WORKSHOP ON THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE – AN IDEA BY NUMS CENTER FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

In 2012 Wu and Chen found an association of leaders’ social ties and knowledge acquisition capability to competitive edge of a firm. However, human resource comprises of not only promising potential and supreme skillset but enterprising ambitions and mercurial emotions as well. Over the years, emotions were always disregarded in the research of organizational behavior, though they are direly necessary for effective human service delivery.

Culture is the way people do things because of shared subconscious, assumptions, and tacit beliefs. In light of this, organizational culture refers to a company’s mission, objectives, expectations, and values that guide its employees to lead it to success. On the other hand, networking facilitates the development of personal and professional opportunities, while social networking contributes to organizational functioning by supporting greater organizational communication and access to resources.

NCL pieced together the idea to methodize a workshop on the Role of Social Networking in Organizational Culture with regard to UN SDGs 3, 5, and 17. It planned a nifty one-day workshop on the said topic on 1st July 2022 facilitated by Deputy Director Quality Assurance, NUMS Dr. Erum Monis (Public Health Professional, Harassment Monitoring Officer, and the focal person for PQR, HEC). The workshop was attended by AFIP and AFPGMI representatives, university faculty members, and administrative staff at the NUMS PWD Campus.

The knowledgeable resource person started the session with an enjoyable activity where she coaxed the participants into shuffling seats in order to get to know an unknown colleague. The three-minute interactive activity broke the ice between a diverse group of participants and made them feel at ease with themselves and their fellows. Later on, she underscored various benefits associated with workplace connectivity and established that knowing strengths and weaknesses of a person can guarantee smooth workflow in a work environment.

Dr. Erum pointed out the importance of shared norms, values, and expectations to connect individuals for exchange of information and joint cooperation. Trust, proximity, and reciprocity leads to development of social capital, competitiveness of organizations, advantages of the economies of scale and scope as well as decrease in transaction costs.

The resource person identified that culture dictates the policies and processes that enable the organization to live its mission every day. She shared Competing Values Framework (CVF) model as a useful tool for understanding and characterizing organizational behaviors and beliefs/culture.

Dr. Erum mesmerized her audience with deep pockets of knowledge and experience. She left no stone unturned to make the participants understand that organizational culture means the kind of behavior one desires in an organization. However, social networking is a two-edged sword and must be practiced within the overarching organizational values to avoid ethical violations.

The well-versed resource person confirmed that NUMS offers a professional and respectful organizational culture, especially for women, thus helping its employees to achieve their career goals. The event came to a conclusion with certificate distribution ceremony by the Chief Guest, Director Student Affairs (NUMS) Brig Syed Azhar ul Hassan, SI (M), (Retd).

This workshop by RD Dte/NCL is undertaken in relation to SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).