by Jon Husband
November 16, 2008 at 12:50 pm
· Filed under 2.0 Design Thinking, Artisanal Economy, Change, Community, Culture, Economics, Emergent, Enterprise 2.0, Social Computing, Trust, User Revolution, Web 2.0
The following notes are an opinion piece, not a rigorously researched and articulated article.
I have just had the opportunity to spend a week in Paris, meeting and talking with the team at blueKiwi, under the leadership of Carlos Diaz and Christophe Rouitheau, two dynamic and intelligent young French entrepreneurs. They and their team, thanks to live-wire Bertrand Duperrin, invited me and Stowe Boyd to speak at the launch of the 2009 version of blueKiwi collaborative platform.
I’ve also had the chance to connect with several young French entrepreneurs who are helping to raise the bar regarding the mass customisation (or personalization) of knowledge work with their application Personall.”.
Additionally, I’ve had the pleasure to meet and discuss with Dr. Miguel Membrado (co-founder of several leading search and collaboration related software applications), David Guillocheau and Patrice Malaurie of Talentys, and Philippe Colin of Itexium, an IT strategy and implementation consulting boutique. There’s even an Enterprise 2.0 Institute at the Grenoble Ecole de Management, headed by Richard Collin
France has a long history and reputation of hierarchical organizations headed by (generally) imperial and autocratic top management (at least, I believe that’s a reasonable way of phrasing their reputations seen from a North American point of view. I am certainly no expert in macro-economics but am aware of the general belief that France needs some economic revitalization (who doesn’t, these days ?) and that some of that has to do with its organizations and their structures and methods. However, France’s companies and economy still produce(s) some very interesting products and services, the country has healthy financial and medical care and educational systems
But .. and I believe this an important “but” … France also has a very well educated work force (compared to the North American workforce), a culture that enjoys examining and discussing issues (they cannot help themselves 
), and workplace cultural habits that encourage and reinforce teamwork. In addition, in no small part due to the maturing of the EU, there are young people from all over western and eastern Europe living and working, and contributing their brainpower and energy, to the workplace in France.
Additionally, the social culture in France is essentially based on discourse, examination of ideas, arguing in friendly (mostly) ways about almost any issue under the sun. I believe that makes fertile ground for the enracination (taking root of) using social computing to build more responsive and effective knowledge workplaces than was possible before. It allows for the best parts of the French mindset and culture to flourish, on purpose.
We bloggers with a strong interest in Enterprise 2.0 and who carry out research and practice consulting, strategizing, theorizing, or coaching tend to believe that social computing in the workplace is inevitably tomorrow’s foundation for knowledge work. According to almost any theory, its use along with the inputs of factual information and decent brainpower should lead to increases in intellectual capital, organizational capability and thus enhanced productivity over time. If this is the case, then it’s my belief that France’s workplaces of the future should be interesting places should the stereotypical dependence on elite autocracy and its orientation towards hierarchy be reduced.
If the traditional reliance on top-down dynamics can be viewed with a critical eye, and if France’s leaders of tomorrow can bring themselves to adapt to th e new leadership style(s) born of listening, sensing and helping interdependent systems respond to the ongoing rapid changes we face today, then France has a lot of potential with which to work with regard to the promise(s) of Enterprise 2.0.
Powered by Qumana
Permalink
Jon, you had the chance to meet with great people this week. Unfortunately, France’s industrial organization has lead to what Thomas Philippon – a french teacher at the Stern School of Business – calls “Le Capitalisme d’Heritier” (cf. http://www.amazon.fr/Capitalisme-dhéritiers-crise-française-travail/dp/2020917637). Having experienced it for more about 20 years, I think it will take a large amount of Carlos Diaz and Bertrand Duperrin to have France reach US and UK operational efficiency.
Hello, Herve.
Of course I do not know well the historic path and mental models underneath French organizations, although with yours and others help I am learning fast.
I suspect that you are (quite) correct.
I also think … or hope … that the above blog post contains enough caveats and mere opinion that it can be seen just as an encouragement. But if there are some of the important changes made, or desired, then what I was trying to say is that it is my general impression, from a small amount of familiarity with some aspects of French culture etc. that there is some interesting potential.
 |
MickaelNovember 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm |
“a culture that enjoys examining and discussing issues”.
I agree, but It’s as a positive as a negative point.
We love it, and taking decisions can be difficult in France, debates often never stop !
In my point of you, we need a bit of “US and UK operational efficiency” as Herve said.
Great article thank you.
[...] Atélier Numérique sur BFM : http://www.atelier.fr/-37362-.html?xtor=AD-229 Fastforward Blog : http://www.fastforwardblog.com/2008/11/16/enterprise-20-frances-excellent-chances/ Quels sont vos concurrents? Les portails d’entreprise tels que les équivalents des [...]
A very interesting article! I agree with you that "… if France’s leaders of tomorrow can bring themselves to adapt to the new leadership style(s) born of listening, sensing and helping interdependent systems respond to the ongoing rapid changes we face today, then France has a lot of potential with which to work with regard to the promise(s) of Enterprise 2.0."
However it might be a very long time before that happens. A nation's attitude, way of life, culture, etc., can't and will not change unless that nation is forced (by outside influences beyond their control) to either change or die. In my opinion, France is at a state where its' society is content with what they have; technology, culture, lifestyle, etc,. They don't see the need to be the top dog. They don't need to prove that they're the best.
America is different and unique due to it's cultural belief, ideals and values that anyone can be an elite (with all rights and privileges, whatever that may be) if they work hard enough, are smart enough, rich enough, etc.. therefore competition (greed, pride, bragging rights, etc…) will always prompt them to do more, be more.
Examples: Obama, Bill Gates, the Kennedys, etc..
Another good example is Japan. After WWII, Japan as a nation, forced itself to change. It has to or it would have become just another third world country. Honda, Toyota, Sony, Samsung, etc… need I say more?
Good points, The Koi Man. I did us the word "if" … perhaps I should have capitalized it ?
Jon, I didn't say you were wrong. My thought is France won't change anytime soon because there isn't any incentive.
Well, it seems that many (some ?) of France's younger people are interested in looking elsewhere to live and work, at least for a while. I know, for example, that Canada (and Quebec in particular) is seen as an interesting place to go because (reportedly) life and work can be more 'flexible" there. I have a decent number of friends in Montreal originally from France. Most of them like it a lot, while confessing to missing some of what they had or experienced at home in France. Is a potential brain drain an incentive to begin changing some policies ?
Don't get me wrong, though. I know France well enough to believe that it's national fabric and infrastructure, and some of the central cultural mores, are very strong and offer conditions amenable to a productive and fruitful life. And it may just be, given the major turmoil in developed economies around the world, that some of France's "stodginess" and (at least in Americans' eyes) tendency towards socialist policies may turn out to be an enviable virtue. contrary to Francis Fukuyama's decade-old premise, the end of history is not in sight, yet.
On the world stage, France has had to swallow a lot of criticism about not being "flexible" and "dynamic" enough, especially in comparison to the USA. Hey, look at where "flexibility" and dynamism" have gotten the USA
And yes, of course, I am being overly simplistic.
But I continue to believe that France has a lot of strengths, some of which it and it's citizens don't easily acknowledge.
What’s in question is not about the younger generation unwilling to change. It’s about the government infrastructure. I don’t have to be a native of France to understand that the system is rigid. Getting around it is almost impossible from my point of view.
Understood. Yes, its system of fonctionnaires and a class hierarchy is well cemented into place.
» Subscribe to the RSS feed for these comments
HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Additional comments powered by BackType
