Towards the social media leadership theory

Towards the Social Media Leadership Theory

Innovations for Competence Management- conference

19th May 2011 Lahti, Finland

Katri LuukkaVice Principal, PhD

Salpaus Further Education

Innovations for Competence Management- Conference

Content of the presentation

• Theoretical background• Research Questions• Methods• Results• Conclusions & Discussion

19th May 2011, Lahti, Finland


MBA research’sTheoretical background: Social media

“Social media is collaborative online working by using social media tools or social networking communities and other Internet based solutions to achieve a common goal for online working” (Luukka 2011a, p. 9)

Social media networking tools: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Shared documents and video- conferences were highlighted in research



MBA research’sTheoretical background:

Open leadership (Charlene Li, 2010)


- Charlene Li (2010) has stated in her Open Leadership theory that while using social technology, it “can transform the way you lead”,

- She argues that her research shows, “the biggest indicator of success has been an open mind set- the ability of leaders to let go of control at the right time, in the right place and in the right amount” (Li, 2010 p. 8),

- She continues by defining open leadership as follows: “having the confidence and humanity to give up the need to be in control while inspiring commitment from people to accomplish goals”,

- Open leadership fosters new relationship with new rules like: 1) respect that your customers and employees have power,2) share constantly to build trust,3) nurture curiosity and humility,4) hold openness accountable,5) forgive failure (Li, 2010 p. 14-15.)-


Research Questions1. How does an international group of managers perceive

their use of social media as part of their work now (November 2010)?

2. Can their experiences be related to theory of open leadership (Li 2010)?

3. How do the participants perceive negative experiences, feelings and face-to-face leading involved in social media leadership?



Methods

• The research had a case study and action research approaches

• The primary data was collected from six international managers (one from Italy and Portugal and four from Finland), who were invited to join a private discussion group on Facebook (November 2010)

• The secondary data of the research consists of researcher’s own participation on Facebook group discussions with the participants and researcher’s 14 blogs written between July 2010 and February 2011

• The data were analyzed by using a content analysis method



Results• Li’s (2010) open leadership theory considers the basics for the social media

leadership theory. However, there is a need to develop a more detailed social media leadership theory, based on the transformation of communication from face-to-face leadership, offline working culture, to new online-offline working culture.

• Li’s (2010) open leadership theory had disadvantage in that it doesn’t put attention to:

1) sustainable and green business while using more social media as part of leadership, 2) how negative experiences in the use of social media should be handled, 3) comparing face-to-face- leading and leading online social networking and

4) discussion of changes to the emotional part of leadership while working changes from offline to online working culture.



Conclusions & Discussion: towards the social media leadership theory:

• Social media Skill’s test

• Online-offline Leadership

• The Social Media Leadership Theory



Katri’s Quick Social Media Skill’s Test


http://www.slideshare.net/KatriLuukka/katris-quick-social-media-skills-test

http://www.slideshare.net/KatriLuukka/katris-quick-social-media-skills-test


Four levels social media (SoMe) users: SoMe- Preventer, SoMe- Suspector, SoMe- Tester and SoMe- Crowdsourcer

• - the 0- level person is SoMe- Preventer, who has never been in online social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). He or she is afraid of social media and defends himself/herself against social media which is nonsense and waste of time. He/she feels fear against social media.

• - the 1- level person is SoMe- Suspector, who has created profiles or accounts to social media networks. He/she is a passive watcher, who follows what others are doing, but he/she is not participating in e.g. online discussions. He/she feels insecure while being on social networks.

• - the 2- level person is SoMe- Tester, who is both an active and passive social media user, while sharing and participating in online communities. He/she is wondering is or isn’t social media "my cup of tea". He/she feels insecurity/security while acting on social networks.

• - the 3- level person is SoMe- Crowdsourcer, who is an active social media user in several social media networks. He/she gets positive feedback from others participants and therefore he/she is also engaged in social networks development work. He/she feels security and success while acting on social networks.



Online-offline Leadership• The three issues: negative experiences, feelings and face-to-face leading are all very much linked

together. Negative experiences might appear while using social media as part of leadership, if communication between workers has only taken place online and that affects bad feelings and also it makes one to miss face-to-face leading.

• The issue of using social media as part of leadership is not to use only social media rather than combining social media together with face-to-face leading.

• While using social media as part of leadership, the managers must ensure that all participants have skills and will to work collaboratively online.

• Managers have to lead and follow online work to make sure that objectives of the common online work project will be achieved.

• Managers also have to be patient and encourage people to work online with using social media as part of work.

• Managers have to work as role models for their followers to show how social media can be used as part of leadership.

• Finally, managers need a social media action plan as part of their leadership, which includes: 1) a list social media tools, which are used for internal and external communication, 2) a plan, how social media is going to be linked together with face-to-face leading as part of leadership (an online-offline leadership plan) and 3) an evaluation plan, how social media helps or hinders organization’s current business (monitoring of social networking’s benefits and risks).



The Social Media Leadership Theory

• The study’s outcome was that there is a need for a more detailed social media leadership theory. The theory should focus on renewing a manager’s leadership skills to see the perspectives from employee’s private - public issues to different openness levels (intra-, extra- and internet) of the organization. The social media leadership theory should also contain broader cultural issues: from social media users (e.g. age, gender, religious and nation) to organization- related, societal and global issues because the Internet-based social media is a person’s both private and global working tool.

• The more detailed social media leadership theory should outline a manager’s social media communication skills such as: online writing/drawing, using of images/videos, online chats, talking online, video conferences, document sharing, micro-blogging, the use of work related social media networking tools (e.g blogs, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Yammer and LinkedIn), leading of online discussions and projects, legal issues (e.g. who owns the online materials and privacy-publicity of the organization), monitoring and evaluating the risks of using social media.

• The new social media leadership theory should be also more detailed to point out differences and similarities between offline and online leadership and mixed offline-online- leadership cultures. That kind of leadership theory is going to need knowledge from many science fields (e.g. psychology, sociology, education, business and information technology) and therefore the author suggests that e.g. WIKI- social network/platform could be a functional social media tool to create and develop new social media leadership theory with voluntary participants/professionals from all over the world.



1. References

• Bennet, J., Owers, M., Pitt, M. and Tucker, M. (2010). Workplace Impact of Social Networking. Property Management. vol. 28. No. 3 pp. 138-148.

• Blossom, J. (2009). Content Nation. Surviving and Thrivings as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives and Our Future. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Indianpolis, Indiana.

• Briggs, A. and Burke, P. (2009). Social History of The Media. From Gutenberg to the Internet. 3rd Edit. MPG Books Limited, Bodmin. Cornwall.

• Brown, R. (2009). Public Relations and the Social Media Web: How to Use Social Media and Web 2.0 in Communications. Kogan Page. Replika Press Ptv Ltd. India.

• Burrows, T. (2007). Blogs, Wikis, MySpace and More. Everything You Want to Know About Using Web 2.0 But Are Afraid to Ask. Singapore: Chicago Review Press.

• Dul, J. and Hak, T. (2008). Case Study Methodology in Business Research. Butterworth-Heinemann. Great Britain.

• Eyrich, N., Padman, M. L. and Sweetser, K. D. (2008). PR Practioners’ Use of Social Media Tools and Communication Technology. Public Relations Review, vol. 34, pp. 412-414.

• Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with Blogs and Wikis. Educational Leadership, vol. 66 No. 5 pp. 34-38.

• Gaiser, T. J. and Schreiner, A. E. (2009). A Guide to Conducting Online Research. SAGE, India: C & M Digitals Ltd.

• James, N. and Busher, H. (2009). Online Interviewing. Sage Publications. MPG Books Group. UK.

• Jue, A. L., Marr, J.A. and Kassotakis, M. E. (2010). Social Media at Work: How networking tools propel organizational performance. HB Printing. USA.

• Imperatore, C. (2009). Wikis and Blogs: Your Keys to Student Collaboration & Engagement. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers. vol. 84, No. 3 pp. 30-31.

• KiIpi, T. (2006). Blogit ja bloggaaminen [Blogs and blogging]. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.

• Latvala, E. and Vanhanen-Nuutinen, L. (2001). Laadullisen hoitotieteellisen tutkimuksen perusprosessi: sisällönanalyysi [ Qualitative Nuring Science’s basic process: content analysis] IN Janhonen, S. and Nikkonn, M. (eds.) Laadulliset tutkimusmenetelmät hoitotieteessä [Qualitative Research Methods in Nursing Science] WSOY, Ws Bookwell Oy, Juva.



2. References

• Li, C. (2010). Open Leadership. How Social Technology Can Transform The Way You Lead. Jossey-Bass. HB Printing. U.S.A.• Lincoln, S. R. (2009). Mastering Web 2.0: Transform your business using key website and social media tools. Kogan Page. Replika Press Ptv Ltd. India.

• Lomax, P. (2007). Action Research. Coleman, M. & Briggs, A. R. J. Edit. Research Methods in Educational Leadership and Management. Paul Chapman Publishing. Trowbridge, Wiltshire: Cromwell Press.

• Luukka, K. (2011a). Managers’ Experiences of the Use of the Social Media as Part of Their Leadership: Towards to the Social Media Leadership Theory. MBA dissertation. University of Wales.

• Luukka, K. (2011b). Katin merkitykselliset kokemukset. (Katri Luukka’s social media leadership blog in Finnish) http://katri-luukka.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 14th April 2011].

• Luukka, K. (2011c). Katri’s Meaningful Experiences. (Katri Luukka’s social media leadership blog in English) http://katrismeaningfulexperiences.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 14th April 2011].

• Meyerson, M. (2008). Mastering Online Marketing. Entrepreneur Press. Canada.

• Mustonen, P. (2009). Social Media: a New Way to Success? Turku School of Economics. Series KR-1:2009. Uniprint. Turku. Finland.

• Pauker Kreizberg, A. (2009). Building a Web 2.0- Friendly Culture: Success on the Web is About People, not Technology. People & Strategy vol. 32, No. 2 pp.40-45.

• Safko, L. and Brake, D. K. (2009). The Social Media Bible. Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success. John Wiley & Sons. U.S.A.

• Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research. Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. SAGE Publications. USA.

• Tapscott, D. (2010). Syntynyt digiaikaan. (Original Tapscott 2009. Grown up Digital), WSOYpro Oy, WS BookWell, Porvoo.

• Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice. Educational Technology & Society, vol.12, No. 2 pp.11–21.


Thank You … see you offline or online :• [email protected]• Yammer: Facebook; LinkedIn; SlideShare; YouTube; Google- account: Katri Luukka• Twitter: @KatriLuukka • Second Life: Katrilli Kling

BLOGS: Work related blog (in Finnish):http://blogit.salpaus.fi/huomiopaikalla/category/katri-luukka/

Kati’s Meaningful Social Media Leadership Experiences (in Finnish):http://katri-luukka.blogspot.com/

Katri’s Meaningful Social Media Leadership Experiences (in English):http://katrismeaningfulexperiences.blogspot.com/

Katri Luukka MBA 2011:Managers’ Experiences of the Use of the Social Media as Part of Their Leadership: Towards the Social Media Leadership Theory

Katri Luukka PhD- dissertation 2007: Meaningful Learning Experiences of the NewlyGraduated Practical Nurses in the Elderly Care: Feeling Mirror as a Reflector of Meaningful Learning Experienceshttp://www.uku.fi/vaitokset/2007/isbn978-951-27-0801-7.pdf

Innovations for Competence Management- Conference19th May 2011, Lahti, Finland

mailto:[email protected]


















http://blogit.salpaus.fi/huomiopaikalla/category/katri-luukka/

http://katri-luukka.blogspot.com/

http://katrismeaningfulexperiences.blogspot.com/

http://www.uku.fi/vaitokset/2007/isbn978-951-27-0801-7.pdf