1) In the context of HR and Social Media, what are the benefits and risks of social media use in the workplace? In your response, consider the HR functions of Recruitment and Selection, Training and Development, and/or Performance Management. (300 words)

2)  What is the difference between 'intrinsic' and 'extrinsic' rewards in the context of Rewarding Human Resources? In your response, discuss which is most effective and why. (300 words)

3) In the context of Managing Performance, why is providing negative feedback stressful and emotionally fraught for people managers? In your response, consider tips for an effective feedback review process. (300 words)

Answers:

1.In the not-so-distant past, recruiters and staffing managers pored over resumes, posted vacancies on job boards and hosted expensive job fairs to find candidates. Now, the use of social media sites is pervasive in the recruitment function, with 84 percent of surveyed organizations using social media for recruitment. 

Social media sites can be used for informal networking, mining for talent or simply posting openings. For example, employers can use social networking sites to post challenging technical questions and then contact respondents who provide the best answers.

Recruiters can use relationship management tools to build and track relationships with passive job candidates who are not currently job-hunting. New recruiting applications designed for smartphones, tablets and other devices can let recruiters create better online searches or exchange information easily. Social media allow creation of specialty recruiting sites for specific industries. Employers are also using Twitter to announce employment opportunities to job seekers who subscribe to the company's Twitter feeds. See Social Recruiting Goes Viral and Social Networking Websites Popular as Employer Recruiting Tool

The use of social media in recruitment carries legal risks unique to the social media environment. For more about these risks, see the "Legal Issues" section below. Organizations that do not include social media in their business strategy run the risk of losing relevance in the market. 

there potential issues created when employees use their personal social media accounts while at the office, possibly affecting productivity, data security and network security. "Friending" and other contact among employees on social media can open the employer to possible legal issues. Even the social media use policies that employers write to help control use can pose legal issues if poorly written or administered. HR in many organizations is taking the lead in developing, communicating and enforcing social media policies and on keeping tabs on the changing legal landscape of social media.

2.An intrinsic reward is an intangible award of recognition, a sense of achievement, or a conscious satisfaction. An extrinsic reward is an award that is tangible or physically given to you for accomplishing something. It is a tangible recognition of ones endeavor.

For example, an intrinsic reward is the feeling of satisfaction after completing a large project, and an extrinsic reward is a monetary bonus received for finishing that project. Research suggests that when employees are intrinsically motivated by their work they are more likely to get promoted. Extrinsic motivation is a nice way of describing when you do things primarily to receive a reward. You might take a new job because of the higher pay and better benefits package.

An intrinsic reward is intangible; it might be the sense of satisfaction you get from mastering a new skill or the successful completion of a complex project or from working on a project that has personal significance or meaning.

In contrast, extrinsic reward is something that comes from an external source—for example, your instructor at school or your manager at work. Extrinsic rewards can be financial (a bonus, incentive, or commission) or non-financial (praise, a training badge, a development opportunity, or a coveted project assignment). There can also be elements of both; for example, a promotion would likely entail both a raise and a new title. Extrinsic rewards can also include intangibles such as the ability to work remotely or an invitation to participate in a mentoring program.

A manager can't prompt intrinsic motivation or provide an intrinsic reward, since the motivation flows from the employee's interest in and value for a particular type of work. A manager does, however, have control of situational factors. Management consulting firm Hay Group (acquired by Korn Ferry) reports business results can vary by up to 30% based on differences in the work climate created by a manager.

3.One of the toughest things you have to do as a manager is to give employee feedback, especially the negative kind. In fact, so many managers avoid giving feedback altogether because it is such a stressful and emotionally fraught experience. When feedback is tied to someone's livelihood, emotions are bound to run high.

Giving negative feedback, implies that you're wading into an extremely sensitive territory. You don't want to demotivate an employee or make them think you are out to get them. You don't want the feedback to backfire.

Really, can criticism ever be constructive? Let's admit it, no one likes to be told they are doing a less-than-perfect job. It's not easy to hear about our shortcomings. Even the best of us have suffered the self-doubt, defensiveness and insecurity that often follows feedback.

Yet, feedback is the backbone of management. Honest, thoughtful feedback is an important and valuable tool for building not only a good team, but a good business.

1. Avoid giving unsolicited advice

Only a third of people believe the feedback they receive is helpful. That's because more often than not, it's unsolicited, which can create an immense amount of stress for the person receiving it.

2. Be specific

Employee feedback should be solutions oriented, crystal clear, and to the point. If your intention is to offer corrective feedback, general comments, like "Your work needs to be improved" or "I wasn't very impressed with those reports. You have to do better than that" can leave your employee confused and in the dark as to what aspect of their work needs to be corrected.

3.Come with a deep level of empathy

"Delivering feedback that exposes a wide gap in self-knowledge demands an extra measure of sensitivity. Like ripping off a scab, the sting of discovering such a profound gap often elicits strong emotions that can easily be confused as defensiveness. If you're someone who bores the brunt of your colleague's difficult behavior, be sure you can set those frustrations aside in favor of the empathy you'll need for this conversation.

4.Don't wait for a quarterly review

Employee feedback immediately following an event has the greatest impact on performance. And engagement peaks when employees receive feedback on a weekly cadence. If issues are left unaddressed, they may multiply by a domino effect. So by the time the quarterly performance review comes around, you'll be confronted with a host of issues that could have been avoided if mentioned earlier.

5. Keep it private

Don't criticize publicly—ever.

For some, even praise is better delivered in a private meeting. Some people simply don't like being the center of attention. You can also consider offering employee feedback in the form of a written response. This can give you time to reflect and offer a more thoughtful answer.

6. Don't take the "sandwich approach"

Helping someone improve should always be the goal of feedback, but sandwiching corrective feedback between two pieces of positive feedback won't soften the blow. This method creates confusion for the receiver, undermines your feedback, and can decrease levels of trust.

7. Make the conversation a two-way street

Lecturing someone on how they should improve is about as effective as talking to a brick wall. Don't forget the important element of respect when discussing vulnerable topics, and certainly don't talk at someone when it's far more effective to open up the conversation and talk with them.

8. Focus on performance, not personality

Focus on an employee's behaviors (what they do) rather than on their personality traits (what they're like). Consider these two examples from "The Secret to Giving Constructive Criticism" and think about what type of feedback you would like to receive.

Pro: Company Publicity

Most people expect a business to have a social media presence; it's often as important as a website. Social media for your company allows you to connect with your consumers or audience, enhance your brand, bring attention to your products or services and network with like-minded people, both locally and nationally.

Con: Image Risk

If the person in charge of social media doesn't know how to use it appropriately, the company is at risk of developing a poor image. All it takes is one poorly timed Tweet or a Facebook post that can be misinterpreted and the organization could make the local or even national news.

Pro: Morale Boost

In addition to using social media as part of your business plan, there's also the matter of how employees use social media while in the workplace. A study published in Computers in Human Behavior in 2017 noted that time spent on Facebook is positively linked to job satisfaction. Additionally, social media use allows the employees to take short breaks throughout the day, which can actually boost productivity. Rather than going outside or to the break room, employees are able to simply take a quick mental hiatus from work while still sitting at their desks.

Con: Lost Productivity

Recruiter Ajilon asked 2,000 people about their social media use at work, finding that 11 percent spent more than an hour on social media every day at work, outside of their lunch break. They then took the average hourly wage into account and determined that the one hour per day adds up to $128.45 a week and $6,422.50 in lost productivity over the course of a year.

Pro: Builds Relationships

The use of social media in the workplace can build strong relationships, either between employees and customers or clients and between employees. When co-workers have stronger personal relationships, they often work more efficiently as a team. They might also begin to see their co-workers as friends, which can increase their satisfaction in coming to work every day.

Intrinsic rewards include things such as: personal achievement, professional growth, sense of pleasure and accomplishment. Extrinsic motivation is based on tangible rewards, is external to the individual and is typically offered by a supervisor or manager.

Intrinsic rewards include things such as: personal achievement, professional growth, sense of pleasure and accomplishment. Extrinsic motivation is based on tangible rewards, is external to the individual and is typically offered by a supervisor or manager.

Employee feedback is an incredibly powerful tool. If offered properly, it has the ability to grow and develop the people of your organization, improve the levels of trust and communication, and strengthen bonds between employees and managers. But unfortunately, feedback is often ignored or omitted entirely in an effort to avoid discomfort.

That's a serious problem for companies because without feedback, employees can't improve. It means that our fear of confrontation or not being liked is costing employees valuable opportunities to grow as professionals. Employees deserve to get that feedback, and managers are doing their direct reports a disservice by not providing it.

In fact, evidence shows that the fear is completely one-sided. While many managers dislike giving critical feedback, or avoid it altogether, employees prefer corrective feedback over praise and recognition. For some, it's about engagement — 70% of employees said feeling empowered to address a problem was critical for their engagement. For others, it's about growth — 57% felt the need to leave their current company to take their career to the next level.

That means failure to offer constructive feedback, even when it's critical, could be costing you great employees who will find what they need elsewhere. To avoid that risk, managers need to get past their own insecurities and develop the skills to give feedback without fear.