by Bill Ives
September 14, 2009 at 8:03 pm
· Filed under Event Announcements
I recently wrote here on Is Social Media Like Stopping at the Water Cooler? Going Out for a Smoke? Taking a Nap? And mentioned one study that found that workers are more productive if allowed to use the internet for leisure in moderation at work (see Freedom to surf).
How Slate posts on why corporate IT should let us browse any way we want in their story, Unchain the Office Computers! Slates says that these “restrictions infantilize workers—they foster resentment, reduce morale, lock people into inefficient routines, and, worst of all, they kill our incentives to work productively. In the information age, most companies’ success depends entirely on the creativity and drive of their workers. IT restrictions are corrosive to that creativity—they keep everyone under the thumb of people who have no idea which tools we need to do our jobs but who are charged with deciding anyway.”
These are all great points. Blocking access and restricting web usage is completely counter to Enterprise 2.0 and really completely counter to the twenty first century. On one hand it is hard to imagine any management that is in touch with today’s realities would do this. However, there remain many people in this category. In another study, the biggest reasons for not adopting social media was that management did not understand it. Imagine applying the “I do not understand this” concept to other aspects of the business.
Slate reports that there is no empirical evidence that unfettered access to the Internet turns people into slackers at work. I would imagine the same applies to the telephone but people are not fearful of telephone usage as it is familiar. The remedy is to get involved with the most important communication channel of this century.
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Agreed Bill. However in the overly lawyered and risk averse corporate world we seem to be moving toward, the idea of employee trust can often be at odds with business viability. I agree with you completely, but have often had a tough time convincing the powers that be to move off the dime.
Agree with the thinking – but the inhibitor is that managers don’t manage – so they want technology to be the blocker against the employee who uses the internet / e-mail in an inappropriate manner. The Unions use the argument that unless they do that, Management didn’t take reasonable steps to mitigate against the risk of the employee acting inappropriately.
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ffblogSeptember 14th, 2009 at 8:04 pm |
New Post “Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free” http://bit.ly/QZX4s
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Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free: I recently wrote here on Is Social Media Like Stopping at the W.. http://tinyurl.com/llrxf3
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Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free (Fast Forward Blog) http://icio.us/k2bm5v
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RT @ffblog New Post “Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free” http://bit.ly/QZX4s
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free http://short.to/qe0x
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RT @aponcier: Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free http://short.to/qe0x
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Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free by @BillIves http://bit.ly/3nc0Fr [for how long will this remain a choice?]
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Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free: http://bit.ly/9k1nu @BillIves notes that new modes of work are oft misunderstood.
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RT @dhinchcliffe: Unchain ur Wrkers Browsers & Set em Free: http://bit.ly/9k1nu @BillIves notes that new modes of work r oft misunderstood
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“no empirical evidence that unfettered access to the Internet turns people into slackers at work” http://is.gd/3iH4W
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RT @moehlert Unchain ur Wrkers Browsers & Set em Free: http://bit.ly/9k1nu @BillIves notes that new modes of work r oft misunderstood
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RT @dhinchcliffe:Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free: http://bit.ly/9k1nu @BillIves notes that new modes of work are oft mis …
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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rpolomSeptember 15th, 2009 at 10:09 am |
Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free by Bill Ives http://bit.ly/3nc0Fr
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http://bit.ly/9k1nu @BillIves Great “Unchain your workers” post. Does it go far enough? Filtering internet is like cutting phone lines!
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billivesSeptember 15th, 2009 at 11:35 am |
Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free http://bit.ly/3nc0Fr post on @FastForward
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mas2011September 15th, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
Why office workers web browsing shouldn’t be restricted: http://bit.ly/9k1nu. It’s mostly an opinion, but I’d love to see a study.
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Unchain Your Workers Browsers and Set Them Free: http://bit.ly/3nc0Fr
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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