by Joe McKendrick
April 16, 2007 at 11:00 am
· Filed under Enterprise 2.0, barriers
Harvard’s Andrew McAfee, in a new post, reflects a concern he’s heard that has permeated every workplace since Thog opened his wheel-making shop back in 10,000 B.C.
That is, won’t employees spending time on the Web checking out Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0-related tools and sites be perceived as not spending enough time at their “real” jobs?
At enlightened, forward-thinking companies, managers understand the connection between learning, innovation, and higher productivity — in fact, employees at these companies may even be encouraged to spend time learning and experimenting with new technologies.
But, unfortunately, not everyone works at Google. The rest (alas, probably the majority) are stuck in hidebound, PYA-driven organizations where they probably need to exert just as much effort constantly trying to look “busy” as getting their required work done. Want to learn all this new-fangled stuff? Do it on your own time, not on our dime — you have all weekend off, by gosh!
McAfee observes that even if management does get enlightened, it still won’t be easy to change decades of thinking (or centuries, as I noted earlier) about what constitutes “productive” work:
“Even if the leaders in such companies sincerely want to exploit the new tools and harness the collective intelligence of their people, they might have a tough time convincing the workforce that busyness is no longer the ne plus ultra. Corporate cultures move slowly and with difficulty, and it will take a lot more than a few memos, speeches, and company retreats to convince people that it’s a smart career idea, rather than a poor one, to contribute regularly and earnestly to E2.0 platforms.”
Ironically, instead of being a drag on productivity, engaging in the collaboration, knowledge creation, and mashup workarounds that Enterprise 2.0 offers may begin to increase productivity, and enable knowledge workers to get more done in shorter time. Maybe even the most old-fashioned crack-the-whip managers will see the sense in that — eventually, gradually, and once they see their companies loosing market share to nimbler competitors.
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I couldn’t agree more. It’s amazing to read the most recent McKinsey Report on Web 2.0 technologies and know that fear of the unknown is preventing so many companies from adopting tools that will absolutely boost the average knowledgeworker’s productivity.
For example, Attensa (at the heart of Enterprise 2.0 and fixing issues caused by Microsoft’s recent VISTA ‘upgrade’) has just released a new version of their feed server that allows managers, team leaders and admins to access new reports geared toward improving feed relevance.
Community feeds can be ranked by the number of subscribers - allowing people to easily share their most valuable resources. Reports can be used to identify must-read feeds and the most effective communications channels for getting information to specific users and groups. Detailed Attention reports are searchable based on feeds, groups and users.
Again, with only 35% of CxOs planning to invest in information gathering resources like RSS, how much productivity will knowledgeworkers waste in the meantime?
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MehnazApril 19th, 2007 at 6:48 am |
There appears to be another viewpoint where much of the Enterprise 3.0 innovation is happening at thought leaders like Salesforce.com and Webex (being acquired by Cisco), as well as at upstarts like Rearden Commerce, eProject, and Trampoline… all sites that focus on increasing efficiency.
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gilfApril 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm |
On the other hand, E2.0 might be yet another way to look busy. Put you name on enough company blogs, wikis and RSS feeds and you get the perception of productivity.
Productivity is first and foremost about people. If managers cannot distinguish between a productive and a non-productive employee in the flesh and on paper, no technology will help them.
Great observations. In the earlier part of my career, I was director and editor of an international management association, and was therefore exposed to some of the great thinkers on productivity and motivation. Nothing motivates employees more than 1) feelings of appreciation, and 2) feelings of “ownership” (doesn’t have to be financial). And, as Gilf astutely points out, if the corporate culture is less than inspirational, then E2.0 does devolve into just another PYA mechanism. Just as email has become a PYA mechanism in many companies these days — corporate email boxes and servers are clogged with messages upon messages with everyone cc’ed. The organization itself has to be one that promotes productivity, entrepreneurial spirit, teamwork, and freedom to fail without repercussions. That’s still a rare quality these days, and technology often only automates the problem, not solves it. But, if these inspired companies out there that are achieving results with E2.0 and SOA start eating the lunch of their hidebound competitors, that’s how the message begins to sink in. It doesn’t come from altruism or feel-good management, it comes from competition.
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