January 25, 2006
Connectivity technology changing how we live
12 percent of US newlyweds last year met online.
One of the Ten Trends to watch in 2006, according to the McKinsey Quarterly (Jan 2006), is the transforming impact on people’s behaviour of technological connectivity.
“We are forming communities and relationships in new ways: 12 percent of US newlyweds last year met online, more than two billion people now use cell phones and we send nine trillion e-mails a year.”
For a quick summary of all ten trends
Posted by Ken Thompson on January 25, 2006 at 07:00 AM in Articles & Links | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
Secrets of business and organisational longevity
Thanks to Dinesh Tantri for pointing me to an interesting article on cnn.com way back in 1999 entitled “The organic enterprise thrives on your knowledge”
The article explores one of the fundamental, but often forgotten reasons why organisations, enterprises, teams and communities should adopt biological principles - they will live much longer if they do!
“Companies, like any species, are organic entities whose survival requires carving out a territory within a dynamic ecosystem. They are not — as some executives and consultants claim — machines that can be reengineered, reorganized or reprogrammed”
Referencing “Bionomics: Economy as Ecosystem” by Michael Rothschild, 1990, the author scorns technology companies without any long-term plan and whose “entire reason for being was to sell out to Microsoft”.
This was, as we all now know, a chillingly accurate prediction of the dot.com crash which was still a year or so away (early 2000).
Arie de Geus writing in “The Living Company” explains how even the Fortune 500 companies don’t generally make it beyond 50 years because their underlying model of operation becomes more economic than biological.
A notable exception to the 50-year rule is Du Pont which started off as a “purveyor of gunpowder” and has achieved the distinction of being one of the “world’s oldest continuously operating companies” through a mastery of continuous adaption and evolution.
So if you want to achieve longevity in your business enterprises and teams the price you have to pay is operating on biological principles like all living systems.
Posted by Ken Thompson on June 26, 2005 at 12:00 AM in Articles & Links | Permalink | Comments (1)
June 7, 2005
Global team virtual collaboration report findings
Virtual team technology providing benefits but inter-personal issues still critical in global teams
Thanks to Dinesh Tantri for pointing me to a very useful and possibly under-exposed report by the Information Work Productivity Council into ‘IT Support for Global Collaboration’ published in January 2004.
IWPC conducted an on-line survey of 31 Global Teams in 27 companies which provides the underlying data for the report which is full of useful information and insights for both virtual technology developers and virtual team leaders.
For example, these global teams felt that whilst virtual technology helped well in the areas of collaboration and information access it was much less effective in support for knowledge creation activities.
The report notes that one size does not fit all and that organisations have to "assemble combinations of unintegrated collaboration tools to support their virtual teamwork"
The report also identifies the top 7 virtual collaborations challenges faced by these global teams (in descending order):
- Building Trust/Relationships
- Multiple Team Membership
- Different Time Zones
- Multiple technologies/media
- Cultural Diversity
- Shared Norms/Behaviors
- Language and Linguistics
It notes that items 2-4 are ‘logistical’ and are being well supported by virtual technologies, whilst the remaining items are ‘inter-personal’ and are much more difficult to support.
It also collates a very useful table of the typical frustrations users find with each type of tool and the 'work-arounds' they use to try and overcome them!
Posted by Ken Thompson on June 7, 2005 at 12:00 AM in Articles & Links | Permalink | Comments (0)
