Thank you both for great comments. Ken, you are r...

2010-01-21T09:11:27.994+01:00

Thank you both for great comments.

Ken, you are right about there being a clear link to this situation and networking theory and analysis. I am currently working on the second post where I describe how Enterprise 2.0 technologies such as social networking can facilitate collective collaboration.

Tom, reading your comment made me read the post with new eyes and discover that I used the term "organization" where I should have used the term "enterprise". The case I referred to in the post, IKEA, actually consists of a number of different organizations. What brings these organizations together and makes everybody see it as ONE company is the shared mission, values, and so forth.

Thanks for the quote - much appreciated! What you...

2010-01-21T08:17:49.046+01:00

Thanks for the quote - much appreciated!

What you're hitting up against here is much the same as we've struggled with in enterprise-architecture: you've managed to break free from 'E2.0=IT', you now need to break free from 'E2.0=the Organisation'. Enterprise-architecture is the architecture of the enterprise, not the organisation; the same distinction needs to apply to E2.0 as well.

Unfortunately that FEAF definition of 'enterprise' doesn't enough emphasise that in this context the enterprise is always larger than the organisation - it always extends outwards to 'colleagues' (in your diagram), otherwise it's not an 'enterprise', it's just a (literally) narcissistic view of the organisation itself. Often it's easiest to show this extension-beyond-the-organisation as a series of concentric circles (as you've done in the diagram, and as I did in my 'What is an enterprise?' presentation), but in reality the collective is more like a meshwork of intersecting sets, each with their own focus and special interests.

The linking factor for all of these diverse interests - what makes it into a shared enterprise, in fact - is the common-denominator intersection of all those respective values. This is why clarity on vision and values is so crucial to enterprise-architectures, as they define the shared focus of the enterprise, in exactly the same sense that a set of formal rules defines the bounds of the organisation.

And it's also the divergence of interests and values that enables collective movement and growth, and prevents a stultifying 'groupthink'. The term 'collaboration' does carry an aura of 'groupthink' about it, of lock-step robot-work; combining it instead with 'collective', as 'collective collaboration', does help to break free of that trap, but perhaps in some ways because the loose anarchic federation of a collective is not as rigidly 'collective' as is the organisation!

A key problem here is that the enterprise and the organisation are not the same - they have fundamentally different structures, boundaries and responsibilities. Unfortunately, many business-folks would like to believe that they are the same, because it gives a comforting illusion of extending their 'control' (a concept which does make sense within an organisation) out into the enterprise (where attempts at 'control' will guarantee failure). One of the dangers for E2.0 is that it highlights the fact that many of the old notions of 'control' not only are but always have been a dangerous delusion.

Few people can easily cope with seeing their delusions shattered - hence the often-irrational and overly-defensive responses of many managers to what to us would seem perfectly reasonable uses of E2.0 and the like. Explaining the difference between 'organisation' and 'enterprise', and how they intersect, can often reduce the level of covert emotion, and make it much easier to enable your 'collective collaboration'.

Not enough space to thoroughly play this out, but ...

2010-01-21T02:12:22.667+01:00

Not enough space to thoroughly play this out, but the situation you are describing has multiple applications in networking theory and analysis, in which the connections and interactions among multiple nodes can facilitate the sharing of information within and beyond specific team configurations.
And, needless to say, information technologies can both shape and accelerate these interactions, all within a shared framework of common vision or values.

Comments on The Content Economy: Enterprise 2.0 and Collective Collaboration – Part...

Thank you both for great comments. Ken, you are r...

Thanks for the quote - much appreciated! What you...

Not enough space to thoroughly play this out, but ...