Social Computing: How Should it Be Managed?

Chapter 14

14-1© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

What is Social Computing?

14-2

Social computing denotes the hardware, software, and applications that support any sort of social behavior.

Social computing is designed to create or re-create “social conventions and social contexts”.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

What is Social Computing? Continued

14-3

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

What’s Driving Social Computing in Organizations? Today’s Reality

14-4

Globalization and outsourcing are driving new demands of collaboration.

A mobile, customer-facing and virtual workforce expects appropriated collaborative technology.

Wikis and blogs are rewriting the rules of corporate communication (Mayfield 2008).

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

What’s Driving Social Computing in Organizations? Tomorrow’s Potential

14-5

Innovation. Social computing is engaging employees, customers, and suppliers, which may lead to new ways of innovating.

Training. Virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life) are create effective distance learning environments and make work more fun.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Where is Social Computing Leading Us?

14-6

More flexible organizational behavior

Dynamic participationOpenness (e.g., voting, feedback)ConversationCommunity building

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Where is Social Computing Leading Us? Continued

14-7

New ways to manage digital content

E.g., 3D visual interfaces, RSS

feeds, tagging, blogs.

New styles of management

Focus more on people’s outputs and their accountabilities.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Where is Social Computing Leading Us? Continued

14-8

Adaptive organizational designs

Less structure and greater agility are expected as organizations become more flexible and open. New control, accountability, and decision mechanisms will be needed.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Challenge of Social Computing: IT Manager’s Perspective

14-9

The Vision The IT Manager’s Challenge

Blurred boundariesCollaboration and sharingSituational applications

Mass participation and accessibilityTransient informationSupports social behaviorInnovation and creativityViralDynamicSituational rolesSocial governance and etiquetteCollective intelligence; bottom-up innovationAnywhere/anytime connectivity

FirewallsIntellectual property and privacy protectionMaintaining transactional applications and operational integrityAuthentication and authorizationCreating a permanent recordSupport business behaviorEfficient use of resourcesSecureBackupRegulatory accountabilitiesOrganizational governance and policyTop-down business strategy

Controlled communication

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Challenge of Social Computing: IT Manager’s Perspective Continued

14-10

Short business horizonsBusiness leaders have shorter time horizon in their thinking than IT and are often not prepared to anticipate new technologies.

Resources Social computing requires support and facilitation to make it effective.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Challenge of Social Computing: IT Manager’s Perspective Continued

14-11

Changing the culture

Organizational behavior must change if the value of social computing is to be realized.

Initial adoption rates are usually high but continuous participation often drops off.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Preparing for the Future

14-12

Experimentation

Organizations are experimenting with small-scale social computing environments (e.g., wikis, blogs, virtual worlds).

Some results show enhanced collaboration and innovative outcomes (e.g., IBM’s innovation Jams).

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Preparing for the Future Continued

14-13

Practice evolution

Organizations should develop practices and policies around how and where social computing should be used (e.g., internet usage, good privacy and security practices).

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Preparing for the Future Continued

14-14

VisionA key component of the vision for social computing will be the role IT will play.

-- Will it simply provide a secure computing platform, tools, backups, and hardware?

Or-- Will the organization expect social computing to be integrated into processes?

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Three Constant Questions about Social Computing

14-15

What is the value of these tools?

How can we pick the right ones?

What is the management playbook for using them effectively?

There are no final answers yet but:Experimenting, practicing, and visioning.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall

Conclusions

14-16

Social computing is a powerful set of technologies, tools, and behaviors, but whether or not that power will be perceived as “valuable” is yet to be seen.

The impact of social computing will result from the deep and close connections created by people and technology.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 14-17

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall