Resumen de Como gestionar las relaciones de manera eficiente a través de las redes sociales digitales: análisis desde el modelo de coordinación relacional
The progressive development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has been penetrating and transforming the way it relates to human beings, generating great impact on the way companies act. Since the incursion of ICT in marketing strategies, the evolution and development of these trends in different sectors has become remarkable. People who tend to be connected every day, most of their online activities and spend more time surfing the Internet, which shows the exponential growth of ICT use (Grandi, González and Segarra, 2014).
Currently, most organizations are strongly supporting their ICT activities, which are fundamental not only because of their instrumental nature, because they meet the information needs for decision-making, but also because they make it a vehicle for generating sources of competitive advantages by combining these technologies with other valuable resources (De Pablos-Heredero et al., 2012).
Therefore, the application of ICT must be aligned with the organization's strategic plan, becoming a strategic factor that drives the development of the organization (Arango, 2014).
Digital social networks are often managed from the marketing area, enabling communication and information exchange with customers, users, potential customers, suppliers, investors, job vacancies, competitors and any other relevant actors in the company's life. Therefore, these are useful tools for the company and professionals; as practical as can be the phone, email or corporate website. However, digital social networks add a feature that does not have the previous means: "the ability to create community" (Carballar, 2012).
In order to improve their presence on the Internet, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have increased the use of digital social networks as a marketing strategy that allows them to achieve better organizational positioning and growth (Griffith, 2008). A topic of interest in the field of educational organizations from the year 2011 is the analysis of the performance that higher education can obtain in digital social networks as a way to create relationships, student’s loyalty and participation (Stoller, 2011).
The quality of communication is a fundamental factor for the effectiveness of organizational relationships since it allows the construction of relationships that help them fulfill their corporate mission (Scott, Allen and Glen, 2006).
But communication is not the only factor to measure the quality of teamwork.
It can be measured through many different factors, such as those proposed in the relational coordination model proposed by Gittell (2009), which has been applied to different types of organizations, with promising results, and states that relational coordination occurs through shared goal relationships; shared knowledge; mutual respect; frequent, timely, accurate and problem solving communication. This is how we manage relationships in an efficient way, allowing the achievement of organizational goals (Gittell, 2009, 2010).
Taking into account the above, the main objective of this research is to identify the usefulness of digital social networks in the scenarios that contribute to improve the productivity and competitiveness of educational organizations, where work is coordinated through shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, supported by frequent, timely, appropriate and problem-solving communication and, therefore, manage relationships efficiently, thus enabling the achievement of the organization's objectives.
The content of this doctoral thesis consists of five chapters, which explains the object of study and the reasons for its choice, the theoretical framework, the approach of the model, the design of the research and methodology to offer, lastly, the results obtained in the application of the same, and finally the conclusions.
In the first chapter it is argued which the existing problem that gives validity to the investigation is, and the reasons why this problem is important. It also states the objectives to be achieved with the research, both the general objective and the specific one, and finally it justifies the relevance of the study, explaining how the research will help to solve the problem.
In chapter two, after the description of the object of study, the theory underlying the research is developed based on the previously mentioned problem.
In a first section, under the heading "Importance of Quality Relationships for Organizations," explains the importance of establishing quality relationships with stakeholders to achieve a good corporate reputation.
In the second section "Relational Coordination Model", the relational coordination model is presented, which emphasizes understanding the importance of coordinating relationships and communication dynamics in organizations to achieve better results. This model suggests that relational coordination occurs through relationships that favor the sharing of objectives; shared knowledge; mutual respect; and frequent, timely, accurate and resolutive communication. This will allow management to manage relations in an efficient way, favoring the achievement of organizational objectives (Gittell, 2009).
Subsequently, the third section "Internal communication and external communication" explains the types of communication used to promote products and services, as well as to improve organizational relationships.
In the last part of this chapter, under the heading "Use of ICT in organizational relations", it is exposed how the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and in particular digital social networks, have radically changed internal and external relations in organizations, improving their quality.
In the third chapter the proposed research model is presented, where the study approach is explained, a graphic representation, the main hypothesis and sub hypotheses that have been tried to be validated in this work, based on the review of the literature.
The fourth chapter presents the main results obtained from the research. In chapter five, the fundamental conclusions are presented and the future lines of research in this area are presented, ending with the bibliography used in the study.
