Online communication tools, such as Facebook, develop important work skills

LONDON - When the Ontario government banned thousands of its employees from using the social networking site Facebook during work a couple of years ago, opponents of the move argued the workers were deprived of a powerful tool.

Recent research from Nicole Haggerty, an assistant professor of information systems at the Richard Ivey School of Business, now shows that online activities, such as communicating on Facebook, result in skills that are valuable in the workplace.

"Managers should recognize that the capabilities people develop using daily life technologies are often transferable to the workplace. The interesting, collaborative, socially-oriented things that people do in their personal lives may actually create a foundational skill set that's valuable at work," said Haggerty. "When an organization bans something for short-term productivity reasons, it may be stifling the development of capabilities that are valuable in the long run."

Haggerty and Yinglei Wang, an Ivey graduate, have developed the concept "virtual competence", which refers to the degree of self-confidence in one's ability to use the technologies and collaborative tools now found in the workplace.

While technology skills are important in the workplace, their research shows virtual competence also has a positive correlation with job satisfaction and job performance.

According to Haggerty, as companies invest money in technologies and collaborative tools, they need to think about the kinds of employees and skill sets that are best suited for today's workplace.

Details of Haggerty's research were released today in the July edition of impact, an online monthly publication featuring new research from faculty at the Richard Ivey School of Business. To read the full article, click here: http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/publications/impact/vol15no7-haggerty.htm.