Bookmarks du 11/30/2008

Les « digital natives » la génération multi-écrans

Même s’ils sont très proches des « Y » en terme de consommation de produits numériques, leur comportement est déjà très marqué. Etant père de quatre garçons dont trois sont des « Y » dans la vingtaine, mon petit dernier qui a onze ans m’intrigue, me questionne et je suis en passe de me demander si nous ne sommes pas en présence du premier type d’espèce que l’on pourrait nommer « Homo numericus ». Puisque que j’ai la chance d’avoir un spécimen sous la main, voici quelques points et anecdotes tirés de mes observations:

tags: digitalnatives, multitasking, web, internet, information, communication
L’apport des réseaux sociaux pour l’accès à l’information professionnelle – M2IE : le blog du management de l’IE et de l’entreprise 2.0

Les médias sociaux ont été conçus pour les travailleurs du savoir, leur donnant plus de moyens de communiquer et de travailler de façon collaborative. Toutefois, la collaboration – dans sa définition la plus traditionnelle – est trop limité pour les besoins de ces travailleurs du savoir, car elle ne suit pas l’ensemble du flux de travail, elle intervient généralement de façon discontinue tout au long du processus.

tags: collaboration, knowledgeworkers, reward, communication, socialnetworks, information, search
- Cela ne veut pas dire que les logiciels sociaux sont « la baguette magique »
  de l’échange d’informations. Il existe d’autres processus structurés et
  formalisés au sein des entreprises qui permettent de concrétiser une idée
  innovante
- Les deux peuvent coexister … mais pour
  vraiment progresser, les processus formels et informels doivent être
  étroitement liés de sorte que les informations peuvent être consultées à
  travers les deux prismes, mais dans ce cas, chaque processus doit inclure
  l’ensemble des informations disponibles.
Millennials Reshaping Work With Social Computing Says Report | SocialComputingMagazine.com

The survey samples the responses of over than 400 North American students and employees within three age groups: 14-17 (youngest millennials), 18-22 (mid-millennials) and 23-27 (older millennials). The survey found an growing demand for mobile devices and social computing technology to connect with co-workers, peers, friends and family, in direct preference to face-to-face contact and communication.

The findings point to a clear disconnect between the technology that most organizations provide their workers today and how young workers both prefer and currently use technology to collaborate and communicate at work.

tags: accenture, digitalnatives, millenial, socialcomputing, collaboration, communication
- Millennials prefer to choose their social computing technology.
- Do not seek corporate approval for social computing channels and technologies.
- Low levels of knowledge of corporate policy
- illennials are insisting on state-of-the-art technology at work
- Organizations will likely need to provide new communication and collaboration channels.
Do Not Waste This Crisis

An economic world turned upside down makes it easier to take a fresh look, and this can open the door to making changes that will benefit you and the most important people in your life, now and in the long run. Here’s what one of my former students, Deika Morrison, said to me yesterday when I asked her about the leadership silver lining in the cloud of our current economic crisis. She said that this is a unique opportunity to see « if you are achieving what you have identified as important. In an environment of record unemployment, people feel like they are not empowered and have no options. » Now, she said, is a chance to discover that « you might have been doing work you really never wanted long-term and therefore you can move on faster, in a more productive manner. It’s about changing mindset from depression, in every sense of the word, to opportunity. »

tags: crisis, management, experiment
The Double Meaning of « Feedback »

« Feedback » is one of those loaded, double-meaning words in today’s workplace – words that connote very different things to members of different generations.

tags: feedback, management, performancereview, learning, assessment, generationx, generationy, babyboomers
- If you’re a Boomer, consider what you expect to happen when you have a « feedback session » with your boss. In all likelihood, the purpose of this exchange would be to assess your performance, to render a judgment. Because Boomers love to win, your hopes may be high for a prize – but still it’s not exactly the sort of thing one wants to go through on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis – once or twice a year is plenty, thank you very much.
- If you’re a member of Generation X, the meaning of « feedback » is similar – it relates to an assessment or judgment. But the hoped-for outcomes may be a bit different. More money is great, but so is a longer leash — more freedom to operate in your own preferred way.
- But for members of Generation Y, « feedback » means something very different. Ys learn through personal interactions. They are accustomed to reaching out to friends and family for suggestions, coaching or factual input on any number of topics, as they go along. Rather than being linear learners — I learn, then I go off and do — Ys are « on demand » learners. They start a task, uncover a need for additional information, seek that specific bit out, and move along. This cycle might happen multiple times every day.
- People who comment that Ys « can’t take criticism » are again missing the point. It’s not that they can’t take it — it’s that that is not what they’re seeking. They are in the learning, not the grading phase. They are asking you to teach, not to score.
Down with the performance review?!

tags: performancereview, management, humanresources, teamwork, performance
- - Two parties with misaligned goals. When walking into a performance review the boss’ goal of discussing areas of improvement don’t match up with the employee’s goal of promotion and compensation.
  - The false belief that performance affects pay. Culbert argues that pay is primarily determined by market forces (which makes sense – just look at our current economic situation – are many people expecting big raises/bonuses this year?) and most jobs are placed in a pay range even before the employee is hired.
  - As objective as we try to be – there are always personal biases. This is a fundamental conflict. Depending on one’s position, their opinion and view will differ. This is where Culbert also brings up the “360-degree feedback”. When feedback is anonymized that creates more opportunity for various parties to further their personal agenda since there is no accountability associated with their review.
  - Everyone is different – “once size does not fit all”. Performance reviews often revolve around a predetermined checklist. This is why people may focus more on pleasing their boss than doing a good job. Since a happy boss will (theoretically) leave you with a higher score.
  - Employees are reluctant to go to their bosses for help (for fear that it will reflect badly on their performance review). It makes sense that employees would go to their bosses for help, guidance and improvement. But, “thanks to the performance review, the boss is often the last person an employee would turn to”.
  - Disrupts teamwork. The most important type of teamwork is the one-on-one relationship between a boss and their subordinates. But in performance reviews, as opposed to taking the stance “how will we work together as a team”, it’s “how are you performing for me”.
  - At the end of the day€¦ performance reviews don’t improve corporate performance.
BoostZone: Putting « Enterprise 2.0 » in perspective

Let’s be realistic, Enterprise 2.0 seen as the sole center of the management revolution is a fallacy, the revolution happening to the enterprise is much more interesting than just the part of it related to web 2.0 elements even if I am one of those pretending that a good implementation of collaborative elements within the organization can bring a competitive advantage.

tags: enterprise2.0, collaboration, web2.0, management, humanresources, strategy, execution
- In front of these issues the questions a CEO asks himself about his company are of three orders
  
  1.    Which strategy in times of uncertainty?
  2.    Which organization can provide a competitive advantage?
  3.    How to guarantee that execution will follow?
- Let’s not the blame of all the changes that corporations need to put in place on the web2.0€˜s revolution only. The collaboration culture created within the society at large, at least at the Netgen level, is a fascinating element, and it is important to understand more deeply the practical implications it will have on management. Agreed and let’s go on working on it, but€¦
  
  Let’s recognize that the changes required are actually much broader and much more interesting that the simple web 2.0 approach would let believe. Let’s work on them as a holistic system change, what actually is the very notion of paradigm shift.
Characteristics of the Knowledge Economy, continued

In the 21st century, comparative advantage will become much less a function of natural resource endowments and capital-labour ratios and much more a function of technology and skills. Mother nature and history will play a much smaller role, while human ingenuity will play a much bigger role.

tags: knowledgeeconomy, IT, organization, competences, skills, tasks, knowledge, intangibleassets
- The IT revolution has intensified the move towards knowledge convergence, and increased the share the knowledge stock of advanced economies
- Flexible organizations reduce waste and increase the productivity of both labor and capital by integrating worker cognition and action at all levels of their operations.
- Flexible organizations also avoid excessive specialization and compartmentalization by defining multi-task job responsibilities (which calls for multi-skilled workers) and by using teamwork and job rotation.
- The knowledge economy increasingly relies on the creation, distribution and use of knowledge assets. The success of enterprises will become more reliant upon their effectiveness in creation, harvesting, absorption and utilization of knowledge.
The Content Economy: How to successfully implement social software company-wide

tags: enterprise2.0, socialsoftware, enterprisesocialnetworking, adoption, communities, email, integration, ERP, CRM, leadership, implementation
- Different groups will find value in different ways
- Enlisting energetic evangelists in their respective geographies and divisions is critical
- Use large-scale gatherings (physical and virtual) to pull in large numbers of people at once.
- Use your social software to supplant email on routine information requests.
- Social software can be a great way to enhance CRM, document management, and other structured systems of record with more free-form context, conversation, ideation, and socialization.
- The Enterprise 2.0 world is changing fast, and your fellow practitioners are inventing new best practices every day. Use them!
Blog des Managers Intranet – Distance hiérarchique et expression des salariés dans l’entreprise

Distance hiérarchique et expression des salariés dans l’entreprise

Les échanges en réseau d’idées, de bonnes pratiques peinent à émerger dans nos entreprises françaises.

La formalisation et la diffusion de point de vue, d’analyses, d’expériences innovantes supposent une liberté d’expression qui n’est culturellement pas de mise dans nos univers de travail.

tags: culture, sociodynamic, innovation, initiative, hierarchy, hierarchicaldistance, education, communication
- Notre société française se caractérise en effet par ce que Geert HOFSTEDE[2]> nomme un indice de distance hiérarchique fort.
  
  Selon lui la distance hiérarchique peut être définie comme le degré d’inégalité attendu et accepté par les individus. La distance hiérarchique est donc mesurée à partir des systèmes de valeur de ceux qui ont le moins de pouvoir. La répartition du pouvoir est également expliquée à partir du comportement de ceux qui ont le plus de pouvoir, des leaders plutôt que des suiveurs. L’autorité ne se maintient que si elle rencontre la soumission; la fonction d’encadrement n’existe que comme complément à une situation de subordination.
- Dans le cadre de pays à forte distance hiérarchique les supérieurs et les subordonnés se considèrent comme inégaux par nature dans un système fondé sur une inégalité existentielle. Les relations entre subordonnés et supérieurs sont souvent chargées d’affectivité.
Digital Nomads – Measuring Progress In A Dispersed World

In a world of increasing professional freedom, managers (and the rest of us) struggle to adequately measure output. Gone are the days of clocking in and clocking out. We often assume that the number of hours spent “working” are an indication of one’s effort and accomplishment. However, in reality, this is not the case. Furthermore, applying such short-sighted measurements will diminish some of the most valuable benefits of a free-range workforce.

tags: creativity, productivity, timemanagement, competitiveadvantage, ROWE, efficiency, bureaucracy, digitalnomads, workflow, management, measurement
- The Competitive Advantage of The Unexpected
  As a team that researches productivity in creative industries, we have learned that the sources of inspiration don’t mix well with rigidity.
- In return, the mobile workforce must deliver “spurts” of productivity and insight. When bonuses are considered, managers must value the spurts versus an adherence to the daily grind.
- According to a recent study by AOL and Salary.com, full-time employees work a total of three days a week, wasting the other two. The new era of free-range workers and their managers and clients must embrace transparency, and there must be a fundamental trust shared between colleagues. Beyond deadlines, expense accounts, and privacy, every employee must trust that their colleagues want the best for the company, care about the product, and aspire to succeed in their role.
- The pressure of being required to sit at your desk until a certain time creates a factory-like culture that ignores a few basic laws of idea generation and human nature: (1) When the brain is tired, it doesn’t work well, (2) Idea generation happens on its own terms, (3) When you feel forced to execute beyond your capacity, you begin to hate what you are doing.
- Managers must start to reconsider the conventional assumption that butts in chairs = productivity. In some particularly impressive companies such as Kluster, managers have abandoned the normal societal expectation of work time in favor of “doing work whenever there is work to be done.” Another company, 37 Signals has went as far as implementing a standard four-day work week. Even major corporations such as Best Buy have implemented programs such as ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) which favors performance based on output instead of hours.
« Networked worker », une récente étude de Pew Research à découvrir. | Cluster21 : la communauté du digital, des médias à la e-démocratie…

* 27% des travailleurs américains disent utiliser internet constamment au travail (« always on ») et 22% plusieurs fois par jour.
* 80% considèrent que les technologies du web améliorent leurs capacités à bien faire leur travail.
* 73% qu’elles les aident à partager des idées avec leurs collègues
* 58% qu’elles leur offrent plus de flexibilité dans le travail quotidien
* 56% disent travailler à la maison en plus du bureau
* 50% lisent leurs emails professionnels le week-end
* 49% disent aussi que ces technologies ont accru leur niveau de stress
* et 49% (les mêmes?) qu’elles compliquent la possibilité de « déconnecter » lorsqu’ils sont à la maison ou en vacance.

Bilan :

* nous sommes de plus en plus connectés au web et c’est une aide évidente dans notre travail quotidien.
* la confusion professionnel/privé est de plus en plus forte et peut avoir des conséquences négatives sur la santé des individus (mais aussi, plus globalement, sur la cellule familialle et encore plus globalement sur la société au sens large : la Société).

Précisons que les technologies envisagées dans cette étude sont de deux types :

* la connexion au web, c’est à dire le moyen d’accéder, via des requêtes ou ses favoris, à l’information utile,
* l’email et les possibilités qu’il offre dans le cadre professionnel

tags: producitivity, web, web2.0, webworkers, knowledgeworkers, management, stress, information, networkedworkers, PEW