Encourage Employee Socializing – Management Reports – CIO Magazine Jun 1,2004
Wow, this is a really fresh approach to Knowledge Management (KM), think about how people actually work, what their roles are, and how that helps the organizations.
According to the book The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations (Harvard Business School Press, June 2004)
There are a few key roles/players (more detail in the CIO article):
- Central connectors are the few people in every group whom everybody turns to. They are the decision-makers, the experts. However, when the demands of the job grow bigger than a central connector can handle, this person may inadvertently slow down others by not responding quickly enough.
- Boundary spanners are people who link two or more groups of employees who are separated by location, hierarchy or function (for instance, IT and marketing). This role is important when different expertise needs to be shared?for instance, when coordinating the design, manufacture and marketing of a new product.
- Information brokers serve as conduits. Remove them and communication inside the group is greatly diminished.
- Peripheral people are the outsiders. Sometimes these people are underutilized and sometimes their professional or social skills are lacking. Occasionally, though, they are peripheral by design, as in the case of research scientists whose time is best spent in the lab.
I think a logical extension of this premise is then to find technologies that compliment these roles. Maybe the Central connetors could use a blog to dispense information and tips. Boundary spanners might be good folks to test new applications that IT has in mind for Marketing. Information brokers are also good blog or discussion board candidates.
I think the most important part of this article is that think about people first, technology second.
Encourage Employee Socializing – Management Reports – CIO Magazine Jun 1,2004