A former colleague of mine, a devotee of transcendental meditation in her off hours, felt that managers and employees alike should be encouraged to take a few moments every day at the office and meditate to release all that pent-up negative energy that accumulates. And to keep things really buzzing, they should chant the same mantra over and over — “productivity… productivity… productivity…”

As reported in a previous post, Andrew McAfee has been mulling the productivity mantra, and now Redmonk’s James Governor and our own Paula Thornton have joined in on our productivity consciousness-raising session.

I think the ultimate statement on productivity was made many decades ago, when researchers came up with the so-called “Hawthorne Effect.” Back in in the 1920s and 30s, researchers at a Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works plant conducted a series of experiments to test the impact of lighting illumination on worker productivity. They found that when they raised the lighting levels in the plant, worker productivity increased.

However, they also found that when they lowered the lighting levels, productivity still increased.

They concluded that lighting — or other conditions they were testing for — had nothing to do with the productivity increases. Rather, it was the fact that management was paying attention to the workers that resulted in increased production levels.

So, to take the analogy back to modern times, it can be assumed that any and all efforts to promote Enterprise 2.0 services, at least initially, may meet with similar success, simply because end users will have the impression that management is taking an active interest in their productivity and quality of work.

Andrew McAfee raised the concern that E2.0 technologies may be seen as distractions from the “real work” that needs to be done, and this will certainly be the case in those many organizations where management still doesn’t get the power of collaborative information technology. So productivity increases may or may not be happening under the covers; management will be clueless about the impact of E2.0.

If management is actively engaged in E2.0, it’s likely there will be measurable productivity bumps no matter how or what kinds of E2.0 activities are launched. And, as Paula points out, managements tend to have major bouts of paracusis (selective hearing) when it comes to programs they want to see succeed.

James Governor likens attempts to manage the tsunami of information coursing through organizations as “treading water,” observing that “networked, social-based opportunities are so explosive today than when we pursue them we’re flung forward at pace.” As a result, he says, “success is increasingly ‘bursty,’ and the old RIO won’t cut it there.”

The problem is that many managements may not get E2.0 since both ROI and traditional company budgeting and forecasting “tends to be about incremental value,” James said. “Business in the ‘burst economy’ is extreme, which calls for new approaches, fast failing and so on.”

The Google 20-percent rule (20% of time devoted to pursuing new technologies and ways of working) that Andrew McAfee proposed may help address the confusion management may feel about E2.0. “One way around the impasse between clock watchers and hyperspace people could be training and budgets,” James said. “Any company should have a training budget in place, and make sure their employees regularly update their skills. But many don’t. Why not introduce Google-style 20% time, dedicated to getting smarter. Its also worth nothing that the people that want to live like this, learning knew toolsets, are lifelong learners anyway, and will spend a huge amount of their own time learning (and imparting!) useful skills and knowledge (now if clock watchers want to start paying employees for that time things really could get interesting).”

Think long term. The question is, once the glow wears off, will E2.0 technologies and methodologies have a lasting effect on organizational productivity once our collective attention is turned elsewhere? Or will management be kvetching about how there must be a better way to get things done than these time-wasting blogs, wikis, and mashups? Being able to document a measurable, proven and long-term impact on competitiveness may help build support for such projects.
Now take a deep breath and repeat after me… productivity… productivity… productivity…