An ununderstandable title to verbalize the link that suddently appeared to me between three apparently unlinked subjects.
What are we talking about ?
• Hawthorne effect : result of an Elton Mayo’s experiment about poductivity in a factory located at…Hawthorne. Mayo took a group of employees and improved their work condition…and the productivity raised. Then he let the work conditions degrade and…productivity still raised. Conclusion : since a group has the impression to be taken into account, that the enterprise takes care of them, it gets more and more involved in its job.
• Social computing’s productivity : great subject of debate in the enterprise 2.0 community, and something that scares the x manager. In this debate you can fin a lot of opposite assumptions like : social computing lowers productivity, or social computing is a strategic issue so people must have time dedicated to it, or you’d better organize it or it will happen under the radar. Whatever we may think, we have to take into acount that people who decide are focused on productivity.
• The “double bugdet”: idea of Peter Drucker (Management Challenges for the 21st Century
Perharps you already guess what my conclusion will be…
Entering into a logic of social computing means, in the first times, “trying an experiment” but also, on a long term run, pay attention and give more importance to the human capital. A first point that, according to the “Hawthorne Effect” may suggest that social computing would have a positive effect on productivity. I also mention that social computing is key for knowledgeworkers’ productivity and neglecting that is the best way not to exploit their full potential. Just have a look here if you need to be convinced. I also remember you that the link between created value, time spent and productivity is not linear anymore. The equation Turnover = f(time) is nothing but an old myth and focusing on it may be dangerous for the enterprise’s continuity.
What may scare is the time / investment ratio, that’s to say if people are paid to work x hours they’re expected to dedicate those x hours to tasks that impacts the turnover. That only a matter of indicators : impact 80% of the salaries on operations budget and 20 % on the innovation budget and that’s done. The manager will have a nice looking ratio which will make him comfortable and the enterprise will favorize its distributed innovation.
Elton Mayo would have been surprised to be associated with Peter Drucker in a reflexion about social computing in the XXI th century
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