15 januari 2009 | Het Financieele Dagblad
Door: Dalm, R. van
Opkomst van internet leidt tot 'sterrenprofessionals' die grote inkomens verdienen
Roy van Dalm
Amsterdam
Dankzij de sociale netwerken op het internet kunnen mensen zichzelf organiseren. Nu nog vooral om filmpjes of foto's te delen, maar straks steeds meer om samen online te ondernemen. Wat betekenen in de toekomst nog begrippen als arbeidscontract of loopbaan? De Amerikaanse internetprofessor Clay Shirky voorziet een 'Hollywoodeconomie' waar de sterrenprofessionals van organisatie naar organisatie 'hoppen'. De mindere goden kiezen voor veiligheid en leveren daar loopbaankansen voor in.
Clay Shirky, hoogleraar Nieuwe Media aan New York University, is auteur van de bestseller Here Comes Everybody. Het internet van de sociale netwerken, ook wel Web 2.0 genoemd, verandert de manier waarop mensen groepen vormen ingrijpend, is de kern van Shirky's observaties. Dat begint met foto's delen op websites als Flickr, en leidt via online actievoeren tot het vormen van commercieel gerichte organisaties. Bedrijven die zomaar op het internet ontstaan? Is dat wel een organisatie? En, hoe maak je daar nog carrière?
Is het in de toekomst afgelopen met onze organisaties als ze alleen nog op internet bestaan?
'Nee, dat is niet zo en wel om de doodeenvoudige reden dat ze niet allemaal virtueel worden. Mensen denken vaak dat een bepaalde vorm de plaats gaat innemen van de vorige vorm. Echter, de beweging is niet van A naar B, maar van één vorm naar vele vormen. Het is niet zo dat hiërarchie en management nu ineens slecht zijn en verdwijnen. Online netwerken zullen hiërarchie niet overbodig, maar wel hybride maken. Vroeger moesten organisaties wel gemanaged worden. Nu kunnen ze ook gecoördineerd worden. En sociale netwerken zijn er altijd geweest, ook binnen organisaties. In het verleden moesten mensen fysiek samenkomen om dingen te delen. Op het internet kun je meteen al kennis, foto's of muziek delen en daarna pas samenkomen.'
'Neem fotosite Flickr als voorbeeld. Iemand zet daar zwart-witportretfoto's op en vervolgens gaan anderen daaromheen ook hun zwart-witportretfoto's plaatsen. Daarna ontstaat een hele kennisgemeenschap rondom zwart-witportretfotografie. Je ziet die samenklontering ook gebeuren met actiegroepen met een gezamenlijk maatschappelijk doel. En met groepen met een gezamenlijk commercieel doel. Met andere woorden, bedrijven die spontaan ontstaan. Maar daarmee verdwijnt de gewone arbeidsorganisatie nog niet.'
Maar hoe zit het met arbeidsrelaties als er een veelheid aan organisatievormen gaat ontstaan?
hirky: 'Wat in ieder geval gebeurt, is dat de opkomst van Web 2.0-organisaties zal leiden tot een destabilisering van onze arbeidscontracten. Er komt veel meer onrust en beweging van mensen die van de ene naar de andere organisatie trekken. De vraag is of dat voor iedereen geschikt is. Voor de zelfstandige professional wel. Die redt en verkoopt zichzelf. Maar mensen in minder kennisintensieve beroepen met minder mobiliteit hebben daar geen baat bij. De kenniseconomie zal steeds meer een Hollywoodeconomie worden met grotere inkomensverschillen. Voor de sterren worden kapitalen neergeteld om ze maar bij jouw productie te krijgen, en de rest is bijrol en figurant.'
Is dat het einde van de arbeidszekerheid?
'Nee, omdat je ook hier zult zien dat er een diversiteit aan contracten en afspraken met de werkgever gaat ontstaan. In grote lijnen heb je twee mogelijkheden. Of je hebt een overeenkomst die hoge kansen maar een lage zekerheid biedt. Of je kiest voor een hoge mate van zekerheid, maar neemt dan genoegen met lage kansen. De ene werknemer spreekt zijn scholing en ontwikkeling met zijn werkgever af, maar heeft een beperkt loopbaanperspectief. De ander heeft de financiële ruimte om meer aan de eigen ontwikkeling te doen, maar hij of zij regelt het dan ook helemaal zelf. Die mensen managen hun eigen cv en profiel via online netwerken als LinkedIn of Facebook. En de kloof op dit gebied zal niet bestaan tussen grote bedrijven met grote loopbaanbudgetten en kleine bedrijven die dat niet hebben. Die kloof bestaat straks binnen de organisaties zelf en is afhankelijk van het type werk dat je doet.'
En die hoogopgeleide, mobiele superprofessional: hoe bind je die nog aan je organisatie?
'Nou, niet dus. Op dat niveau kun je geen mensen rekruteren. Je kunt ze alleen uitnodigen. Zo functioneren organisaties op het internet ook. De opgave voor bedrijven is om nieuwe modellen te vinden om in een zo kort mogelijk tijdsbestek zo veel mogelijk waarde uit je medewerkers te halen. McKinsey heeft een interessant model waarbij de consultants er voor twee jaar tussenuit kunnen. De kracht van McKinsey zit in hun enorm sterke alumninetwerk. Consultants gaan bij de klant werken, maar blijven via het netwerk in beeld en worden op termijn op hun beurt weer klant bij McKinsey. Meer bedrijven zullen als McKinsey moeten gaan denken, omdat hun werknemers dat ook al doen.'
In hoeverre zullen spontane, online commerciële samenwerkingen wel echte bedrijven worden?
'Dat is dichterbij dan je denkt. Sociale netwerken op het internet werden tot voor kort niet als onderneming beschouwd voor de wet. Ze voldeden niet aan de klassieke eisen van een geografisch hoofdkantoor of een hiërarchische managementstructuur. Maar de staat Vermont in de Verenigde Staten heeft enige tijd geleden als eerste overheid zijn wetgeving aangepast en de obstakels daarvoor weggenomen. Zij hebben een vergunning gecreëerd voor wat wij commerciële, collectieve actie noemen. Het is gewoon een kwestie van tijd en dan zal het zich gaan uitbreiden.'
Op sociale netwerken delen mensen nu nog vooral foto's, maar straks gaan ze samen online ondernemen
De opkomst van Web 2.0-organisaties zal volgens Shirky leiden tot destabilisering van arbeidscontracten; mensen trekken van organisatie naar organisatie.
Copyright (c) 2009 Het Financieele Dagblad
Showing posts with label Social Networking Tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Networking Tools. Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Seize the skills and HR benefits of social networking
Seize the skills and HR benefits of social networking
By Patrice Barbedette of Jobpartners
Published: July 11 2008 10:20 | Last updated: July 11 2008 10:20
I don’t suppose that when Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook he realised how huge it would become. Facebook and other social networking sites such as MySpace and LinkedIn have taken the world by storm.
But many of us aren’t chatting to friends and watching videos on sites such as Facebook at home during our free time – we’re doing it at work. This presents businesses with the challenge of dealing with the loss of productivity. Social networking sites also pose the potential problem of confidential information being exposed, or employees posting negative comments about their employers.
Some businesses have clamped down on the use of social networking sites by either banning them or restricting access to lunch hours. But this can stir up feelings of resentment among employees as recent cases have demonstrated. When faced with huge numbers of staff complaints, one organisation performed a U-turn after banning employees from using Facebook at work: it realised that rather than using the site for chatting with friends and downloading videos, many were also using it for work and business networking.
There are certainly many benefits that social networking sites can offer the corporate world and businesses need to be taking note. Rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to these sites, what can we learn from them and how can we use them to our advantage in the corporate world?
The technology now exists to enable organisations to create their own internal corporate social network. This provides the advantages of networking and knowledge sharing that is found on sites such as Facebook, but within the safe boundaries of the corporate environment. This means that the risk of embarrassing or confidential information reaching the public domain is greatly reduced. It also means that while employees will still spend some time chatting most of the discussion will be on company related issues.
So what can a corporate network bring to the business? As Dick Eve points out in his article, the opportunities for knowledge sharing are huge. A social network enables every employee at every level at every single office across the company to interact and share information. This means employees can operate as a community and feel involved in company decisions which helps to engage them and increase productivity. Corporate networks can also be used to get learning content to employees but more importantly, employees connected to the knowledge experts.
Improved communication is another great benefit of a corporate network especially when building a global workforce. Employees can interact more easily on a professional and personal level with staff from other offices whether they are UK based or international. They can also come into more direct contact with senior managers, the opportunity for which may not have been presented before.
Better talent management is a further significant benefit. A corporate network can enable employees to brand and market themselves within the company by posting information on their profile page about their career goals, experience and skills. This helps managers and HR to identify the skills and talent they need internally much more easily which can reduce the reliance on external recruitment. It also enables the identification of those who are hungry for new opportunities and challenges. The ability to develop a professional profile also helps the employee to take a more active role in their career development which can boost company loyalty.
As well as professional profiles, employees can create personal profiles detailing their favourite books, charitable organisations and activities. This can help employees to get to know one another outside of the confines of their job titles as well as build a broader sense of corporate social responsibility.
For new recruits, a corporate network is an excellent way of getting to know people more quickly and getting up to speed on company processes and culture. It can also be particularly effective at engaging generation Y and attracting young graduate talent.
In summary, social networks present an unforeseen way of improving communication and knowledge flow within organisations, and engaging employees. An engaged employee equals a more productive employee, which equals better business performance. And who can afford not to look at ways of boosting employee performance during these hard times?
Patrice Barbedette is founder of Jobpartners, a talent management company
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
By Patrice Barbedette of Jobpartners
Published: July 11 2008 10:20 | Last updated: July 11 2008 10:20
I don’t suppose that when Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook he realised how huge it would become. Facebook and other social networking sites such as MySpace and LinkedIn have taken the world by storm.
But many of us aren’t chatting to friends and watching videos on sites such as Facebook at home during our free time – we’re doing it at work. This presents businesses with the challenge of dealing with the loss of productivity. Social networking sites also pose the potential problem of confidential information being exposed, or employees posting negative comments about their employers.
Some businesses have clamped down on the use of social networking sites by either banning them or restricting access to lunch hours. But this can stir up feelings of resentment among employees as recent cases have demonstrated. When faced with huge numbers of staff complaints, one organisation performed a U-turn after banning employees from using Facebook at work: it realised that rather than using the site for chatting with friends and downloading videos, many were also using it for work and business networking.
There are certainly many benefits that social networking sites can offer the corporate world and businesses need to be taking note. Rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to these sites, what can we learn from them and how can we use them to our advantage in the corporate world?
The technology now exists to enable organisations to create their own internal corporate social network. This provides the advantages of networking and knowledge sharing that is found on sites such as Facebook, but within the safe boundaries of the corporate environment. This means that the risk of embarrassing or confidential information reaching the public domain is greatly reduced. It also means that while employees will still spend some time chatting most of the discussion will be on company related issues.
So what can a corporate network bring to the business? As Dick Eve points out in his article, the opportunities for knowledge sharing are huge. A social network enables every employee at every level at every single office across the company to interact and share information. This means employees can operate as a community and feel involved in company decisions which helps to engage them and increase productivity. Corporate networks can also be used to get learning content to employees but more importantly, employees connected to the knowledge experts.
Improved communication is another great benefit of a corporate network especially when building a global workforce. Employees can interact more easily on a professional and personal level with staff from other offices whether they are UK based or international. They can also come into more direct contact with senior managers, the opportunity for which may not have been presented before.
Better talent management is a further significant benefit. A corporate network can enable employees to brand and market themselves within the company by posting information on their profile page about their career goals, experience and skills. This helps managers and HR to identify the skills and talent they need internally much more easily which can reduce the reliance on external recruitment. It also enables the identification of those who are hungry for new opportunities and challenges. The ability to develop a professional profile also helps the employee to take a more active role in their career development which can boost company loyalty.
As well as professional profiles, employees can create personal profiles detailing their favourite books, charitable organisations and activities. This can help employees to get to know one another outside of the confines of their job titles as well as build a broader sense of corporate social responsibility.
For new recruits, a corporate network is an excellent way of getting to know people more quickly and getting up to speed on company processes and culture. It can also be particularly effective at engaging generation Y and attracting young graduate talent.
In summary, social networks present an unforeseen way of improving communication and knowledge flow within organisations, and engaging employees. An engaged employee equals a more productive employee, which equals better business performance. And who can afford not to look at ways of boosting employee performance during these hard times?
Patrice Barbedette is founder of Jobpartners, a talent management company
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
FT.com / Technology / Digital Business - How should organisations react to social networking tools? Embrace them, ban them, or …?
FT.com / Technology / Digital Business - How should organisations react to social networking tools? Embrace them, ban them, or …?
How should organisations react to social networking tools? Embrace them, ban them, or …?
By Dick Eve, Change Portfolio Director, for Atkins Group
Published: June 23 2008 14:02 | Last updated: June 23 2008 14:02
A truck driver approaches a bridge that has a weight limit of 5,000kg. He and his truck weigh 4,950kg so he would be able to cross it were it not for his 100kg cargo; a flock of pigeons loose in the back of the truck. He has the bright idea of banging on the side of the truck to scare all the birds into taking flight and then he quickly drives across the bridge. Does it work?
After long debate in the New Scientist one reader said: “The practical engineer’s answer is yes, of course the driver could cross! The surplus weight of 50kg translates to a 1 per cent excess over the bridge’s specified load maximum. An additional impulse force due to the truck bumping over a small stone in the road would be much greater than this 1 per cent, and any civil engineer who designs a structure of any sort with a safety margin anywhere near as small as 1 per cent deserves all the professional liability lawsuits he or she gets.”
Why do I raise this? Because it describes nicely two things about engineers: they are practical and they are (or have to be) risk averse. We are the UK’s largest engineering consultancy, and are involved in some of the world’s most high profile building, infrastructure and transport projects. The culture engendered by this – by taking on board every possible eventuality to ensure the products of our endeavours stand the test of time – inevitably puts safety and risk aversion at the heart of what we do.
What has that got to do with social networking? Well, the adoption (or not) of any software technology is more about the culture of the business than the technology itself. You cannot introduce new technology alone and expect it to be successfully adopted in any business, especially one that is resistant to change and risks.
As an example, Microsoft’s Communicator can be installed on everyone’s computer but without education and a business change programme this generates many mixed views, ranging from “I don’t know anything about it” through, “I already get too much e-mail – I am not using that too!” to users like myself who really embrace it. So I use this for communication with a small community of like-minded individuals but not the whole network. This is strengthening strong ties within my network. The next question is how far should that network extend, should I be allowed to communicate with customers or partners or should communication be restricted to internal users only?
So why would a business restrict this powerful tool to being an internal capability when more and more business is done with one or many partners?
It is probably the uncertainty of the outcome. Could it have a negative effect on the business either through someone spending all day chatting with their personal partner rather than their business partner? Maybe the risk of litigation when someone commits something to their business partner they shouldn’t. Written documents are much more formal: they are reviewed, rewritten and are clear records of events; conversations are transient and normally decisions are confirmed in writing. Social networking today sits in between. There is no real audit. What about records management? Decisions could be made with no record.
Of course, Communicator is just the tip of the iceberg. If we consider a wider range of social networking software (SNS) such as Facebook or MySpace, where I can publish a wide variety of information about my background, interests, skills and activities, there is an opportunity for even more abuse. Innocent or otherwise, the lack of regulation regarding such content could have legal ramifications. So maybe the risk outweighs the benefits.
But there seems to be evidence that weak ties and bridges between networks are increasingly important for innovation and knowledge sharing. A social networking approach can really help to develop these weak ties which will bridge the strong networks and spawn new innovations and approaches.
Our business works largely on the strong networks built over years. If you need advice or a resource you can call on a contact you worked with several years ago and be confident they will share their experience to your advantage. But are we missing a trick here? We will always get the same answers – can we use the weak ties and maybe get some new ideas and innovations, maybe SNS is a quick way to involve the new upcoming stars and help them shape the business.
And last but not least, doesn’t the next generation expect to use these tools in work as well as at home? There will come a day when new stars will not join dinosaurs who don’t offer these techniques.
So, when the business is ready and the culture is right, businesses will have to embrace social networking. Yes, of course we need to be prudent and put in the checks and balances for protection. Social Networking Solutions are now available that have been hybridised for business use which should take some of the pain away but when we do embrace it, let’s not get paranoid; too much restriction will stifle the advantages it can deliver.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
How should organisations react to social networking tools? Embrace them, ban them, or …?
By Dick Eve, Change Portfolio Director, for Atkins Group
Published: June 23 2008 14:02 | Last updated: June 23 2008 14:02
A truck driver approaches a bridge that has a weight limit of 5,000kg. He and his truck weigh 4,950kg so he would be able to cross it were it not for his 100kg cargo; a flock of pigeons loose in the back of the truck. He has the bright idea of banging on the side of the truck to scare all the birds into taking flight and then he quickly drives across the bridge. Does it work?
After long debate in the New Scientist one reader said: “The practical engineer’s answer is yes, of course the driver could cross! The surplus weight of 50kg translates to a 1 per cent excess over the bridge’s specified load maximum. An additional impulse force due to the truck bumping over a small stone in the road would be much greater than this 1 per cent, and any civil engineer who designs a structure of any sort with a safety margin anywhere near as small as 1 per cent deserves all the professional liability lawsuits he or she gets.”
Why do I raise this? Because it describes nicely two things about engineers: they are practical and they are (or have to be) risk averse. We are the UK’s largest engineering consultancy, and are involved in some of the world’s most high profile building, infrastructure and transport projects. The culture engendered by this – by taking on board every possible eventuality to ensure the products of our endeavours stand the test of time – inevitably puts safety and risk aversion at the heart of what we do.
What has that got to do with social networking? Well, the adoption (or not) of any software technology is more about the culture of the business than the technology itself. You cannot introduce new technology alone and expect it to be successfully adopted in any business, especially one that is resistant to change and risks.
As an example, Microsoft’s Communicator can be installed on everyone’s computer but without education and a business change programme this generates many mixed views, ranging from “I don’t know anything about it” through, “I already get too much e-mail – I am not using that too!” to users like myself who really embrace it. So I use this for communication with a small community of like-minded individuals but not the whole network. This is strengthening strong ties within my network. The next question is how far should that network extend, should I be allowed to communicate with customers or partners or should communication be restricted to internal users only?
So why would a business restrict this powerful tool to being an internal capability when more and more business is done with one or many partners?
It is probably the uncertainty of the outcome. Could it have a negative effect on the business either through someone spending all day chatting with their personal partner rather than their business partner? Maybe the risk of litigation when someone commits something to their business partner they shouldn’t. Written documents are much more formal: they are reviewed, rewritten and are clear records of events; conversations are transient and normally decisions are confirmed in writing. Social networking today sits in between. There is no real audit. What about records management? Decisions could be made with no record.
Of course, Communicator is just the tip of the iceberg. If we consider a wider range of social networking software (SNS) such as Facebook or MySpace, where I can publish a wide variety of information about my background, interests, skills and activities, there is an opportunity for even more abuse. Innocent or otherwise, the lack of regulation regarding such content could have legal ramifications. So maybe the risk outweighs the benefits.
But there seems to be evidence that weak ties and bridges between networks are increasingly important for innovation and knowledge sharing. A social networking approach can really help to develop these weak ties which will bridge the strong networks and spawn new innovations and approaches.
Our business works largely on the strong networks built over years. If you need advice or a resource you can call on a contact you worked with several years ago and be confident they will share their experience to your advantage. But are we missing a trick here? We will always get the same answers – can we use the weak ties and maybe get some new ideas and innovations, maybe SNS is a quick way to involve the new upcoming stars and help them shape the business.
And last but not least, doesn’t the next generation expect to use these tools in work as well as at home? There will come a day when new stars will not join dinosaurs who don’t offer these techniques.
So, when the business is ready and the culture is right, businesses will have to embrace social networking. Yes, of course we need to be prudent and put in the checks and balances for protection. Social Networking Solutions are now available that have been hybridised for business use which should take some of the pain away but when we do embrace it, let’s not get paranoid; too much restriction will stifle the advantages it can deliver.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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