USING SOCIAL

INTRANET FOR
EMPLOYEE
INTERACTION
ASSESSMENT 2A: REPORT OUTLINE & RESOURCE ANALYSIS

Student name:
Student id:
Table of Contents

A. REPORT OUTLINE .......................................................................................................... 2

I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 2
II. BODY ................................................................................................................................. 3
1. Definition of social intranet ............................................................................................ 3
2. Benefits of using social intranet in workplace communication ...................................... 3
3. Drawback of using social intranet in workplace communication .................................. 3
4. Challenges to implement social intranet in workplace communication ......................... 3
III. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 3
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................... 4
1. Develop a workplace social intranet policy ................................................................... 4
2. Encourage and educate employees to use social intranet .............................................. 4
3. Create a specialized position to manage the social intranet usage. .............................. 4
VI. REFERENCE LIST ............................................................................................................. 4

B. RESOURCE ANALYSIS ................................................................................................... 6

I. RESOURCE 1........................................................................................................................ 6
II. RESOURCE 2 ...................................................................................................................... 7
III. RESOURCE 3 .................................................................................................................... 9
III. RESOURCE 4 .................................................................................................................. 10

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TOPIC:

A. REPORT OUTLINE

I. Introduction

Background of the issue

● Internal communication contributes greatly to the success of a business. It acts as a
mediator between the management board and employees in attaining organisational
goals as well as a tool that assists staff to meet their social and physical needs.

● However, the development of organisation in both vertical and horizontal directions

pose challenges to facilitate effective communication in the workplace. When
organisations grow, it might turn into a group of disconnected employees
Topic of the report
 Social intranet will support organisations and company to enhance internal
communication and employee engagement

Purpose of the report

 Explain reasons why social intranet could assist organisation to achieve effective
internal communication and improve employee interaction
 Instruct organisations to successfully implement social intranet in their internal
communication.

Intended audience
 The report aims to provide insights for organisation's executive boards and human
resource professionals on implementing social intranet in workplace communication.

Background of the organisation

 Go1 is an emerging edtech start-up in Australia.
 Founded in 2015, the business has rapidly expanded, and the number of employees
has also grown fast from a team of 6 to an organisation of nearly 200 employees in
just 4 years.

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  Hence, the company is facing bumping road in internal communication and employee
engagement that come with fast growth.

Type of communications strategy you have chosen to implement

● Social intranet application in workplace communication to improve internal
communication and employee interaction.

II. Body

1. Definition of social intranet

2. Benefits of using social intranet in workplace communication

● Enhance knowledge learning sharing between employees

● Improve employee collaboration
● Promote corporate culture

3. Drawback of using social intranet in workplace communication

● Productivity decrease
● A threat to information security

4. Challenges to implement social intranet in workplace communication

 Employee resistance to adopt social intranet

 Internal management lacks capabilities to manage social intranet.

III. Conclusion

● Using social intranet will help to enhance workplace communication and employee
interaction. However, there are some issues that the firm concerned.

● The organisation should consider these following recommendations to mitigate the

problems of social intranet usage in the workplace and to successfully implement it.

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IV. Recommendations

1. Develop a workplace social intranet policy

2. Encourage and educate employees to use social intranet

3. Create a specialized position to manage the social intranet usage.

VI. Reference list

Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition,
history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 1-19.

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Ewing, M., Men, L. R., & O’Neil, J. (2019). Using Social Media to Engage Employees:
Insights from Internal Communication Managers. International Journal of Strategic
Communication, 13(2), 110-132.

Liu, Y., & Bakici, T. (2019). Enterprise Social Media Usage: The Motives and the
Moderating Role of Public Social Media Experience. Computers in Human Behavior.

Unily. (2018). Unily transforms the hershey company’s digital workplace. Retrieved from
https://www.unily.com/media/26005/unily-hershey-case-study.pdf

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B. RESOURCE ANALYSIS

I. Resource 1

1. Resource name: Enterprise Social Media: Definition, History, and Prospects for the Study
of Social Technologies in Organizations

2. Resource type: Academic journal

3. Summary & justification:

The article begins with the definition of social intranet which is the social media technologies
for internal communication and how these technologies has evolved in the past. The paper
also explores the advantages and disadvantages of social intranet usage in the workplace. By
reading the article, the reader could gain a general understanding of social intranet and its
impacts on business communication which directly help to construct the discussion of the
topic.

4. Reliability test

● Authority test:
It is an article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, which is credible
digital, peer-reviewed scholarly journal concentrating on computer-based media
technologies used for communication.
The authors of the article are Paul M. Leonardi, who is Associate Professor in the
Department of Communication Studies and department of management and organisations,
Marleen Huysman, who is the professor of Knowledge & Organisation at the School of
Business & Economics of the VU University Amsterdam and the head of KIN Center for
Digital Innovation, and Charles Steinfield, who is a professor emeritus of the Department
of Media and Information at Michigan State University. Hence, they hold expertise in the
area of technology application in organisational communication.

● Audience test
Academic audiences will gain insight for their research from the article as the authors
directly indicates that the information in the paper are the prospect for further study of

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 social technologies in the workplace. Moreover, human resource professionals could read
this paper to understand the concept of social intranet and its impact on workplace
communication.

● Transparency test
The article mainly constitute of secondary research and all of the secondary resources are
clearly cited with full reference.

● Objective test
The article aims to explore the effects - both positive and negative of social intranet usage
in organisation, hence there is no-biased objective in the writing.

● Currency test
The article was released in 2013 with majority of reference data is from 2009 to 2012
which is not quite long from now. Yet with the lightning speed of technology change in
contemporary times, many of the information could be out-of-date.

II. Resource 2

1. Resource name: Enterprise social media usage: The motives and the moderating role of
public social media experience

2. Resource type: Academic journal

3. Summary & Justification:

The research focuses on identifying the motives of employees on using enterprise social
media by surveying 157 employees who use social intranet tools in their organisations. The
survey has found out that information sharing, social interaction, entertainment are the main
motives for employees to adopt social intranet tools in their workplace. This study helps the
reader to have insights on how to encourage employees to use enterprise social media which
will directly support the discussion of the issue related to employee engagement with social
intranet and the recommendation part of the report.

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4. Reliability test

● Authority test
The article comes from the Computer in Human Behaviors which is a monthly peer-
reviewed dedicated to researching on human-computer interaction and cyberpsychology.
Dr. Yiu Li and Dr. Tuba Bakici are the authors of this journal article. Both of them are
professors in the information technology management in Rennes School of Business.
Therefore, they obtain expertise in the field of technology application, particularly in this
case is the usage of enterprise social media.

 Audience test
The article provides insights on employee's adoption of social intranet in the workplace;
therefore, it is suitable for organisation’s managers, human resource professionals to
incorporate these findings into their internal communication strategy while academic
readers could use them for further study.

 Transparency test
The study conducts both primary research and secondary research. The methodology to
conduct the primary research is discussed in detail. The data of secondary research all
comes from credible sources with full reference.

● Objective test
The article’s purpose is to understand the motives of employee to use social intranet with
the results from both author research and secondary information. Moreover, there is
specific organisations and companies mentioned in the paper. Therefore, the paper is
unbiased.

● Currency test
The article was published in July 2019 which is highly up to date

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III. Resource 3

1. Resource name: Using Social Media to Engage Employees: Insights from Internal
Communication Managers

2. Resource type: Academic journal

3. Summary and justification

The research discovered the effectiveness of internal social media in employee
engagement by conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with senior internal
communication practitioners in global companies. The findings confirm the role of
internal social media in building employee engagement in spite of some recognized risks.
The study also indicates best practices to successfully implement social intranet in the
workplace to enhance employee engagement. This article provides information that
directly related to the topic of discussion. Thus, the arguments in the report could be
stronger with the input from the article.

4. Reliability test

● Authority test
This writing is an article from the International Journal of Strategic which is a double-
bind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. The authors of the article is Michele Ewing, who is
the associate professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of Kent
State University, Rita Linjuan Men who is the associate professor of corporate
communication program at the University of Florida, and lastly Julie O'neil who is the
associate professor of strategic communication program at Texas Christian University.
Hence, they hold required expertise when it comes to the internal communication topic.

● Audience test
Academic audience and human resource professionals can read this article to acquire
deeper insight on the usage of social intranet in workplace communication.

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● Transparent test
For the primary research, the authors provide a clear and detailed methodology for the
interview of 27 internal communication professionals. In terms of secondary research, all
the data and information could be traced back since all references are fully included.

● Objective test
The purpose of the research is to explore the impacts of social intranet usage in employee
workplace engagement. No product review or business mentioned are found in the article.
Therefore, the article is unbiased.

● Currency test
The article was released in February 2019 with majority of reference information is from
2014 to 2018. Hence, the relevancy to date is significantly high.

III. Resource 4

1. Resource name: Unily transforms the Hershey company’s digital workplace

2. Resource type: case study

3. Summary and Justification

Hershey is one of the largest global confectionery manufacturers. The company needed
an intranet solution that could support its workplace communication and collaboration.
Thus, the company chose Unily as the service provider to build its new social intranet
platforms. The implementation of social intranet brought many positive impacts on the
internal communication of Hershey. This case study provides a practical insight on the
application of social intranet to incorporate in the report.

4. Reliability test

● Authority test
The case study was prepared by Unily - an intranet solution provider. Therefore, the
author has knowledge and experience related to the topic.

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● Audience test
The case study will provide information for organisational managers and human resource
practitioners who have an interest in implementing social intranet platform in their
organisations.

● Transparent test
The information is based on the real case of Unily with some direct quote and customer
testimony of Hershey's managers. However, no reference or link is included for verification.

● Objective test
The information in the case study is the actual result of Unily’s project. Thus, the case
study is relatively objective.

● Currency test
The case study was released in 2018 which is relatively new

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