Introduction
In this assignment, students will apply concepts from the course textbook to analyze the recent situation at Twitter. Papers should provide a sophisticated, detailed breakdown of different, specific factors related to the ongoing situation to explain why employees are leaving Twitter.
Content Warning
Certain details pertinent to this case may involve discussions of hate speech and abusive management behavior. Some of the articles linked below contain descriptions of these factors.
Background
After a tumultuous seven months – involving an attempted hostile takeover, an agreement to purchase Twitter, a withdrawal from that agreement, and a high-profile legal battle – Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44bn in late October 2022.
The weeks following this purchase have been chaotic. Immediately, Elon Musk fired Twitter’s senior leadership, ousted its board, and announced plans for layoffs. Layoffs began, accompanied by warnings of declining revenue and bankruptcy. On multiple occasions, employees argued with Musk and were fired publicly on Twitter. Several notable scandals have likewise occurred. Notably, upon purchasing Twitter, Musk announced plans to reverse lifetime bans and reduce content moderation on the site. Rumors swirled that layoffs might further reduce Twitter’s capacity for content moderation. Sadly, research demonstrates that hate speech has increased on the platform. Separately, Twitter also announced plans for a premium subscription-based service, allowing users to purchase a ‘blue check’ for their account. Many official-looking imposter accounts began tweeting, in at least one case causing a drop in stock prices. Twitter faced backlash from many stakeholders, including political leaders. In response, Twitter started permanently banning these accounts, and ultimately opted to pause the service. In response to several of these factors, advertisers started withdrawing from the site, apparently unconvinced by Musk’s attempts to reassure them.
Over the first several weeks, many employees opted to leave Twitter. In his first email to employees, Musk revoked Twitter’s work from home policy. Later, employees were given an ultimatum to either work ‘long hours at high intensity’ or leave the company. In response, employees started to leave Twitter ‘in droves’. Apparently this exodus was substantial enough that Twitter closed its offices and asked some employees not to leave. Shortly thereafter, Musk began taking stock of the remaining coders on staff.
Why did employees opt to leave Twitter?
Please note that the linked sources are intended to provide context for the current situation at Twitter. Their inclusion in this section of the assignment is not an endorsement of their quality or completeness. It is also important to understand that the situation at Twitter is ongoing, and fast moving. Accordingly, news articles may be incomplete or contain out-of-date information. Students are responsible for conducting their own research and identifying relevant sources.
Assignment
For this assignment, please provide an analysis of why employees may have opted to leave Twitter.
To do so, please identify two specific concepts from Understanding Management that may help explain why employees are leaving Twitter. To varying degrees, chapters 9-14 in Understanding Management discuss different factors involved in managing employees. These include managing talent (chapter 9), individual behavior (chapter 10), leadership (chapter 11), motivation (chapter 12), communication (chapter 13). Concepts from the readings should be directly named and described.
Once selected each concept should be applied to the ongoing case at Twitter to analyze why employees may have opted to leave the company.
Note: papers should select and apply specific concepts from the readings, rather than generalized ideas. For example, simply saying something like “motivating employees is important, and clearly Twitter needs to focus on motivating its employees” is generalized and vague. A description of a particular motivation theory discussed in Chapter 12, thoroughly applied to specific details about the Twitter case, would be more appropriate.
Organization
In 2-3 pages, papers should be organized as follows:
Introduction (1 paragraph) – introduce the paper. Include a brief description of the Twitter case, and explain how the paper will analyze the case.
Concept #1 (1-2 paragraphs) – name and describe the first selected concept from course readings. Explain how it applies to the Twitter case. Note that this explanation may involve providing more specific details about the case. Based on this application, what relevant factors may have contributed to employees opting to leave Twitter?
Concept #2 (1-2 paragraphs) – name and describe the second selected concept from course readings. Explain how it applies to the Twitter case. Note that this explanation may involve providing more specific details about the case. Based on this application, what relevant factors may have contributed to employees opting to leave Twitter?
Discussion (1 paragraph) – based on your analysis, how could the situation at Twitter been handled differently to prevent employees from opting to leave? Use the same concepts selected to analyze the case when making recommendations.
Conclusion (1 paragraph) – conclude the paper by reiterating the main points of your argument.
References – include a References/Works Cited section. This section does not count towards the page limit of this assignment.
A Word of Caution
A major challenge will be finding the right focus for your paper. The ongoing, rapidly developing situation at Twitter is a dramatic, headline-catching story with seemingly countless news articles written daily. It likewise ties into larger societal (e.g. work from home, “quiet quitting”) and industry factors (e.g. tech industry layoffs). Students are responsible for determining what information is relevant to their analysis. This assignment does not require students to describe and analyze everything that has ever happened. Rather, students are encouraged to focus on specific details they identify as important for their analysis.
Formatting
Use complete sentences & paragraphs
Include citations, per the syllabus
Use headings to organize, if needed
~2-3 pages, double spaced
8.5’x11′ paper with 1′ margins
Use 11 point Calibri, or another “standard” font.
