The Orange Chair

In “Why Facebook and MySpace Won’t Change the Marketplace,” Tom Davenport argues that although consumers are gaining power through the use of Internet-based social technologies, there doesn’t seem to be a corresponding trend towards empowering employees. He writes:

But are there analogous trends within companies? I don’t see them. Since employers pay employees, that gives them a certain power to start with. And while employees may trust other employees more than their senior management bosses, they are usually reluctant to say so publicly. Employees don’t even fully control the content in their own emails (with widespread email surveillance and those embarrassing brand signatures many employees are forced to use), much less the overall messages that their companies send out into the world. In general, I wouldn’t say the power held by employees has increased much in recent times, and with the decline of unions, the rise of the imperial CEO, etc., it would be easier to argue the opposite position.

It’s interesting to compare that with my experience with IBM. I’m new to the company, having officially started last October 15, but in a sense I’ve been there for almost two years because I did my master’s research with the IBM Toronto Center for Advanced Studies. Intranet blogs and bookmarks helped me connect with people around the world at different levels in the organization chart. So far, my experiences with IBM have made me feel that we do exercise trust and personal responsibility in intranet social computing, and that these tools help us build those relationships with people we might not have met without a serendipitous connection through social computing.

Is this universal? No, but I think it’s a good thing that social computing triggers us to ask questions about organizational culture and openness. There needs to be that fundamental trust that employees won’t misuse these virtual watercoolers, and an orientation towards collaboration that acknowledges contributions from all over the company. Will Facebook, MySpace, and other social computing tools change a workplace where control is everything? Probably not. Early adopters of these tools might be fired as fast as they are found. In an organization characterized by openness and trust, though, social computing can help people connect and do amazing things.

Intranet social computing tools aren’t about controlling the conversation, but about enriching it with information simply not available on the Internet. Intranet social computing also helps create a place where people who are new to social computing might feel safer about trying it out and talking about non-confidential matters. Random encounters in social computing often turn into productive collaborations because of shared organizational goals and resources.  Enterprise social computing goes far beyond just allowing employees to access consumer tools such as Facebook. How far? Let’s find out!

Via Enterprise 2.0 Evangelist’s del.icio.us bookmarks