QUESTION ONE

Developing a Model for social media in Project Management Communications

Abstract

The explosion of social media is changing the way we communicate, thus affecting the

processes involved with information services supporting project management. In this

paper, we document the emerging practice of companies using social media to support

project management, review relevant literature, identify several examples of this

practice, delineate dimensions along which these systems vary and lay the

groundwork for the development of a model and future research into this area.

Practitioners and researchers can build on this work to help organizations realize more

value by using social media to support project management.

Introduction

Social media are affecting the way people communicate, develop relationships and

build trust in home and work settings. What began as a set of tools for friends to stay

connected has evolved into a means for businesses to communicate internally and

externally. Although social media channels are used in a variety of contexts, this paper

focuses on the emerging trend of its application to support project management.

Managing relationships to build trust is especially important for projects managers,

because it is becoming increasingly common for project team members to be

distributed. This lack of physical contact makes it more difficult to establish strong

relationships and bonds that lead to high levels of trust, making the communication

process more challenging $($Grabner &Kaluscha, $2003).$ Communications delivered

through social media are potentially a valuable resource for developing trust between

project team members. The next sections review research related to social networks

and social media, trust, and project management information systems that incorporate

social media. The paper concludes with a review of project management information

systems that incorporate social media and lays the foundations for a model to guide

future research into role of social media in supporting projects.

Social Networks and Social Media

Social media is transforming consumer behaviors and business communication

patterns. The growth of social media platforms such as Face book and its equivalents

have been well documented. For example, a $2009$ survey by McKinsey of $1700$executives worldwide showed that about $64\%$ of these companies were using social

media for effective internal communications $($Culnan et al$.,2010).$ Similarly, in a study

of executives, Barnes and Mattson found that $52\%$ reported using social media as

effective tools in their businesses. When asked if their company uses social media $"$to

communicate with other companies like vendors, suppliers or partners," they found

that "social networking is the most widely used with $34\%$ reporting they employed

these tools" $($Barnes & Mattson, $2009).$ The reasons for the success of online social

networks can be found in the work of researchers who studied off$-$line communities of

practice and social networks. Etienne Wenger was one of the pioneers in studying the

value that these communities bring to organizations via the strong relationships and

social ties that create effective communication and the exchange of knowledge. His

research suggests that the power of these communities lies in their ability to develop

strong relationships and trust, a prerequisite for effective communications $(1996).$

The benefits associated with social networks are why they continue to grow within

businesses. According to Bryan et al$.(2007),$ "social networks, both within and outside

of companies, increase the value of collaboration by reducing the search and

coordination costs of connecting parties who have related knowledge and interests."

They suggest that by developing and managing relevant formal social networks,

organizations can facilitate communications that improve decision making and

operations. This is due in part because employees develop more "weak ties" across

organizational and project spaces. This allows them to be boundary spanners, bringing

expertise across the various social networks and increasing the flow of ideas and

communication. In addition, social networks can make it easier to access employees'

tacit knowledge $($expertise and know$-$how$)($Bresnen et al$.,2003).$ Because of these

and other benefits associated social networks, it is predicted that the adoption of social

media will continue to grow and expand across business functions and industries

within the business community $($Fenn et al$.,2010).$

Trust

Besides influencing the level of understanding among communicating parties, a

communication exchange often results in an assessment of the parties'

trustworthiness. The choice of words, format, and frequency can influence the

perception of trustworthiness. According to Van Zyl $(2009),$ social networking

accelerates the development of trust, relationship$-$building a