CK Wong, Vice-President of HR at Oz Consolidated Ltd. informs her about a post by Britney Lee, a graduate trainee at the company working in the treasury department at the company. This post (hosted at Lauren’s blog) contains some of the most rancid criticisms of Ace International and its employees, and the opportunity that the resulting confrontations poses for Maria, before pitting personal moral principles against professional ones. 

 

 In this paper, the author discusses a certain case of social media screening, using the concepts of privacy violation, discrimination, and relationship with co-employees. It is highly thought provoking on a number of issues part of which is the conflict between retaining organizational authority and leaving people’s privacy intact. This report will endeavour to provide further

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