Syllabus and study guide

1. Submit team document in Microsoft Word. Submit your writing as a narrative, a list of tips or a combination. The length of paper will vary depending on number of team members and format chosen by team. 2. Include sources in APA format. All references must be cited in paper.

Available Topics:
1. Corporate social responsibility
2. Work-life Balance
3. Leadership
4. Change Management
5. Clean Technology (sustainability efforts)
6. Social Networking tools
7. Healthcare
8. Diversity of employees
EXAMPLE OF TOPIC AND SUB-TOPIC SELECTION:
Topic: Work-Life-Balance
Sub-Topics:
Barriers to Creating Work-Life Balance
Benefits of Flexible Work Schedule
Use of Technology to Promote Work-Life Balance
Surviving Holiday Stress
Ways Flexible Working Keeps Mothers in the Workplace

Each person’s section should cover the following evaluation criteria. 1. Did you provide examples of successful companies that have addressed the selected workplace issue? 2. Did you provide examples of companies struggling with this issue? 3. Did you discuss the cultural and societal implications of this issue? 4. Did you express opinions and ideas in a clear and concise manner with obvious connection to the topic? 5. Did you respond promptly to postings and demonstrate self-initiative?

IMPORTANT: In your Group Project Discussion, please inform me who is the team leader and who is assigned to what topics. EXAMPLE:
Topic: Work-Life-Balance
Sub-Topics:
Jane Doe – Barriers to Creating Work-Life Balance
Jason Smith – Benefits of Flexible Work Schedule
Jonney Apple – Use of Technology to Promote Work-Life Balance Suzanne Hope – Surviving Holiday Stress
Jenny Thomas – Ways Flexible Working Keeps Mothers in the Workplace Team Leader: Jason Smith
It is not required, but a good idea to also post your deadlines: EXAMPLE:
Pick Team Leader & Select Topic by 7-7-13
Ideas Selected for Subtopic by 7-9-13
Members post how they are doing and address problems by 7-11 Members post their APA referenced papers to Group 7-12
Team leader to combine all subtopics into one Word APA style document by 7-13 Members download the final teamwork Project 1 paper to their assignment link by 7-14

When I was younger whenever I was looking for work or a new car we had to look in the classified and go to the address provide to fill out their applications. I never had a problem finding a job this way or at the agencies whenever I need work. Today everything is done online one the companies web pages or a Social Media site. In 2009-2010 when the every one stated to lose their jobs I was luck enough to keep mine until the end and was the last bunch to be let go in 2010. I though no problem I will just go to the agency and have them place me somewhere. But it has been a long time and times have changed. The agency told me I had to go online and apply on the web sites, and get a LinkedIn account. So I did what they told me and apply every day to jobs on the web sites and LinkedIn. However, I was told I was not qualified for the jobs I have been doing for the past 20 years. I was places as a temp for many companies and they all like how I work. But when it was time to hire me I lacked one thing. A colleague education, with millions of folks that had been laid off several of them had both the experience and the education (degree).

Social Media has changed the way we work and do business forever. Some of the ways this is happing as we speak is collective intelligence, serendipity, easy to find folks and information, anyone can be a leader and employees have a voice, to transparency and flatness. Companies contain the capability to influence the knowledge of entire personnel to solve a dilemma or identify an opportunity instead of just relying on a specific group. Being able to come across a folks or information that can be used to improve a situation is a valuable thing. Email and static intranets are the default forms of communication and collaboration within many organizations. When most employees think of a leader at their company they typically think of an executive. Most organizations in the world are hierarchical and not transparent.

Take Linked in for instance it has over 150 million professionals that are not your everyday user type of folks. It’s considered to be lower than Face book. But you can’t really compare the two; LinkedIn is mainly for folks looking to get hired in a good company. Face book is just for fun and communicating with your friends and family. LinkedIn is a place to promote yourself to get a job. Small businesses after years of avoiding social media are now embracing it. However, the poor use of social media the Business Network International’s survey shows that 75% of owners put of some companies. Social media is more and more blurring the limitations among work and fun. The online tracking and spreading of information and views over social media signify that folks can currently continue to live in a media world long after the end f their working day. For our group project we have decided to write about social networking tools. How is social networking affecting our political climate? Social networking is being used all around the world for good and for bad. What I mean by that you say? Some people post things using social networking sites to post nonsense items that have no backing to try to get a rise out of individuals.

Reasons like this social media tools are being used in manners that the social media tools wasn’t meant to be used in. Social media was designed for family and friends to communicate long distances. And to get word out to everyone how they have been wrongfully been treated, this is how the social media was meant to do. In December 17th 2010. Mohamed Bouazizi a street vender who sold vegetable and other good out of a cart had his livelihood was threatened when a policewoman confiscated his unlicensed vegetable cart and its goods. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it would be the last. Not satisfied with accepting the 10-dinar fine that Bouazizi tried to pay ($7, the equivalent of a good day’s earnings), the policewoman allegedly slapped the scrawny young man, spat in his face and insulted his dead father. (Abouzeid, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011) Humiliated and dejected, Bouazizi, the breadwinner for his family of eight, went to the provincial headquarters, hoping to complain to local municipality officials, but they refused to see him. At 11:30 a.m., less than an hour after the confrontation with the policewoman and without telling his family, Bouazizi returned to the elegant double-storey white building with arched azure shutters, poured fuel over himself and set himself on fire. (Abouzeid, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011) By using social media the news got out and about how Bouazizi was wrongfully treated by the government there was a bunch of protests, advertised widely through social media networks, gradually spread.

President Zine al Abidine Ben Al step down after 23 of serving as president of Tunisia to keep peace within the countryside (Africa, 20 June 2011 ) If it wasn’t for social networking tools like Facebook, and twitter people like Bouazizi sacrifice will go unnoticed and unheard by the public. Tools like these lets the people form their own opinion about the truth. Social networking tools like Careerlink, LinkedIn, and CareerBuilder designed for companies to look for applicants’ that fits their needs for a job opening that they have within the company Instead of posting a job in the newspaper and other help wanted websites and getting applications of people that doesn’t fit their needs. Each employer has a specific description of what kind of person they want for the job that they have open. As an employer why not go out and find the person that fits your needs instead of hoping and waiting for the right person for the job. We have chosen as our group topic social networking tools.

In today’s world social networking has become a way of life and just throw a few numbers at you Facebook alone has over 500 million users (Wolfe, 2013) and in the United States 70% of the population has a Facebook account. Other, social networking tools like Twitter have just as many as Facebook at over 500 million (statisticsbrain.com, 2013) even LinkedIn the social networking site geared toward professionals has itself over 225 million users (Caro, 2013) worldwide. It is no doubt that these networking tools have had a profound influence on our lives. For my part of the project I will be discussing how these social networking tools are affecting our cultural and international interaction. I will be discussing each of these social networking tools one at a time because they each unique in their own way.

I’ll begin by talking about LinkedIn, a lot of people think that LinkedIn is just a carbon copy of Facebook but in fact LinkedIn was started first in 2002 whereas Facebook did not start till 2004. Those of you who have a LinkedIn account already understand its value not only is a great place to post your resume but helps keep you in contact with other professionals in your field and not just here in United States but all over the world. Only a few short years ago if someone wanted to work outside United States you either had to join the military, Peace Corps, or some other international agency. Now with sites like LinkedIn you and I have the ability to look for a career in a foreign country and the same goes for professionals in foreign countries perhaps looking for employment here. It kind of gives a whole new meaning to the term America is the great melting pot.

I’d like to talk a little bit about the Twitter revolution but I won’t be using all 140 characters. Twitter was started in 2006 by Jack Dorsey though it’s considered social networking some people have called it a type of mini blog. Twitter really came onto the scene in 2009-2010 with the uprising in Iran over the elections which became known as the Green Revolution and later the larger Arab Spring (Kassim, 2013). This social media tool gave us insight into what was going on, on the ground from protests to the atrocities being committed by their government. In all these country’s there is no freedom of the press so the only way news got out was via social networks. Could you just imagine this technology existed back in the 1930s and images of Nazi atrocities were caught early perhaps, World War II could’ve been avoided. I really think that social media like Twitter will help bring more freedom around the world as it becomes harder for brutal dictators around the world to hide behind their state owned media.

Finally we come to Facebook, who doesn’t have a Facebook account I mean really my best friend has one for his dog, and yes I’m his friend. Facebook is really revolutionized the way we communicate I personally have been reacquainted with friends from my childhood and been able to keep in contact with moved away. Facebook not only allows us to communicate but actually opens us to other people’s ideas. The people that I am friends with on Facebook come from all walks of life, and socializing with them in this environment have allowed me to grow as a person, and this has that effect on me I can only assume is had that effect on tens of millions of others. Of course we still don’t know how far Facebook will go will it be replaced the way it replaced MySpace or will it continue to grow, eventually having billions of users.

The fact is social networking is here to stay whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook; or the next great idea this type of communication is now part of our lives. I see it being nothing but a positive, from businesses being able to recruit talent internationally through LinkedIn, or the oppressed population rising up and speaking with one voice and being able to broadcast it on twitter for a whole world to hear, or simply being able to communicate with an old friend from Facebook who’s moved overseas and be able to share our day-to-day lives as though he was still my neighbor. I think our future is looking pretty bright. Have you ever found yourself at work or school on your smartphone FB app or tweeting the latest news on Twitter? Have you ever heard of employers looking at your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter accounts to determine if they want to hire you or not? Although, social networking in our society has become a fun, recreational activity, there are many attributes about all of the social networking that have negatively impacted “networking” as we know it today; moreover, the largest negatively impacted areas are privacy, false sense of relationship or “electronic friendships”, and cyber-bullying People so often post on these cites to complain, share, brag or show off any activity that they are involved in; furthermore, this is not something the these individuals are just sharing with close friends.

On these websites depending on your privacy settings it is very easy to access any one individual’s posts or activities, interests or hobbies, or even the less desirable attributes about that person… and it is all available at the tip of anyone’s fingers and where this is being used most often in the negative sense would primarily be employers. Years ago, employers had to decide based on a person’s education, interview, and accomplishments; now-a-days, every prospective employee is being seriously evaluated based on their private lives when may possibly be completely irrelevant to how they would act or portray themselves in a work environment. With social networking it is nearly impossible to maintain privacy this being of course a negative perspective on social networking, furthermore it effects a person’s relational priorities. I cannot even mention how many times I have gone onto Facebook and someone will be out with their wife/husband and they are out on a date or where a co-worker will be completing a task that should only take 5-10 minutes but is distracted with Twitter or Instagram. The focus of the activity that is happening is shifted on taking a picture of that thing/”checking-in” so your network-of-choice knows where you are and what you are doing.

The relationship that you are investing in that deserves the most time or focus but it is being diverted by making sure that all of your “electronic friendships” know what the latest news in your life is. Also as an employer these distractions can be a major issue in the work place. As everyone has their miniature computers traveling with them everywhere they go and with Instagram and Facebook at the employee’s fingertips, we now have to calculate and adjust for the time that is being missed due to unhealthy ties to these networks. Moreover, it is clearly creating a diversion from what sometimes may be more important. Even more so, in some cases this can turn from not just having unhealthy ties to electronic friendships and low productivity in the work-place but one of the most prevalent downfalls of social networking is the amount of cyber-bullying going on. Social media is available to all people alike; friends and predators. Cyber-bullying has sadly lead to suicide even and 42% of teens say that they have been bullied through social networking.

Even just one percent is too many of our youths let alone the disconnect that it may be creating in other age groups in society. There have even been lawsuits even that have come against youths and their parents because of pictures/posts that have been posted on Instagram/Facebook that people found offensive or upsetting. In conclusion, not to say that social networking as a whole is completely negative but there have absolutely been negative contributing factors of these “pages” that have brought out poor behaviors in our world today. They are many different ways that Social Networking is a hug influence in our society. There is once time in the world of employment when the average person is seeking a job and that would go pick up an application at a local business, speak to a manager, and fill out the application by hand and go turn it in face to face. It was a chance to get to know a potential employer and really show them that you are the person for the job. You could show them your accolades and accomplishments from your prior work experiences, and convert with the boss to seal the deal that you were right for the position. But things have changed. With the advancement in communication technology and social networking via the Internet, a resume and interview is not the only thing a company looks at when hiring you.

It now appears that companies looking for employees don’t even need to wait until an interview to make first impressions about the applicant. We are now living in a world where a person’s online profile on a social networking site likes MySpace and Facebook, and LinkedIn is a deciding factor in whether or not a person is right for job. Although, the idea seems to be a quicker way to weed out unsatisfactory workers from the application process, this strategy possesses serious flaw. Take LinkedIn is a hug network for all people and huge companies that are looking for people for hire. This hug breaks for a lot of people that are looking for a job that companies are looking for in a person. When people find their dream job in LinkedIn they can send their resume via email or through LinkedIn Social networks have become a crucial part of many of us. We don’t even notice this but as soon as we open our desktops or laptops to access the web, we sub-consciously open our favorite social network just to see about the updates received. Businesses have noticed the value of social networks in our life, and they are using different techniques to promote their products. There are a number of customized applications being made on the social platforms, whose main purpose is to promote the product or brand. As social marketing is cost effective and brands have a huge audience, they are shifting more towards social marketing.

References
http://www.stuffedweb.com/how-companies-linkedin-building-success/ http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2012/aug/14/small-business-benefit-social-media http://www.itu.int/net/itunews/issues/2010/06/35.aspx

Abouzeid, R. (Friday, Jan. 21, 2011). Bouazizi: The Man Who Set Himself and Tunisia on Fire. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2044723,00.html Africa, N. o. (20 June 2011 ). Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. News of Africa. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12196679

Caro, C. (2013). LinkedIn help Center. Retrieved from LinkedIn.com: http://community.linkedin.com/questions/65822/how-many-people-use-linkedin.html Kassim, S. (2013). Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was Helped By Social Media . Retrieved from policymic.com: statisticsbrain.com. (2013). Twitter Statistics. Retrieved from statisticsbrain.com: http://www.statisticbrain.com/twitter-statistics/ Wolfe, L. (2013, October 3rd). How Many People Use Facebook? Retrieved from About.com: http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/facebook/a/How-Many-People-Use-Facebook.htm