Analysis of human resource management in contemporary practice

Human Resources

Internet Abuse and Training and Development

In most companies throughout the world, the Internet has become an integral tool for business. Even social networking sites have come to serve professional purposes as well. In fact, people within the 18-24 age group were more likely to use these kinds of sites to communicate with colleagues, prospects, and clients than those in other age groups (Price 2008). This suggests that social networking sites are a new innovation that newer working people may have been trained to use to maximize profits for the corporation. In fact, businesspeople who use social networking sites to connect with clients may have more success with them. Even President Barack Obama has reportedly used such sites to gain popularity. But when does the use of social network sites at work constitute Internet abuse? That being said, what is Internet abuse, and what should corporations do about it?

Alan Price attempts to answer these questions with his article, "Employees Addicted to Social Networking Sites," which was published on the HRM Guide web site. Price's article gives the results of a study that was done on the topic of Internet abuse. In his article, Price states that more than half of employees in both the United States and United Kingdom admit to using social networking sites while at work, while more people "think that they should be given full access to social networking sites for personal reasons" (para. 1). The author argues that these numbers are the same despite age groups, and that the issue poses problems. For instance, Price notes that some interview respondents believe that their level of Internet usage at work is acceptable, even though some were spending an hour or more of company time doing personal Internet business. In addition to this, Price brings up the issue of bandwidth. Many who are using their company Internet connections to peruse social networking sites, in addition to checking e-mail, and visiting media sites, are viewing media that takes up a large amount of bandwidth, making the connection slower for professional uses. Furthermore, employees downloading material online can subject the network to harmful viruses, spyware, and other problems. In addition, when employees visit certain sties that are considered unacceptable, the company could face the problem of lawsuits.

To rectify this problem, Price recommends that organizations adopt more solid Internet usage policies. This recommendation can be supported by the fact that the survey Price quotes states that, while most organizations had Internet use policies, few had been given training over these rules. In addition, less than ten percent of both United States and United Kingdom respondents had suffered discipline for Internet abuse. Thus, Price's article suggests that most people abuse the Internet at work, if Internet abuse is considered taking care of personal business online during company time. Social networking sites are a major component of this problem, although they can be used to benefit the company as well. In order to rectify this situation, Price suggests better policies of Internet abuse.

Price's article has stunning implications for the human relations concept of training and development. In order to train employees and develop Internet abuse policies, management will have to consider the special nature of the matter. That is, while most employees would know that reading a book, doing their nails, or working on their novels on company time is wrong, they do not necessarily see using the Internet for personal reasons in the same light. Perhaps it is because they use the Internet to check personal information in short bursts. Perhaps it is because the Internet, like the telephone, is a communication device, so they feel as if a restricted policy is somehow trapping them or imposing on their constitutional rights. Further, just as most employees are permitted to make short personal calls on their office phones, they may feel that they can use the Internet just to stay in touch.

In order to deal with this problem, an effective training and development policy will teach employees that misuse of the company's Internet access is the same as the misuse of other company assets. An effective employee training program will show employees that the use of social networking sites, personal e-mail, and media sites on company time is harmful from the company, and while different than the offensive of visiting inappropriate web sites using the company's Internet connection, still an abuse of company assets. Heathfield (2009) notes that a policy can be implemented when employees are confused about the way that they should behave. Certainly, this situation suggests confusion in many companies.