Today we take a closer look at how business benefits can be brought by an internal social media which ultimately leads to the most overlooked factor about how the employees feel about the organization.
Although a lot of organizations have resorted to using social media tools internally to interact with their employees, many companies are yet to show any interest when it comes to using social media tools internally. Companies like Best Buy and Dell, have succeeded in using social media internally to meet important objectives - such as cost reduction, increasing revenues or boosting innovation but not all companies are keen on the beneficial results the internal usage provides. On the basis of a 2013 survey conducted on 1,060 global executives - 50% of them are of the opinion that their companies had taken social media initiatives within their organizations and about 60% of them confirmed that social media had positive effects on their company’s internal communications. Thus, only about 30% of executives surveyed work for companies that have both adopted internal use of social media and seen positive effects on the company’s internal communications as a result. Therefore, a similar dichotomy has been found in the qualitative investigation of 34 companies’ social media experience.
Quite often we find that companies either avoid using social media internally or fail to make it work very well within their organizations. If you are truly looking for success in employing social media initiatives then be prepared to invest in emotional capital – the combined feelings of goodwill which the employees harbor towards an organization. The actions of executives play a crucial role in the building of a company’s emotional capital with its employees which are emotion-based assets that the organization has developed over time with its employees.
What Is Emotional Capital?
Today emotional capital is highly valued in most organizations but when it comes to the exact definition of emotional capital it keeps on varying as a number of scholars and executives have used the term in different contexts and provided varied definitions. Emotional capital is about emotional involvement of the employees and their nurturing a feeling of goodwill towards the company and its administration. It represents the emotion-based assets that the organization has developed over time with its employees. We see emotional capital as a specific dimension of social capital, a well-known concept defined as the goodwill available to individuals and groups.
Like social capital, emotional capital is a form of capital because it constitutes an asset into which other resources can be invested, with the expectation of future (although uncertain) benefits. Individuals or groups are eager to invest in feelings of goodwill based on positive emotions is basically to gain more resources such as information and support from others.
According to the research, emotional capital depends on four important pillars - the feelings of credibility, achievement, attachment and pleasure. Alignment in the policies between the company and its leaders bring about credibility in the perception of the employees. It is important for the company to acknowledge and recognize the contributions of the employees which accords them with a sense of achievement which invariably leads to an attachment with the organization where they find themselves belonging to a community with shared values and interests inside the company. The employees must also be provided with a space to experiment with new things at work in a pleasurable manner devoid of any pressure.